Village of Hope – Haiti

Each year, Faith has two service projects that benefit the Village of Hope School in Haiti:  Christmas in Haiti and Back to School.  This year, we were blessed to be able to support Lizabeth, who traveled to Haiti, with donations of peanut butter, suitcases and deodorant.

In addition, Faith families continue to sponsor children at the School.  We will continue to sponsor the Village of Hope School in 2010 with both service projects and other donations.

Faith’s first mission team to Haiti returned on November 11, 2008.  Lizabeth lead the team which painted the kitchen of Village of Hope School, built and painted student desks and special computer lab stations for the school, as well as visiting the Little Children of Jesus Orphanage, Grace Mission and Orphanage, both of which, along with Village of Hope School, are sponsored by the Lazarus Project – Haiti.  The team also toured the Food for the Poor center in Port au Prince which serves meals daily to several thousand families at two sites in Port au Prince.  During the summer of 2008 tropical storms that completely flooded the Haitian city of Gonaives, Food for the Poor provided meals by helicopter until the roads and bridges were restored to allow overland traffic.

Art for Humanity

Art for Humanity, a non-profit humanitarian organization dedicated to assisting the poor people of Honduras, is accepting donations of used computer equipment.  Their minimum requirements are:  Pentium II (although III is preferred), and can include CPUs, printers, keyboards and/or mice.  Sorry, no MACs – PCs only.  No monitors unless they are LCD flat screen.  Hard drives are erased and a new Spanish-language operating system installed before shipment to Honduras.

Shoes! AFH is also seeking donations of new or gently used shoes.  Your contribution will make a BIG difference in the lives of the poor in Honduras, the second poorest country in the western hemisphere. A pair of used shoes allows a poor child to attend school and allows an adult to get a job. A pair of shoes also promotes better health through a reduction in soil borne parasites as well as infections from cuts. Closed toe, tie-type shoes are needed. Tennis shoes are greatly appreciated.  Both adult and children sizes are needed. Children and youth sizes are especially needed. Size 11 and larger are not needed. Collection bins are located by the entrance to the Sanctuary and in the Fellowship Hall/Jackson Street entrance.

Monetary Donations: The IRS has granted Art for Humanity the status of a 501c(3) non-profit organization.  For tax purposes, Art for Humanity gladly provides receipts for all donations.  To donate money or goods, contact Dave at 703-671-5440 or frankedavid54@hotmail.com.

Meals on Wheels

Our Mission:  To deliver meals to the housebound, many of them elderly but others incapacitated by illness or injury.

Our Method:  Pre-assigned volunteer dispatchers, drivers, and riders assemble at the First Presbyterian Church (Carlin Springs Road and N. Vermont), unload a truck filled with prepared and sorted food, and fan out to cover 16 routes in the county.  Each route takes about an hour.

www.mealsonwheelsarlington.com
E-mail:  mowvolunteer@yahoo.com
Volunteers phone:  (703) 931-4990 (Pat)
Clients phone:  (703) 522-0811
Faith Lutheran Coordinator:  Kay (703) 379-0445

We need to add people to Faith’s list of volunteers.  If you are interested and able, please contact Kay at (703) 379-0445 or by e-mail at bnk8@earthlink.net. Here’s what the volunteers do.

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP?  Volunteers can serve in any of three ways:

1. Dispatchers:  report at the church about 10:30 a.m.; help check in drivers, troubleshoot problems, etc. Training provided.
2. Drivers: a valid driver’s license and vehicle is required. You are assigned a specific route; be at the church by 11:00 a.m. and are usually finished by 1:00 p.m.
3. Riders: We often need people to ride with other drivers.

If you’d like to be part of this wonderful ministry to the homebound in our community, please call Kay at 703-379-0445.

Just Neighbors

Just Neighbors Immigration Legal Services is a tax-exempt organization whose mission is to provide immigration legal services to low-income immigrants and refugees of all faiths and nationalities through their offices in Northern Virginia.  Through community outreach efforts and volunteer programs, Just Neighbors fosters mutual understanding between immigrants and the larger community in which they live.

Just Neighbors seeks volunteers to provide general administrative and IT support, translation and interpretation services, and paralegal and attorney support.  Volunteering a few hours a month at Just Neighbors not only benefits the organization and its clients, but is also rewarding for the volunteers.

