OUTREACH NEWS

 

Walmart is sponsoring a grant to 50 food banks in the US!

The recipients will be chosen based on votes received through Facebook.  If the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma receives a grant, our local CONCERN will receive a new commercial refrigerator.  You can vote as often as once a day through October 5 through this page:  http://wm8.walmart.com/Hunger/#/

 

**********

Wine For Water October 9TH

Since 2009, Disciples Christian Church has sent five groups to Chacraseca, Nicaragua, through the ministry of JustHope and has likewise hosted many guests from Nicaragua.

Among other things, DCC has helped build new homes, provided school scholarships, contributed to the community’s clean water project, assisted in the opening of a hardware store and constructed a playground!

The 7th annual fundraiser for JustHope, Wine for Water, is October 9th at the Greenwood Community Center in Tulsa, and DCC has a table for ten reserved.  Money raised will help this dynamic ministry continue its good work.

If you’d like to attend this gala affair, tickets are $55, and your checks can be made out to JustHope and sent to the church.  Please consider it.  We’re planning to take the van.  Questions can be referred to Connie or Bill Inglish or Kay or Kevin Bjornen.

*********

Would You Like To Go To Nicaragua?

Seventeen members of Disciples Christian Church have been to Nicaragua since we began our association with the community of Chacraseca in 2009.  Would you like to go?  There will be an informational meeting on October 12th at 4:00 at the church for any with interest.  The Outreach Commission is hoping to schedule a group sometime in 2015.

Participants who’ve gone to Chacraseca have returned with new perspectives on poverty and connections with sisters and brothers in the third world.    It can be a profound experience of ministry.  

*********

Putting the FUN in Fundraiser for Family Promise!

Disciples Christian Church is participating in a fundraiser for Family Promise of Washington County. This program should put the word "Fun" back into fundraising.

The program is called "Houses for Change". Houses for Change is an award-winning educational crafts project for children. It helps raise awareness of homelessness and raise funds to help families. It is a national campaign that answers the question, "What can I do to help?".

It starts with a plain, house-shaped cardboard box with a coin slot, as shown. The boxes will be decorated and then used to collect change which will be used to help families in need. The box can be used over and over and become an ongoing fundraising tool to sustain our chapter of Family Promise.

We are trying to multiply the impact of this program by asking that the boxes be sponsored. This would be a direct contribution to Family Promise of Washington County which will launch the program. Sponsorship can be as little as $10. After a Houses for Change box is sponsored, children and youth are commissioned to decorate the box. The decorated boxes are entered into a contest to choose the ones that best reflect the theme. Winners will receive a modest prize and their boxes will be placed prominently in churches, businesses and art venues around town. Here is a listing of some of the sponsorship scenarios I can think of.

• A grandparent sponsors their grandchild to decorate a house for collection at a residence.

• A Sunday school teacher sponsors their class to decorate a house to be located for weekly tithing.

• A member of a the church who is also a teacher sponsors her class to decorate a house in the classroom.

• A youth pastor challenges his kids to create the best decorated house in Bartlesville.

• A small business owner sponsors a child to decorate a box so that they can use near the checkout in their store.

DCC is a participating host church in Family Promise. The organization has made lots of progress and now has secured a day center, transportation options, 501(c)(3) status and momentum going into the 4th quarter of 2014. Lots of people at DCC are working hard to help this program get started. This is an excellent opportunity to increase awareness of the organization and to educate the need to help homeless families to our children and youth.

I will be available after second service to distribute the boxes and give more information about the contest on Sunday, September 14th. You can also contact me by phone or email and we figure something out another time.

Thank you!

Kevin Bjornen