Outreach News June & July

A VERY BUSY BUT EXCITING TIME OF YEAR!

• Month of June – Food Drive
• June 17th to July 15th  –  School Supply Drive
• July 15th – Pack a Backpack
• July 28th – Delmar Gardens
• July 29th – Prepare Food for Co-op Monday Night Dinner

JUNE FOOD DRIVE – The Semi-Annual drive in June is the month in which St. Matthew’s focuses on collecting additional items for the Southeast Gwinnett Cooperative Ministries.  In addition to collecting our usual items of dried beans, jelly, and shampoo, the coop is asking for donations of canned pineapple. The pineapple is always in high demand and just seems to fly off the shelves.

SCHOOL SUPPLIES DRIVE – Mid-June through July 15th we will be collecting school supplies for the clients of Seven Springs. You will find a list of supplies on the Outreach bulletin board and a link to the Amazon Wish List below.   On Sunday, 7/15, after the service we will fill backpacks with the school supplies.

Purchase from the Amazon Wish List

SING-ALONG / BIRTHDAY NURSING HOME MINISTRY AT DELMAR GARDENS

4-5 PM SATURDAY JULY 28

Come join musicians from St Matthew’s to sing Christian songs or help serve cake, ice cream and punch and mingle with the clients at the nursing home in Lawrenceville. For more information please contact Heather Pratt, Mindy Barringer or Chuck Marsh.

FOOD PREPARATION FOR MONDAY NIGHT DINNER AT THE CO-OP

After the service on 7/29 we will prepare sandwiches, cut and package watermelon, and package cookies that will be served at the co-op on Monday evening, 7/30.



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Welcoming the Stranger — Our Refugee Family Update

Refugee family: Zeba P. and her three children, Judith , age 13,  Arron, age 10, and Jason, age 7, are from Pakistan, and arrived here June 7.

Their apartment is fully furnished (Thanks to all who donated!) They could use a washer and dryer, so if you have a working used one or know someone who does, let Mark DiGiovanni know: 678 227-8142.

If you want to help Zeba and her family, you can offer to take her and the children to parks, museums, shopping, etc. as they don’t have a car (or a driver’s license) yet. And dropping a gift card in the mail will always be helpful – and greatly appreciated. For information on contacting or visiting Zeba and the family please contact the church office, or see this Sunday’s bulletin announcements.



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Stephen Ministers Look A Gift Horse In the Mouth

Using a little horse sense, Stephen Ministers from First United Methodist Church (Lawrenceville) and St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church (Snellville) came to Winning Strides for a unique continuing education experience.

In equine assisted learning, we often use metaphors to reach our objective. Each Stephen Minister was asked to choose an item in the arena that represented a spiritual gift or strength they use in their care giving as a Stephen Minister. Some examples included being a good listener, having compassion, being trustworthy, skilled, and full of faith. Then, with the horse representing a care receiver, the group had to move the horse from one end of the arena to the other without touching it.

This was a harder task than they thought, since care receivers (and horses) often have a “mind of their own.” But in the end, they learned:
·     sometimes you have to lead and sometimes you have to gently push
·     care receivers get “stuck” on their journey
·     patience is always required
·     you never give up and always stick with your care receiver.

Even with torrential rains, an earlier tornado warning, and cool weather, spirits were high and laughter abundant.

 

Stephen Ministers are trained care givers, who are sometimes called the After People.

They are ready to come alongside anyone who has suffered a crises in their life and provide comfort and support for as long after as needed.

Stephen Ministry was started 40+ years ago and is active in 13,000 congregations.

For more information, visit their website at www.stephenministry.org.



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June Food Drive for SE Gwinnett Cooperative Ministries

JUNE FOOD DRIVE- June is the month in which St. Matthew’s focuses on collecting additional items for the Southeast Gwinnett Cooperative Ministries.
In addition to collecting our usual items of dried beans, jelly, and shampoo, the coop is asking for donations of canned pineapple. The pineapple is always in high demand and just seems to fly off the shelves.