Just Neighbors staffs an evening community clinic monthly at the Arlington and Herndon offices.  If you are someone who would like to volunteer their services for the clinic, Just Neighbors provides supervision and training for volunteers.   Point of contact is Dave (703-671-5440) or Just Neighbors at www.justneighbors.org

Hunger

Social Concerns Ministries thanks you for your contributions to the food drive in 2009. We were able to deliver two truckloads of food to AFAC and over $800 in food assistance! They were very appreciative of our donations because the food shelves were relatively bare when Faith delivered the food.

As you know, the hardships of the economic crisis do not follow the daily or weekly rises and falls of Wall Street, and all the food we delivered to AFAC has already been consumed. Therefore, we are mounting yet another food drive for the month of May to assist with the shortfall in donations and increased demand from the hungry.

However, this time we will be attempting a more creative approach by starting a competition to the most creative construction of donated food. We are encouraging individuals or teams of congregants to make something out of their donated food; be it, houses of cereal, cars out of cans, creatures out of creamed corn, playgrounds of pasta, etc. The only rules of the competition are

1) the creation cannot compromise the access to the food inside the building “bricks”

2) no damage that would cause spoiling of food inside

3) the tallest point on the creation must be no greater than four feet off the ground.

See some other congregations’ inspired solutions in the May issue of The Key.   Of course all food donations are welcome as well. We encourage you to work together on a creative approach to collecting food for the hungry. Don’t forget to take a photo of your “food creation.” All food donations can be delivered to the Fellowship Hall during May. We’ll have the collection tables set up as we did last month.

Don’t forget our pledge for continuing support of the ELCA World Hunger Campaign. Everyone is encouraged to commit to giving $10 a month to help end world hunger. Look for the blue and white envelopes in the pews or simply write “World Hunger” on your check. There are also forms for checking debit or credit card donations located at Information Central in the Fellowship Hall.

Prison Ministries

Good News Jail & Prison Ministry

The Good News Jail & Prison Ministry continues to need Faith’s support. We have several volunteers who work with inmates on a regular basis. In addition, Faith provides reading materials for the prison library. If you would like to learn more about the Good News Prison Ministry, please contact Jim F. (talisman@erols.com) or Liz S. (lizabethdawn@hotmail.com).

Offender Aid and Restoration (OAR)

Offender Aid and Restoration, OAR, is a well-regarded Arlington organization working to support and encourage those reentering society. They are always in need of backacks, totes, and sports bags for their clients. Please help the needy by placing these items in the appropriate container near the Jackson Street entrance.

Family Freezer

Faith Family Freezer was a new project for 2008 and one that was presented at the congregational budget forums. The Family Freezer project began in August and is stocked with meals that can be provided to members of the Faith Family when they are in need of a helping hand.

Emergency Response

An idea stemming from the congregational budget forum in 2007 was the need to have emergency funds for both local and worldwide projects and donations. For example, worldwide project funds could be used to send clothing and supplies to Task Force Med/Pharmacy in Afghanistan or emergency supplies for tornado victims in Missouri. In the past, Faith has sponsored mission trips to Biloxi to rebuild that area after Hurricane Katrina and to Haiti to assist with Project Lazarus.

Doorways

Faith continues to support Doorways for Women and Families (formerly TACTS) throughout the year. In 2008, we collected cell phones which were recycled and programmed to dial 911, then distributed to women who may be in dangerous domestic situations.

Arlington Street People Assistance Network (A-SPAN)

2008 was year of change for A-SPAN. In early 2008, A-SPAN decided to end its decades long relationship with the county and attempted to close the county-owned Emergency Winter Shelter due to building safety concerns. The County kept the shelter open under different management. While Faith continues to support A-SPAN and all of its efforts, we also need to continue to support the homeless community of Arlington; therefore Faith continues to support the homeless at the Emergency Winter Shelter in the Courthouse area of Arlington.

In addition, Faith provides bagged meals to over 80 homeless clients of A-SPAN each month as part of the Homeless Bagged Meal Program. This number has increased by 20 meals due to the closing of a large homeless shelter in Washington, D.C. and an increase in the number of homeless in Arlington. In addition to meals, Faith provides personal care items, socks, donated sweatshirts/sweaters and bibles.

The number one request of the homeless clients in the area is for a pair of new socks. Please consider donating NEW men’s socks (travel-size foot) and body powder to share with those less fortunate. Look for a bin by the Jackson Street entrance.