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| July 2009 |
Make A Difference E-News |
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Opportunities to Serve:
Friday, July 10: Gethsemane UMC Summer Celebration: Help with set-up, activities or clean-up from 6-9 pm at this event featuring food, music and kickball. Contact A.J. at aaron.j.walton@gmail.com.
Saturday, August 1: St. Martin’s Health Fair. St. Luke’s will again partner with St. Martin’s Episcopal Church to serve 1,200 children and adults in southwest Houston. Volunteers will help families register to receive vital health services including immunizations, screenings and dental check-ups. 8:15am-1pm at the Westland YMCA on 10402 Fondren 77096, just south of Braeswood. lisensee@stlukes-hou.org.
Saturday, August 1 & 8: Christian Community Service Center’s (CCSC) Back-to School. Volunteer to distribute school uniforms and supplies to disadvantaged students at Faith Lutheran Church, 4600 Bellaire Blvd. (just inside Loop 610 at Avenue B) 7:45 am to 1:00 pm on the 1st and 7:30 am to noon or noon to 4:30 pm on the 8th. Contact: Julie Goodman at 713-961-3993, ext. 215 or seasonal@ccschouston.com.
August 8-15 (except Sunday): 1,000 Boots on the Ground, an MDUMC Mission project for IKE Relief -- home repair, beach cleanup, Galveston Food Bank. More details and sign up at www.MDUMCResponse.com.
Holly Hall Christian Retirement Community welcomes additional volunteers to help with activities for residents. If you'd like to participate in fun activities from gardening to golf to games and more, please contact Phyllis at plengyel@hollyhall.org.
KIDS HOPE USA is seeking Mentors, Prayer Partners and Teacher/Staff Encouragers for “at-risk” elementary school students at HISD’s Briarmeadow Charter School for 2009-2010. To volunteer or receive more information contact Karen McCarver, St. Luke’s KHUSA Director at 713-402-5152 or kmccarver@stlukes-hou.org.
Hospitality Apartments (housing for medical center patients undergoing treatment) is undergoing a summer refreshening project. If you’d like to get on the summer project call list, please email hospitalityapartments@yahoo.com.
PM Pals ("Kids Night Out" program for children with special needs and their siblings) seeks help to give some exhausted parents a night off the second Friday of each month from 5:45-9:45pm. Please contact Bevin Barrett at 713-402-5014 or pmpals@stlukes-hou.org. Volunteer training is provided.
Open Door Mission (Christian homeless shelter for men) is in critical need of volunteer tutors for its Education Center between 9 and 10 am Monday-Friday in beginning reading and math for GED tests. Please contact Nell McClellan, Education Manager, 713-921-7520, ext. 221.
Opportunities to Share:
Gethsemane UMC Summer Celebration is seeking door prizes. Please bring gift items and cards to Outreach by July 6th.
Sunday, July 26, August 2 & 9: CCSC’s Back-to School Fund Drive. A donation of $45 will get a new uniform, new shoes and new school supplies for a child living below the poverty level. Bring your donation to the Connection Center or put it in the offering plate.
Sunday, August 2: Commit2Care. Give blood and donate food at the same time! Blood will benefit the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center’s depleted blood supplies; non-perishable foods will stock the shelves at CCSC’s new food pantry at Gethsemane UMC. Make your appointment at www.giveblood.org and enter our code 4301or contact Alice at aking@stlukes-hou.org. Walk-ins are also welcome from 8 a.m.-1 p.m.
UPDATED July 2, 2009
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Kids' Meals
Through our partnership with Kids' Meals, St. Luke's members can help make sandwiches to go in sack lunches for preschool children in need living in Houston's Second Ward. Groups meet in the kitchen every Monday to make 500 meat-and-bread sandwiches that go in to the lunch sacks that Kids' Meals delivers to these children. It only takes a little over an hour to assemble, bag the sandwiches and clean up.
Funding for this very special program is in need! Please consider donating a portion of what you spend on your own lunch weekly to St. Luke's Kids' Meals.
