Saturday of Service – September 7, 2019

An Intergenerational Day of Service to the Community

 “I slept and I dreamed that life is all joy.
I woke and I saw that life is all service.
I served and I saw that service is joy.”
Kahlil Gibran

Signups for our 2nd annual Saturday of Service (SOS) are now underway. Please sign up by no later than September 1 for one of the activities listed below. If any of these is already full, we will contact you with other suggested options needing your hands and your heart. If you wish to order a navy blue Foothills t-shirt (identical to last year’s), please do so no later than August 18. We hope that everyone participating will wear one during the morning to help us recognize our own team members and to be a fond reminder of your service experience.

You may sign up online for your preferred activity or for a t-shirt HERE, on the clipboard in the courtyard on Sunday mornings, or by contacting Melissa King.

Schedule

8:00 am       Light breakfast and blessing in the Parish Hall (PH)

8:30-9:00    Carpool to offsite location or help set up the PH for onsite activities

9:00-Noon   Service time

Work site choices this year:

• Onsite (Parish Hall):

*  Humane Society Silicon Valley (HSSV) – make simple fleece blankets for shelter cats and dogs.

*  Operation Care & Comfort (OCC) – assemble 100 gallon-size care bags for overseas troops and write short enclosure notes.

• Offsite organizations:

*  Animal Assisted Happiness (AAH) – do farm cleaning, feeding and exercising tasks or paint one of the animal pens for this organization supporting youth with needs.

*  Collective Roots – help with gardening in support of healthy food options for low-income families.

*  Kara – assist with preparations for annual Memory Walk and Run for this organization providing grief and recovery services.

*  Recovery Café – perform much-appreciated deep cleaning of main café, kitchen, classrooms, Fireside Room and restrooms at the healing community for those traumatized by addiction, homelessness and mental health challenges.

Our sincere hope is that you will leave at noon with a feeling of service, accomplishment and a joy-filled heart.

Saturday of Service,  September 8, 2018
An Intergenerational Day of Helping Our Community

“I slept and I dreamed that life is all joy.
I woke and I saw that life is all service.
I served and I saw that service is joy.”
-Kahlil Gibran

As you have read in the June Footnotes, we are now ready to take sign-ups our fun work day with family and friends. Don’t miss out! On June 9 we initiated our first church-wide on-line sign-ups. If you weren’t present that day, you will be able to go online to sign-up from home. And if the concept of signing up on the computer just doesn’t sound good we will have clipboards in the courtyard as well. (And your fourth option is always to call the church office!). 

Sign-ups can be found at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfocwR-zb1Dlg-eQ6f8izMn96AR1OjkEkuspt6pSvAc0sV_ng/viewform?c=0&w=1

So what is this Saturday of Service all about?

It is an opportunity to join with others to help the environment and provide better lives for local animals and people who will benefit from our work.

Schedule for the day:

Work sites include:

• Pandemonium – A wild bird sanctuary in Los Altos Hills. We will clean and replace the substrata in the aviaries.
• Haven House – Temporary shelter and life skills to homeless families and adults. We will help in their community garden.
• Operation Care and Comfort – They send useful items and personal items to our troops in the armed services overseas. We will pack boxes to be shipped to the troops.
• Village Harvest – This agency coordinates volunteers harvesting fruits from trees in private homes to supply Second Harvest.
• Collective Roots – bringing fresh produce and healthy food options to low-income families. We will help in the gardening and other chores.
• Deer Hollow Farm – providing care for the animals and their living spaces.
• Parish Hall Activities – Many options from creating cards for shut-ins to making fleece blankets for animals at shelters to preparing packages for service members through Operation Care and Comfort. No one is too young, too old, or too limited to be of service.

We are planning to design and order T-shirts for all of us to wear on this day. When you sign up you will be asked to indicate your shirt size. We hope it will help us recognize our own team members and will be a fond reminder of your day of service.

I started with a quote from Kahlil Gibran. I want to close with words from Mother Teresa:

“The Simple Path
Silence is Prayer
Prayer is Faith
Faith is Love
Love is Service
The Fruit of Service is Peace”

—Judi Gentry

The Youth and Young Adult Service Trip to Navajo Nation is July 13-21. We will serve the community on Black Mesa by doing building and repair projects and teaching in a children’s day camp. Tom Waugh, Deb Partain, John Miller, and Pastor Melanie will chaperone. There is still time for youth and young adults to sign up, but know that the program may fill up.

GIANT RUMMAGE SALE AT FOOTHILLS CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH

May 4 and 5
Friday, May 4:  9 am to 4 pm – best stuff!
Saturday, May 5:  9 am to 2 pm – discounted prices!

Bargain hunters and thrift-store aficionados are invited to enjoy shopping for thousands of high-quality, gently-used items at the annual Foothills Congregational Church Rummage Sale May 4-5.  Sale hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, May 4 and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, May 5.  The church is located at 461 Orange Avenue, Los Altos (off Lincoln Park).

Click to view flyer

Sale items include clothing, shoes, purses, jewelry, house wares, furniture, linens, craft supplies, and quality décor items, all at a fraction of buying new.

“We have many members who are reorganizing or downsizing and need to divest themselves of their beautiful collections of a lifetime,” notes Jean Golden, church member.  “We’re happy to contribute to our environmentally-conscious community by helping to recycle excellent used merchandise and give others a chance to purchase needed goods,” she says.

Organizers suggest shopping on Friday for “best selection,” and on Saturday for “best price.”

More information:  (650) 282-7718, or email info@foothills-church.org.