Social
Ministry
Heritage Day Planning Promises Fun for All
Band, Bounce House, Brats, Baskets, Cookies, Cakes, Pies, Puppets, Performers & Quilts Galore, Who Could Ask for Anything More? Get ready to have some fun, food, and entertainment! Heritage Day is just around the corner and October 11th is going to be another great day. Activities will begin at 9 a.m. with over 75 quilts for sale, lots of kid’s games and a bounce house, baked goods, and a Heritage Day display. Around 11 the Fellowship Board will be serving up wonderful bratwurst dinners with sauerkraut and German potato salad. Throughout the day members of Advent’s family will wow you with their many talents. Also, there will be many wonderful theme baskets for you to take a chance on claiming as your own. Clay County Community Band will help us close out the day with a concert beginning at 2 p.m. We hope you will join us for fun, fellowship, and support of our wonderful church.
Crop Walk Helps Local
Hungry Event Set for Early November
It would be easy to turn a deaf ear to the suffering of millions of people in
remote lands that are casualties of huger, homelessness, disease, war or natural
disasters. Even here in the United States the plight of families struggling to
make ends meet is sometimes ignored or forgotten.
However, because of many local and country wide congregations, millions of
hungry people are able to face the future with hope in their hearts.
Over the past years your support of the Clay County CROP Hunger Walk has brought
help – and hope – to people around the world.
The 2008 Clay County CROP Hunger Walk has been set for Sunday, November 9 and
will be hosted by Orange Park United Methodist Church.
Once again, with something as simple as a Sunday afternoon walk, the Southside
faith community will join together to make a difference in alleviating world
hunger.
Expect to see the pink pig in the breezeway
following church during October. Donations will be used to purchase pigs for the
Pastor and Pig project, which
delivers the animals to villages in remote areas to help bolster the economy and
help provide food.
The Advent Education Board will be sponsoring the Heritage Day Bake Sale on
October 11th. We need all our super bakers to sign up to donate baked goods
again this year. We will be selling whole pies, cakes, tortes, etc and also
selling items by the slice this year so we need any items you can help us with.
Please see the sign up sheet on the Education Board Bulletin Board next to the
Fellowship Hall. We will also need helpers to sell the items at the Bake Sale
too, so if baking isn’t your expertise please join us behind the scenes! Any
questions, please call the church office.
Lutheran Social Services is seeking important donations to assist in the
resettlement of refugees. Twin beds, kitchen tables and chairs and couches are
among the items most needed. Donated items are used to help furnish permanent
homes for refugees being resettled in the Jacksonville area through the LSS
Refugee and Immigration program. To donate call (904) 448-5995 to schedule a
pick up. Drop items off at The Sharing Place Thrift Store, located at 4615
Phillips Highway, Jacksonville. All donations are tax deductible.
In September we will continue our collection for school kits, and the following
items are needed:
* Pads or notebooks of ruled paper 8.5 by 11 inches containing 150 to 200 sheets
of papers.
* One blunt pair of scissors.
* One ruler with centimeters on one side and inches on the other.
* One pencil sharpener.
* Six new pencils with erasers.
* One eraser approximately 2.5 inches long.
* 12 sheets of construction paper in
assorted colors.
* One box of 8, 16 or 24 crayons
Like going to garage sales? LSS needs you!
Lutheran Social Services is looking for a few Saturday warriors – garage sale
warriors, that is.
In an effort to increase inventory at The Sharing Place Thrift Store, Lutheran
Social Services is soliciting volunteers to help distribute information cards at
garage sales in their area, asking proprietors to donate any items remaining
from their sales.
The Sharing Place will pick up the items, either on Saturday afternoon or during
the following week. Volunteers are simply asked to drop off the cards with
information explaining the program and to ask that The Sharing Place be
remembered as an option for any items that go unsold.
For more information on this program, or to have cards mailed to your home
address, please call Tom Strother, advancement manager, at 904.730.8234 or
e-mail tstrother@lssjax.org
Twin beds needed for incoming refugees
Twin beds are in critical need by the LSS Refugee and Immigration Services
program. A large number of refugee families continue to arrive in Jacksonville
this summer, and LSS is seeking the twin beds in order to help set up permanent
living quarters for these families who are preparing to begin their new lives in
the United States.
For more information, contact Barbara Carr at the LSS offices at 904.730.8230 or
e-mail
bcarr@lssjax.org
Mark your calendar for the
Shepherd’s Center of Orange Park’s annual Health Fair and Flu Shots. The Health
Fair will be held on Monday, October 6th at the Family Life Center of Orange
Park United Methodist Church from 10 a.m. until noon. There will be health
exhibits, free testing/screenings and lots of good information on various health
issues. You can sign up for flu shots which will be administered on Monday,
October 13th from 9 a.m. until noon at the same location.
