We’ve
had a busy year, with many outreach and volunteer opportunities, and some
ministry changes as well. Read on for a
recapitulation of 2003:
The
ministry team to the Children’s Shelter
held their final worship service in July.
The
team, headed by Carol Palmer, has
faithfully served abused, abandoned and neglected children of Santa Clara
County for the past 7 years. Internal
problems at the Children's Shelter during the past year forced administrators
to make the painful decision to disallow volunteer groups, including church
groups, to continue to visit. We would
like to thank Carol for her many years of leading the team at the shelter.
A
smaller crowd turned out for the 26th Annual South Bay Crop Walk on Sunday April 13th,
but this was due in part to rain and the fact that it was Palm Sunday. Still, Bethel raised $1,742.00 for Church
World Service programs for the hungry.
Crop Walk will be held this year on Sunday
May 2nd at 1:00 p.m.,
starting at Lincoln High School in the Rosegarden area of San Jose.
On
Feb. 15th, Bethel hosted a dinner at the Sunnyvale Armory for the Emergency Housing Consortium. EHC opens the armory during the cold winter
months to accommodate homeless men and women, offering dinner and a warm place
to sleep and shower. We are scheduled
to serve dinner this year on Sat. Feb.
14th (Valentine’s Day) and Sat.
Mar. 13th.
We
were unable to schedule a weekend workday with Habitat for Humanity in 2003.
Habitat broke ground in October for three new homes to be built in Santa
Clara in 2004, so with a little luck, we will be assigned a day on their
calendar sometime this spring or summer.
Watch the bulletin for sign-ups.
The
ministry team to Juvenile Hall
continues to conduct worship services for incarcerated youth the second Sunday
of every other month (beginning in January.)
We would like to thank Clayton
Johnson for his faithful service in leading this group for the last 7 years. Clayton would like to see this ministry
continue, and has hopes to expand his team.
Please call Clayton for more information.
Tom
Hoegel led two groups in 2003 on a Mission
to Mexico, to work with Esperanza to build houses for needy families living
in Tijuana. The youth group left on
April 21st for a week of work, sweat and fun. The adult group traveled on Sept. 25th
for three intense days with a cement mixer.
This year, the youth trip is
scheduled for April 17th – 21st, and the adult trip
will be in late Sept. or early Oct.
Contact Tom to be part of this amazing outreach.
Bethel
has long been associated with The Lord’s
Pantry located at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in South San Jose. In addition to donating canned goods on a
weekly basis, we also held a Turkey Drive for them on Mon. Dec. 15th. Our most special thanks to Bill and Marion Francis, who led this
ministry and delivered countless bags of groceries to the pantry over many
years. Thanks, too, to Lois Eid, for coordinating a new group of
volunteers for 2004.
Carol
Hildebrand continues to collect Campbell and Betty Crocker labels for the Navajo Evangelical Lutheran Mission in
Arizona. In 2003, Carol was able to
send 1600 labels to the mission for purchasing educational materials and playground
equipment. Carol also collects canceled
stamps to send to Bethphage, a facility for handicapped people in
Nebraska. Soup labels and stamps can be
dropped off in the Fireside Room. Many
thanks to Carol for her ten years of service.
Bethel
Quilters created 164 quilts
in 2003 (up from 139 in 2002), some of which were distributed locally, while
the balance was mailed to Lutheran World Relief. You’ll find anywhere from 12 to 17 talented Bethel women each
Monday morning in the Fireside Room, working to produce these beautiful quilts.
We
continue to be very active at the San
Jose Family Shelter. In 2003, we
provided six breakfasts and three dinners.
The shelter asked us to organize a Turkey Drive for them again this
year, so they in turn could offer a Thanksgiving dinner for past
residents. This was held on Nov. 17th,
and we collected 20 turkeys. In
December, Alice Isaacson approached
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans for funding to buy Christmas presents for
residents of the shelter. With $800.00*
in hand, Bethel School’s 5th and 6th grade class shopped
at Target for gifts, and also traveled to the shelter to help decorate for
Christmas. This year, breakfasts will be held on Feb. 15th, Apr. 18th,
Jun. 20th (Father’s Day), Aug. 15th, Oct. 17th,
and Dec. 19th. Look for
bulletin announcements for sign-up info.
(*Please note that Alice procured another $800.00 from Thrivent to buy Christmas presents for children served by the Lord’s Pantry.)
The
annual Junque Sale to benefit Sunnyvale FISH was held on Saturday
Nov. 1st at St. John’s Lutheran in Sunnyvale. Bethel volunteers donated, sorted, priced,
checked out, rang up, boxed and bagged upscale “junque” from 9 a.m. to 4
p.m. If you weren’t part of the 2003
extravaganza, make a note to stop by this
year on Saturday Nov. 6th (same bat time.)
The
Ten Thousand Villages holiday sale
on Nov. 22nd and 23rd was a resounding success. Fair trade items from countries all over the
world were sold, providing income to artisans and farmers, and beautiful
Christmas gifts to our friends and families.
Over $2000.00 was collected for Ten Thousand Villages. Thanks to everyone who shopped and made this
achievement possible.
Our
next Mission Outreach Ministry meeting
will take place on Mon. Feb.2nd
at 7:30 p.m. Please join us for a relaxing evening of
drinking tea, eating cookies, chatting and planning for 2004 (yes, in that
order.) We welcome your thoughts,
ideas, notions, impressions, opinions, and input (especially if the latter
includes anything chocolate.)
Your
Mission Outreach Ministry committee,
Lois
Brouillette, chair
Ed
Fox
Dale
Jones
Jackie
Jones