Christmas at Park Hills School

School staff warmly welcomed P.K. and Co. as we delivered gifts and groceries for 17 children in families in need at Park Hills School.  They send a heartfelt thank-you to the many, many people who contributed, with money to Share the Plate in November, individual donations, food for the foodbarrel, and with shopping, wrapping, and delivering!  

The Food Barrel once again will be for Total Ministries.   Please watch for those two-for-one specials, and bring one in for the hungry! 

Our Global Issue: Appalachian Mountains and Miners: A Grinch in Appalachia STOLE THE TOYS

 In West Virginia, Wyoming Co. has a long tradition of making Christmas happen for their children. It’s in the middle of coal country, and one of the poorest counties in the nation—this is where our church member, Amber Pennington, grew up.

This year, they raised thousands of dollars for their Christmas Toy fund, and bought toys on sale all year. Then thieves broke into the Toy Fund storage and stole or vandalized most of the toys! So, in spite of all their foresight, they need last minute help. Let’s not let a Grinch steal Christmas!

$6.00 per child – as of Friday, that’s how much has been collected to make up for the loss.   They have a list of 3,000 children referred by the Dept. of Social Services.     Here’s the easiest way to help-   You can write a check and put it in the mail today! Please write your check directly to Wyoming County Toy Fund and mail to L. Dale Stewart, Treasurer; P.O. Box 268, Matheny, WV 24860. 
_______________________________________________
Wednesday evening, while we wrapped presents for children at Park Hills, we brainstormed on what we could do to help.   We came up with three ideas:  spread the word on Facebook; take up a collection at our holiday dinner; and purchase gifts from Amazon to send directly.   We’re getting the word out on FB; some members and friends are sending money in directly; and our holiday dinner collection generated over $300.

Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love"   / Hamilton Wright Mabie

A Busy Month!

November & Early December are important times for our Park Hills Partnership! 
Our two November Share the Plate collections went to Christmas for Park Hills.  We have a list of 17 children in need.   Five have been “adopted” by church members.   Over $700 has been donated and will be used for Christmas gifts (clothes and toys) for the remaining 12.  Cynthia Lanier is heading the Christmas Team, all from the choir.

Food Barrel for Park Hills children: We have combined this with the gifts above, and people have been donating heavily to the Food Barrel collections.  This is for Park Hills School families, (above) and focuses on holiday meal items.  We will have a big Aldi’s cloth shopping bag full of food for each family.  Gifts and food will be delivered to the school office Dec. 13th—P.K. is going to need some help with this!

Youth and Social Justice:  This month,  our youth prepared dinner for guests of the Spartanburg Interfaith Hospitality Network (SPIHN) at Fernwood Baptist Church, and then played with the kids while the adults (UU and SPIHN guests) got acquainted.  A good time was had by all—in fact, the youth group has committed to accept this responsibility for this year (once every 10 weeks).  Thursday, Nov. 18th, Megan, Shannon and Mary Bracy participated in the 4th annual Homelessness Vigil with Social Justice with Alice Sutton & Amber Pennington.  

Our Local Issue:  Green Sanctuary: Our application for the free energy assessment has been submitted and may be approved this week.  We hope to get this assessment done and report back by Christmas!  Then all the church members who indicated an interest in the green sanctuary team on the survey will be invited to meet.    You can check out the Green Sanctuary Program info on the UUA website:
http://www.uua.org/leaders/environment/greensanctuary/118741.shtml

Our Global Issue: Appalachia:  Why & How YOU can fight mountaintop mining:   We gave two presentations in October and had an article in the November UNISON. This article gave us ways to support Appalachian people as they fight the destruction of their mountains and valleys.   We have encouraged everyone to send emails and letters to Congress during the lame duck session as well as to the EPA.

Animal Allies:  Newspaper donations have increased and the Animal Allies Team is doing a great job of taking newspapers regularly!