World Service Special Offerings
March 2010

The special offering for March is One Great Hour of Sharing (OGHS). One Great Hour of Sharing is an offering that demonstrates the love of Christ for individuals and communities around the world who suffer the effects of disasters, conflict, or severe economic hardship, and for those who serve them, through gifts of money and time.

This relief, refugee and development fund of the United Church of Christ is over 50 years old, and is one of the Special Mission Offerings received by the United Church of Christ.

Through OGHS, United Church of Christ members reach out in the name of Christ to:
Build sustainable communities through self-help programs in more than 80 nations that enable people and communities to stand against and rise above hunger, disease, illiteracy, and other forces of injustice that deny and destroy dignity.
Respond to disasters through emergency and long-term assistance to people in the aftermath of hurricanes, tornados, storms, floods, tidal waves, fires, explosions, technological disasters, civil strife, war, or other natural or human-caused events. On average, OGHS responds to a disaster once every 2.5 days.
Minister to refugees with advocacy and help, hope and hospitality for people who have been uprooted from their home of origin. More than 30 million of the world's people are uprooted at any given time.

In cooperation with many ministry groups and hundreds of local partners around the world, One Great Hour of Sharing is part of a remarkable network of service and caring that is efficient, effective and faithful. First Parish Church partners with nearly 6,000 UCC congregations across the United States and Puerto Rico. The UCC annually channels more than $3 million dollars through One Great Hour of Sharing to humanitarian needs in the world.

One Great Hour of Sharing: Together we make a world of difference.

Thanks to First Parish Church’s generosity, we collected close to $2500 for relief efforts in Haiti. Thank you!

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Habitat for Humanity Corner

In less than 7 weeks from this writing, the 24th Annual Good Friday Walk for Habitat for Humanity will be taking place in our Tri Community area (Friday, April 2nd) and we would love for it to be part of your Good Friday tradition. Over these past 23 years, walkers, sponsors and volunteers have come together to honor Good Friday by making a difference in the lives of another Habitat family by providing money towards the next simple decent affordable Habitat house. These houses are built by volunteers from all over alongside the perspective homeowner and under Habitat’s able site supervision. The new homeowner then begins monthly mortgage payments just like you and me with one KEY difference: they pay no interest on their mortgage which makes their home affordable. Habitat becomes the “banker”, redirecting these monthly mortgage payments back into another Habitat home construction. How efficient is that!!! Please join us in making the dream of home ownership a reality for those families overqualified for public housing but unable to meet the income requirements for a conventional loan.

How can you be involved in this year’s Good Friday Walk?
•Walk 20, 10, 5 or 3 miles on Good Friday (registration at Cumberland UCC and 1st Parish in Yarmouth
•Ask as many sponsors as you can to support you with a pledge or payment brought to registration on day of the walk
•Volunteer to help out at way stations, registration spots, or to drive a TOE truck (call Nita Dehais at 829-3071)
•Provide baked goodies for the walkers
•Be a sponsor

Suggestions for walkers:
•Email your friends and let them know what you are doing and ask for their support. If they know about your commitment, more than likely they will want to support you.
•Ask your family and neighbors to support you
•Invite a friend to walk with you or gather a team
•If you are in training, run one of the routes representing the number of miles you would normally run
•New opportunity for walkers: visit Habitat’s website to do Online FirstGiving sponsor gathering: http://www.habitatportlandme.org/

Suggestions for sponsors:

•Encourage a youth with your sponsorship
•Sponsor your pastor
•Put up a challenge to the youth group or confirmation class to walk under your sponsorship
•Walk and sponsor another walker
As winter turns to spring and we enter the season of Lent, we look forward to walking and working together on Good Friday. Blessings from the Good Friday Walk Committee co chairs: Sally Bancroft and Nita Dehais.
Please visit their website: http://www.habitatportlandme.org/.

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Food Pantry News -

The bad news is that our Food Pantry is thriving. In that I mean that we are seeing new customers all the time and the effects of the economy are really evident in the growing needs of our neighbors. The good news is that our "Pick-an-Apple for the Food Pantry” project has had an overwhelmingly generous response from you, our caring congregation. There are still apples on the "tree" in the lobby if you are interested.

Our pantry is now manned by volunteers and is open Tuesday and Friday 10-12 noon, and Wednesday evening 5-7 PM.

Hugs and a huge thank you to all who have been so supportive of our families in need and of me during our transition process in the New and Improved Pantry.
Sue Rowe

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