Notes from the Diaconate

The Deacons are so thankful for the generosity of the congregation, who have supplied food for our food pantry, purchased poinsettias for our shut-ins and those who are grieving, assisted in preparing the church for Christmas, and have given to the Deacons' Fund. This has helped us to care for those in need, both physically and spiritually.

The Deacons have affirmed the involvement of all ages in worship, and are committed to education about worship so that young and old alike can have a deeper understanding of our worship life together, so that we can bring praise and glory to God's name.

The Deacons will be removing the Christmas decorations from the Sanctuary following the Epiphany Pageant on Sunday, January 8th and invite all willing hands to join them.

Welcoming and Name Tags

Our motto is "I was a stranger and you welcomed me." In an effort to be more welcoming, your Deacons are asking everyone to wear name tags. Although you may have been around for a long time and feel that if we don't know you by now, then shame on us, but a newcomer meets many new people and will be much more comfortable if we make it easy for them to remember us. It also gives us the chance to see their name in writing so that we may welcome them by name which will reinforce our memory.

We would like to ask those entering to please wear their name tags, and to encourage those who have no name tag to make one for the day and put in a request for a more permanent, designed as you like, name tag. Andrew Jennings will provide the permanent one.

The Name Tag Board has been moved to the downstairs hallway for easy access for the majorities who enter through the back or side door. For those who prefer to pick up and leave their name tags at the front door, a tray will be provided until we see how much room will be needed to hold them. Thank you for helping us to live up to our motto.

Trustees

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Trustees!

After careful review by and with our Investment Committee, we have decided upon a path for our church's investments. We will be adopting a socially responsible investment policy and we will be working with O'Brien Management to help manage and advise us regarding these funds. O'Brien has worked with other churches and nonprofits and is very hands on. The process to move from Fidelity to O'Brien will be done carefully and thoroughly and we'll keep the congregation up to date as we move through this transition.
We're almost done with the landscaping and walkway updates in the church's front yard. Thank you for your patience as our church went through some needed work to make safety and cosmetic updates. We will continue to monitor and maintain the physical health of our church building. Your ongoing comments or suggestions are welcomed. Please place a written note in the Trustees mailbox along with your idea(s) to correct any issue. If there is a project you would like to see completed or that you would like to complete as a group please let us know.

- Jenny Carmichael

The Outreach Committee Report

Alternative Christmas Market
What a wonderful turn out at our 4th market held on December 4th!

We added a Christmas Food Voucher table in place of our usual Billerica Panty table since we learned the pantry had been blessed with generous business donations. You contributed $685 that will be used to purchase 26 ($25) and 1 - ($35) food gift cards. These were distributed to our local families in need of assistance.

Church World Services, a group similar to Heifer but less expensive, received $1,171. With these funds, they will be providing: 6 blankets, 10 rabbits, 5 hygiene kits, 5 vitamin supplements for 10 children for 1 year, 4 beehives, 150 chicks, 1 birthing kit, 1 set of 200 tree seedlings, 1 wheelbarrow, 10 mosquito nets, seeds & tools for 3 families, literacy classes for 2 people, 1 set of sewing supplies, 1 emergency cleanup bucket, 1 pig, 5 school kits, and 4 goats.

Your Equal Exchange Fair Trade table sold numerous bags of coffee, tea, and cocoa plus numerous delicious chocolate bars. Using the pre-order forms this year guaranteed that all requests could be met.

The ladies from the Lowell Transitional Living Center were delighted to join us. Due to your generosity, they were given a check for $1,170 to help feed and shelter the homeless in our area. Since federal, state and local funding were dramatically cut this year, this special agency had to eliminate their daily lunch program and decrease the number of meals they can serve per month.

You helped raise $3,621.75 desperately needed funds in just 1 hour. Is there no end to your generosity? You are truly caring people!!!

Our Food Pantry
Our food pantry has expanded beyond our expectations. You are providing us with more than 200 food items every month. We rotate our stock, expand our brands and deliver the rest to the town pantry. We can now help any family in our church with the basic staples. Now, anyone can go to the town pantry on the 4th Tuesday of the month and get what they give you. You can call us any day and we'll come down and unlock the pantry and you can choose a reasonable number of items and choose the brands you and your kids will actually eat. We have 9 different cereals, 4 kinds of macaroni & cheese, 5 kinds of pasta, etc. We're like a 7-11 without the refrigerator case or the lottery tickets. If you have a neighbor who needs a hand, have the neighbor call us. As long as our supplies hold up, we feed first our congregation and then others in our community. If we have food, no one should go hungry. And … if you're a member of this church, need pantry items but have no transportation, call us. I'll take your list over the phone, see which items we have and we'll deliver them to you. P.S. It really makes it easier for us if you bring your donations on the first Sunday of each month. However … we'll take them whenever we can get them.

Bob Miner for your Outreach Committee