alternative christmas fair
Supporting the following missions and charities:
- Red Bird Mission
- Heifer Project
- Habitat for Humanity
- Church World Service
- Society of St. Andrew Potato Project
- His House
Our annual Alternative Christmas Fair will be held in our social hall Sundays, November 25 and December 2, 2007 following both worship hours. Do your Christmas gift shopping here; items are priced as low as $1.00. You will have the opportunity to purchase Christmas gifts in the names of relatives and friends, with the money directed toward agencies which assist in mission work throughout the world.
RED BIRD MISSION and Clinic are mission agencies in Appalachia related to the General Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church. We have chosen to support the work of Fred and Pat Haggard at the Mission School in Beverly, KY. Fred is the principal of the high school, and Pat teaches math in the same school.
FRED AND PAT HAGGARD
RED BIRD MISSION, INC.
HC 69, Box 700
Beverly, Ky 40913
(606) 599-3155
HEIFER PROJECT International combats hunger, alleviates poverty and restores the environment by providing livestock, training, and related services to small-scale farmers. The goal is to strengthen rural families and communities by improving nutrition and teaching skills for self-reliance. A key concept is that each recipient must pass on to others some of the offspring of the farm animals they receive, thus helping the community to become self-sustaining.
HEIFER PROJECT
P.O. Box 808
Little Rock, AR 72203
(800) 422-0474
HABITAT FOR HUMANITY helps to combat homelessness and poverty by building decent, simple houses with volunteer labor and materials. Homes are sold to families at no profit and financed with no-interest loans. These families also help with the construction, when they are able. We have chosen to support the South Bay/Long Beach affiliate.
HABITAT FOR HUMANITY
4320 Atlantic Ave., Ste. 216
Long Beach, CA 90807
(562) 427-4663
CHURCH WORLD SERVICE works with churches in more than 80 countries, in programs of social and economic development, emergency response, assistance to refugees, education, and ecumenical relationships. For our Alternative Christmas program we support the Blanket Program, which provides comfort and warmth with blankets for $5 each.
CHURCH WORLD SERVICE
2235 N. Lake Ave., Ste, 211
Altadena, CA 91001
(888) 297-2767
SOCIETY OF ST. ANDREW POTATO PROJECT is an ecumenical ministry that feeds the hungry by saving fresh produce that is rejected by commercial markets because of slight imperfections. These 45,000-pound loads are redirected to soup kitchens, Native American reservations, food pantries, low-income housing areas, and local churches. Since the food is donated, more than 91% of funds are used for repackaging and transportation. The Potato Project delivers about 17 million pounds of food per year to the nation's hungry.
SOCIETY OF ST. ANDREW POTATO PROJECT
3383 Sweet Hollow Rd.
Big Island, VA 24526-3054
(800) 333-4597
HIS HOUSE provides the Social Services for the Salvation Army, Torrance Corps. Services include monthly USDA food distribution, daily sack lunches, Family Literacy program, afterschool tutoring, immunization clinics, referrals to substance abuse programs and battered women's shelters, "Operation Backpack" (back-to-school supplies and clothes), "Project Layette" (mothers and newborns referred by local hospitals), and the "Angel Tree" hristmas toy program.
HIS HOUSE
20830 S. Vermont
Torrance, CA 90502
(310) 782-8841
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Alternative Christmas?This program is to offer a change in the way we celebrate Christmas. Most of us have too much stuff, and really do not need or want to get more stuff for Christmas, but we all want to give something. This program can satisfy this need by our giving to someone less fortunate in the name of the person on your gift list.
How does it work?
Choose a mission project that you know the person on your gift list would be proud of supporting. Give to one of the Alternative Christmas Fair mission projects in the name of this person and send them one of the supplied cards that indicates what their gift was and how it is helping others. These gift cards are available at the displays.
Who can we support?
Refer to the descriptions inside this brochure for the different missions and charities that our church has chosen to support during the Alternative Christmas Fair.
Where can we participate?
The Alternative Christmas Fair celebration will take place in the church social hall following the morning services.
"Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me... Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me" (Matt 25:34-35, 40, NRSV).
