The Mission Committee (Donna DuPont, Lori Shoup, and Julie Whalen) has been working to prepare our “Mission Projects” for 2008.
Here are our monthly projects and how you can help Rehoboth reach out to those in other countries and to people in our own backyards:
JANUARY: The Souper Bowl www.souperbowl.org
February 3 is the official Super Bowl XLII in Arizona, but those of us at Rehoboth will be collecting for the SOUPER BOWL. In 1990, a Super Bowl Sunday prayer inspired a group of young people to do something more than celebrate a football game. They created the Souper Bowl of Caring, and have mobilized youth across the country to raise more than $41 million for people in need. The collections from Rehoboth will go to help soup kitchens in Beaver County. The entire month of January will be devoted to the awareness of the Souper Bowl of Caring with it concluding on February 3.
FEBRUARY/MARCH: Habitat for Humanity www.beavercountyhabitat.org
Habitat for Humanity builds and renovates houses in partnership with people in need, and then sell the houses to the homeowner partners. Homeowners are selected by local affiliates based on their need for housing, ability to repay a no-profit mortgage, and willingness to partner with Habitat. Mortgage payments contribute to a Fund for Humanity, which in turn provides the money to build more houses. Because of Habitat's no-interest, no-profit loans, and because the houses are principally built with volunteer labor, mortgage payments are affordable for low-income partners. Habitat for Humanity of Beaver County was organized in 1992 and has completed 33 house in Beaver County. Rehoboth will be collecting and volunteering for this wonderful organization during the month of February and March.
What should our goal be?
$25 - equivalent to the cost of a building permit
$44 - equivalent to the cost partner families pay per square foot
$75 - equivalent to the cost of a window
$150 - equivalent to the cost of a front door
$500 - equivalent to the cost of siding
$1,000 - equivalent to the cost of a porch
$2,500 - equivalent to the cost of flooring for the entire house
$5,000 - equivalent to the cost of an HVAC unit
APRIL: Cystic Fibrosis Walk-a-thon www.cff.org
Join your Rehoboth family as we pull together in helping to find a cure for Cystic Fibrosis. You can sponsor a walker or become a walker for the Cystic Fibrosis Great Stride Walk on May 10 beginning at 1:00 PM at the Brady’s Run Lodge.
Matthew Gerovac deals with this terrible disease – every day. This little trooper has brought many smiles to all of us at Rehoboth and we intend to embrace this fellow as he continues his journey of living with CF. Help us to make a difference.
MAY: Global Barnyard
During this month will be collecting donations for the Global Barnyard Project. You may purchase your own animal or donate to a general fund. Envelopes and order forms are available in the newsletter and in the bulletins throughout May.
JUNE: Women’s Center of Beaver County and Meals on Wheels
JULY: CAST Churches Are Serving Together
We will be collecting back-to-school donations for Beaver County children Backpacks, shoe certificates, clothing and school supplies will be taken to the CAST office for distribution to local children.
AUGUST: Mission:Action
The Mission:Action ladies have been providing quilts and layettes to Lutheran World Relief for many years. Each layette is required to have two sleepers, two onesies, one receiving blanket, one sweater and six cloth diapers with a set of diaper pins. These items may also be gently used. The ladies are also always in need of monetary contributions for the mailing of these items and also sheets and material for quilts.
SEPTEMBER: Women’s Prison www.lydiasplace.org
This is a mission sponsored by Lydia’s Place. This organization offers long term support to female offenders and children of incarcerated parents, targeting their specific needs.
Harvest Home
Each year, the Women of the ELCA collect non-perishable food items to be donated to Christ Lutheran Church in Beaver Falls.
OCTOBER: Global Health Bandage
Bandages will be crocheted or torn from flat bed sheets and sent to Global Health Ministries, a partner agency of the ELCA.
NOVEMBER: Global Market
The Global Market will once again visit Rehoboth. What a great way to help people from around the world, by purchasing fairly traded items. Join us as we kick-off the Christmas shopping season. The “Market” will be open on Saturday, November and Sunday, November .
DECEMBER: Sunday School Christmas project
The Sunday School will once again be collecting for a specific organization to help make Christmas a little merrier for those in need. Watch for more information in November.
We continually collect food donations for CAST. These are non-perishable items that are not opened or out-dated. There is a basket located in the narthex.
The Mission:Action ladies also accept sheets and blankets any time of the year. They have been sewing and assembling quilts for many years. Look for the Mission:Action basket.
Rehoboth also supports the Yellow Ribbon Girls. This organization sends “treats” to our service men and women serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. Each month a different snack is requested. See the bulletin or newsletter for details.
Donna DuPont continues to collect aluminum cans for our Senegal missionary friends. The cans are recycled and the money collect is used for children’s immunizations.
We are qualified to participate in a recycling project sponsored by TerraCycle’s Bottle Brigade. 20 ounce soda bottles are being collected and turned in to earn $.05 per bottle to benefit our designated charity: World Hunger.
We will begin to recycle used cell phones to be donated to the Women's Center of Beaver County.
We are continuing to increase awareness of a program utilizing GoodSearch ( www.goodsearch.com ) which is a search engine on the Internet. Each time someone goes to this website and uses their search engine (powered by Yahoo), they donate about a penny per search to a charity the user designates. We recommended supporting one of the following charities: Lutheran World Relief, Lutheran Disaster Response, The One Campaign, Heifer International, Habitat for Humanity (Pittsburgh branch), Tuberous Sclerosis Alliance, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, or even our very own Rehoboth Evangelical Lutheran Church. In 2007, Rehoboth earned $3.81 from 289 searches. Even pennies can add up to make a difference.
Thanks to the many people who so willingly give to our mission projects. We are making a difference.