Industrious men and women from St. Luke’s and the community meet in the Woodshop (on Edloe behind Cokesbury Bookstore) on Mondays and Tuesdays to work on various projects. Their main task is to make classic-style wooden toys for area churches and agencies to be given away at Christmas. In 2005, they made over 9,700 toys that were given away at agencies, churches and schools all over the county, part of Texas and into Mexico!
Recently the group received emails and photos from servicemen in Ghana where the toys were distributed to youngsters following medical treatment.
Please contact at aking@stlukes-hou.org for more information on how to become a part of this creative group.
Mission Trips
Bishop Janice Riggle Huie and a 35-member delgation from the United Methodist Church have just returned from Africa where they delivered mosquito nets to children. Susan Silvus, Outreach Director at St. Luke's, was a part of the team. St. Luke's 2007 Christmas Offering raised over $150,000 for the Nothing But Nets anti-malaria campaign. See Photos
Each year, St. Luke's Outreach Ministry sends our missioners out into the world to spread the good news of our faith and help those in need, but 2009 marks a change in our missions program. Due to the economy, the aftermath of Hurricane Ike, and international safety concerns, Outreach Ministries has decided to focus our hands-on missions activities on those in need in our Houston community.
However, to continue our 10-year effort of support for missions in Kenya and to also combat the global water crisis, the St. Luke's Easter Offering will benefit Living Water International (www.water.cc). Our goal is to raise enough donations for LWI to drill and install two clean water wells in Kenya. To make a donation, go to www.H2ochallenge.org.
Blood & Food Drives
The Gift of Life can only be given by a donor. There is no replacement for blood except by what is freely given by others. If there is not enough blood on the shelves surgeries have to be postponed and those who need regular transfusions may not receive what they need. Please give so others may live.
At the same time, you can bring non-perishable food items to fill the shelves of a local food pantry.
Commit2Care Blood & Food Drives for 2009
June 7 August 2 October 4 December 13
To sign up and reserve your time go to www.giveblood.org The code for St. Luke's is 4301.
Newgate Connection is St. Luke's Restorative Justice arm. Volunteers pray with, write to and mentor prisoners at the tri-prison Visitor's Center in Dayton. 5,251 visitors went through the Visitor's Center doors in 2006 as they waited to see a friend or family member. The Visitor's Center provided appropriate clothing for the visitors, toys and books for children and an air-conditioned, relaxing environment in which to wait for their loved one.
Project Hope of Houston serves to provide a support system designed to assist "at-risk" high school students by providing trained mentors to encourage and discuss their concerns, achieve their goals, achieve graduation and pursue higher education. St. Luke's is in partnership with Project Hope by providing mentors to Lee High School (HISD) students. Contact Alice King with inquiries as to how you can be involved in Project Hope at aking@stlukes-hou.org.
Spanish Alpha
Spanish Alpha is an on-going course in Christianity that is offered in Spanish for day-laborers in the Gulfton area. It meets in a local Pizza Hut on Tuesday mornings where there is a video and follow-up discussion on issues such as:
Who is Jesus? Why did he die? Does God answer prayer?
If you speak Spanish and are available on Tuesday mornings, please contact Alan Nash at alanwnash@sbcglobal.net.
Pet Ministry
The Pet Ministry is a group of caring individuals who bring joy to many lives by their visits with their furry or feathered friends. The Pet Ministry schedule is as follows:
- 1st Saturday of the month - Clarewood House (senior citizen home) from 12:30 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. at 7400 Clarewood Drive
- 3rd Thursday of the month - The Seniors' Place (memory care facility) from 10:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. at 2714 Joanel St.
- 3rd Saturday of the month - The Center (serving mentally impaired adults) from 1:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. at 3550 W. Dallas St.
Please be advised that ALL animals making Pet Ministry visits must first have a certified behavior evaluation. Please contact Alice King in Outreach for an appointment at aking@stlukes-hou.org or 713-402-5067.
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