The SCOOP Website is
www.theshepherdscenter.org. It allows you to browse class offerings, register
for classes, find out what is going on and make donations online. This is made
possible by The Community Foundation Grant that is specifically earmarked to
improve marketing of the SCOOP educational program to the community.
Chick-fil-A at Roosevelt Square will partner with The Second Harvest Food Bank
of North Florida’s Kids Cafe program this summer. More than 60 Kids Cafe sites
will offer children in low-income neighborhoods a safe place to find
nourishment, have positive role-models and participate in educational and social
development activities.
Chick-fil-A at Roosevelt Square is helping to provide these kids with a special
extraordinary meal during their summer. A Chick-fil-A Day! Throughout the
summer, the Chick-fil-A cow will visit the kids at the sites, bringing a Chick-fil-A
experience to them. Through each donation of $5, one child will receive a Chick-fil-A
boxed meal. To thank donors for their support, they will receive a coupon for a
free Chick-fil-A chicken sandwich.
To make a donation, please stop by the Chick-fil-A at Roosevelt Square (4495
Roosevelt Boulevard) or contact Laura Burris, marketing director of Chick-fil-A
at Roosevelt Square, at 904.386.6577 or by e-mail at lrburris@bellsouth.net.
Please consider partnering with Second Harvest and Chick-fil-A at Roosevelt
Square to “Help bring udder joy to a child this summer.”
Women Holy Rollers Reach Out To Aid Global Health
Mission
All women of the church are invited to participate in a summer mission project
for Global Health Missions’ clinics in Africa and other Third World countries.
We will be rolling bandages in the Fellowship Hall the 4th Thursday of the month
during June, July and August from 7 to 8 p.m. We have light refreshments, and
enjoy each others company as we participate in this relaxing labor of love.
What do we do? Some of the women tear clean sheeting into strips, others sew
three strips together either by hand or machine, and still others roll the
strips into useable sized rolls. Last year we rolled and shipped over 40
pounds of bandage dressings.
What do you need to bring? A pair of scissors, a needle and thread or portable
sewing machine. If you have any sheets you would like to contribute to the
cause, they would certainly be welcome. We do have a number of small wooden
rollers that help make tight neat rolls.
Any question? Call Joanne Dotson at 284-9859 (office) or evenings at 272-4538.
See you at the next holy rollers Thursday event. Bring a friend to enjoy the
company of Advent women.
ADULTS WORKING WITH YOUTH
If you have thought about
working with youth but feel you didn’t know enough, the Florida- Bahamas Synod
offers a weekend workshop at the Life Enrichment Center in Leesburg, FL. It is
scheduled for August. Please see Pastor Bob.
Advent Scouts Need Your Old Newspapers As we immerse ourselves in the gift giving season, here’s a suggestion for the best kind of gift. It costs nothing, no carbon footprint, appropriate all year. The attractive red and green dumpster at the OPCC end of the parking lot stands ready to accept your old newspapers, which then avoid the landfill. The small income derived from the scrap helps support our Boy Scout troop. Your scrap newsprint is always appreciated.
Attention all High School Graduates, College and Post College Youth! Advent now has a group just for you! It is a group where you can feel free to come and go as you please, but still feel like you are a part of the church when you do return. This group has a blog site where we can maintain contact with one another when we are away. It will be a way to find out what is going on with the group and a way for the group to know what is going on with you. When you are at Advent we want you to feel as though you are a part of this church when you are home. We want all of you to feel welcome here. The blog site is: http://www.mychurch.org/AdventLutheranOPYoungAdultsGroup
Feed the Sheep From time to time donations for this worthwhile program have included canned foods, etc, with expired expiration dates. Donations should be good food items, not ones with past expiration dates. Thanks to all who donate.
The Social Ministry Board is asking for your help! There is a list on the bulletin board in the Fellowship Hall of local social agency programs, projects and advocacy groups that members of the congregation participate in or help support. If the group or organization that is near and dear to your heart is not listed, please add it to the list.
Second Saturdays at Second Harvest Interested in volunteer opportunities at the LSS Second Harvest Food Bank, but your work schedule is in the way?
JOIN US FOR SECOND SATURDAYS!
On the second Saturday of each month, the Food Bank is open for volunteers from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Volunteers are currently needed to stock shelves, sort food and provide administrative assistance such as greeting guests and answering phones. Volunteers are also welcome at the Food Bank Monday through Thursday.
For more information on volunteering, contact Jennifer Loesch at 904-353-3663 ext. 223 or visit www.lssjax.org.
FOOD BANK HOURS OF OPERATION:
Monday – Thursday: 8:30 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Friday: by scheduled appointment only
Second Saturday: 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Thank you for witnessing to God’s love in you by sharing with those in need.