Beginning on Sunday, June 3rd, the Outreach Committee will be handing out bags with attached food list after both services, so please fill bag and return to barrel outside of the Parish Hall.  All items will be promptly delivered to the Coop.



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Police Appreciation Week

St. Matthew’s partnered with Snellville Police Department as part of the One Congregation One Precinct (1C1P) initiative started by Movement Forward. The program is designed to foster better communication and cooperation between law enforcement and local congregations. Part of the program is showing appreciation for the Snellville Police Department, but during Police Appreciation week (May 13-19), we decided we would honor two of our very own parishioners who are police officers! Dennis Doane is an officer with the Gwinnett County Police Department and John Hansen is an officer with Dekalb County Police Department. On Sunday, May 13, Mother Liz presented both of them with a police car box filled with a gift card, candy, St. Michael medal, and donuts!

On the same day Mother Liz blessed the thin blue line prayer blankets made by the Knit, Crochet and Pray ministry to be given to police officers who are injured or are sick.

St. Matthew’s showered the Snellville department with love throughout the week with Chick-fil-A biscuits on Tuesday morning, home cooked dinners on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights, donations of donuts, chips, candy and police car treat boxes filled with all kinds of goodies! We were even able to donate treat bags to the Lilburn Police department on Wednesday because of your generosity.

While Police Appreciation week may be over you can still make our Snellville Police department feel the St Matthew’s love by making a homemade birthday treat for an officer’s birthday. If you would like more information about this wonderful outreach ministry, please contact Becky Olbon at beckyolbon@yahoo.com or by calling 770-923-9186. We so appreciate all our police do to keep our communities safe. God’s blessing on all who serve this or other communities.



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“Go” Summit Saturday, February 10 8:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

If the old Diocesan Ministry Fair and the annual Global Mission Conference had a baby, it would be the Go Summit: Local and Global Mission in the Diocese of Atlanta. This conference will be held February 10 at the Cathedral of St. Philip.
Collaborate with Bishop Robert C. Wright,  Toxic Charity author Robert Lupton, and those in our diocese working on innovations in both local and global ministries. Please encourage those in your ministry with big ideas, dreams, frustrations, and questions to register and attend.
Click here to learn more.



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2017 Car Show Benefits A Place of Seven Springs

Over 100 vintage cars, trucks, and motorcycles registered and competed for trophies and bragging rights in the Seventh Annual St. Matthew’s Car Show. Many thanks to all who helped make this such a successful event. Funds raised will benefit The Place of Seven Springs Ministries in Snellville.




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St. Matthew’s Talent Show September 17

  
Sunday, September 17 
5:30 p.m. 
Followed by 
ICE CREAM SOCIAL!
in the parish hall
$10/person, $25/family
All proceeds go to
Southeast Gwinnett Cooperative Ministry
St. Matthew’s, we’re calling you to come and show us all how much amazing talent this church has. We’re looking for performance and artistic talent for this year’s talent show. If you have something that you want to showcase, please come and tell Liz Livermont by September 7th.
For the first time ever, we’re wanting to showcase art pieces. So, if you have a painting, drawing, sculpture, or pottery you want to display for this event, please let us borrow it for a time. All ages are encouraged to participate in any way. This is a wonderful event and it’s amazing to see how much talent we have in this church.
Whether or not you have a talent you want to share, we hope you will come and support everyone else on September 17th at 5:30.
Tickets will be on sale starting August 27th after the services. All proceeds go to benefit the Southeast Gwinnett Cooperative Ministries.
Let’s have a show to help support an incredible organization!
Liz Livermont, Director



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Hurricane and Flood Relief

The recent hurricanes in Texas and Florida, and subsequent flooding in Houston has been devastating. It’s going to take the folks years to recover. Imagine having to leave your home and everything in it to be destroyed by floods.

To donate to Hurricane and flood relief through Episcopal Relief and Development,  click here.



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