Supporting the following missions and charities:
- Church World Service
- Habitat for Humanity
- Heifer Project
- Society of St. Andrew Potato Project
- Red Bird Mission
- Stillman Sawyer Family Service Center
Our annual Alternative Christmas Fair will be held December 1 and 8, 2019, following worship. In Alternative Christmas gift giving you remember the true meaning of Christ’s birth. In honor of a friend or family member, you can buy a share of a farm animal… you can buy a blanket… you can buy materials to help build a home… you can pay for shipping potatoes to hungry people… you can support United Methodist mission work in Appalachia… or, you can support Stillman Sawyer Family Service Center in Harbor City. Do your Christmas Shopping here; items are priced as low as $1.00; and your credit card can be used for purchases.
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.
Elkhart Corporate Center
28606 Phillips St.
P.O. Box 968
Elkhart, IN 46515
800-297-1516 or 574-264-3102
Fax: 574-262-0966
info@cwsglobal.org
https://cwsglobal.org
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
1 World Avenue,
Little Rock, AR 72202
855.9HUNGER (855.948.6437)
https://www.heifer.org
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
322 West Lamar Street
Americus, Georgia 31709-3543 USA
1-800-HABITAT (1-800-422-4828) or 1-229-924-6935
https://www.habitat.org
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.
http://www.endhunger.org/Video/mp4/TN-90-SoSA.mp4
SOCIETY OF ST. ANDREW POTATO PROJECT
3383 Sweet Hollow Rd.
Big Island, Virginia 24526-8517
800-333-4597
Info@EndHunger.org
https://endhunger.org
STILLMAN SAWYER FAMILY SERVICE CENTER, which is located in Harbor City, provides the Social Services for the Salvation Army, Torrance Corps. The service center has its own budget. The center distributes groceries and provides referrals to shelters; and they plan to have clothing available. They offer times for fellowship, prayer, and Bible study. We also collect canned and packaged food throughout the year for the center.
STILLMAN SAWYER FAMILY SERVICE CENTER
820 Lomita Blvd
Harbor City, CA 90710
(310) 782-8841
Family Service Center
“RED BIRD MISSION and Clinic have been providing ministries in this region of the Appalachian Mountains since 1921. Today the need remains critical in this isolated, rural distressed area. Chronic poverty, lack of jobs, poor housing, and rugged mountainous terrain provide obstacles to a fuller life for the residents of this area. Red Bird Mission and Clinic strives to meet these needs through ministry in five areas: Education, Health and Wellness, Community Outreach, Economic Opportunity, and Community Housing Improvement” (From their website).
RED BIRD MISSION
70 Queendale Center
Beverly, KY 40913-9607
(606) 598-3155
rbmission.org
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).