Holy Spirit Catholic Church

Social Action Committee Report – January 19, 2017 – Amy Craig

Social Action donated $300 to Cariedad Mendoza to purchase items for the Nursing Home at Christmas – in addition to hygiene items from Basket 52.  We currently have a balance of $699.36 from the funds that were transferred to assist with Care Portal and our Outreach.
 

1. Outreach – Spent $179.64 from our Social Action funds to purchase 9 sleeping bags that were taken to St. Benedicts to give to the Homeless. The Angel Tree collected $975 for the Boys & Girls Club and $1,275 for the Homeless. A truckload of donated used jeans from a uniform supply company was taken to Grace Campus. A family of 7 from St. Benedicts was referred to the ReSale store and used some of our funds on reserve to purchase needed items. We received a request for additional sleeping bags for St. Benedicts.  We are currently trying to fill this need.

2. Boys & Girls Club – The Confirmation class hosted a Christmas party for 50-60 children at the Boys & Girls Club. About 20 teens and 10 adults provided the food and entertainment for the party.  One of the children was heard to say, “This is the best day ever!”  We also were able to donate a nearly brand new stove to the club that was donated by a person that has been helped through the Outreach program.

3. Benedicts – Holy Spirit serves the Saturday evening meal (approx. 150 people) every 6-7 weeks. There are 60 members who signed up to help the group with 10 -12 being very active. The last meal served was January 14^th. A request for volunteers to bake chicken spaghetti resulted in so many positive responses that some were asked to wait until next time. The Knights of Columbus have some frozen lasagna that can be used as a backup in the future.  The next scheduled date to serve is March 4^th.  There is also a group of 5-6 parishioners that are serving Monday evenings during the month of January until replacements are found for the group that had to quit serving. Holy Spirit has been asked to serve only (not required to provide the food) the second Thursday of the month.

4. Catholic Charities and Basket 52: The Christmas food drive was very successful. Donations continued to be strong through the first two weeks of December.  We were able to supply Cariedad Mendoza with enough hygiene items to deliver to Nursing Home residents.  In addition, Holy spirit provided gifts and clothing for more than 180 children through the Catholic Charities Angel Tree program.

The following is a summary of the deliveries beginning in November when we passed out grocery bags to begin our Holiday food drive.  There were also some canned goods that were given to CCE that are not included in these totals, as well as bags that were handed out directly at the request of Deacon Michael.

5. Blood Drive – United Blood Services called with a request for an emergency Blood Drive as they have a critical shortage. We have scheduled a Blood Drive for Wednesday, February 8^th. Emails have been sent to parishioners that signed up for Blood Drives at the Stewardship Fair and the announcement will be in the bulletin.  We are hoping to once again meet our goal. CarePortal – Holy Spirit helped two families this month. Each family was given a voucher worth $150 to purchase items at the ReSale Center.  Our current balance at the ReSale Center is $382.27, but $131.27 is still available for the last family referred to use.  They were waiting for some beds to come in.  Care Portal is now on flocknotes.  There have only been 3 people sign up. The intent is to create a network of parishioners that can be notified of needs as they are received.  They can then see if they or anyone they know has any of the needed items they would be willing to donate. 

7. Mission Trips – There will be two groups going to Guatemala this summer on two separate weeks. There are still some slots available.  All who signed up at the Stewardship Fair have been contacted.  A meeting is scheduled for January 26^th for anyone who has already committed to going or any who would like to join. 

8. Library –The library continues to serve the needs of parishioners with relevant reading and av material. The Sisters use the resources to help them with their classes.