Community | One Great Hour of Sharing
Jesus said, "Do you love me? ... Feed my sheep." (John 21:16-27)
One Great Hour Sharing:
Feed My Sheep - Fill a Bag| OGHS Fish Bank | Easter at Loaves and Fishes
From famine in Africa to earthquake in Haiti to flood in
Western New York the annual One Great Hour of Sharing
- an ecumenical offering received each year at Easter -responds with good news and hope.
We are living in extraordinary times when natural disasters
have devastated hundreds of thousands around the
world. There are many agencies and organizations bringing
hope and relief to the victims of disaster. In many
cases, your dollars given to medical relief organizations
or charitable funds established by former presidents go to the same end: food, clothing, medicine, and housing. In
that way it's all good.
But we have heard from our own volunteers to the Gulf
region helping the victims of Katrina recover that the
presence of the church of Jesus Christ in their time of
need brings the comfort and reassurance of God's presence
in special times of loss and crisis. The church is, the
Apostle Paul said, the arms and hands and feet of Christ
in the world after the Resurrection.
Won't you be generous and help the body of Christ reach
to the farthest locations of despair and disaster this Easter
with your gift to One Great Hour of Sharing.
Sincerely Yours,
The Reverend Dr. Thomas H. Yorty, Pastor
Feed My Fish - Fill a Bag to Support the Food Banks of Western New York
The majority of people in New York State needing assistance with food are children, women and the working poor. One thing we must realize is hunger is not exclusive to a particular race or neighborhood. Less fortunate individuals are our neighbors; they are working Americans; they are senior citizens who have worked their entire lives and they are children.
Please join our
effort to help our neighbors with our spring food drive
for the Food Bank of Western New York.
Sunday, March 7th - The Sunday School students will distribute their decorated grocery food bags as your reminder to fill them with non-perishable foods and grocery items like peanut butter, pasta, canned goods or paper towels.
Sunday, March 21st - Please bring your filled bags and place them in the Sanctuary. The truck from the Food Bank will arrive after the 11AM service to pick up these bags.
One Great Hour of Sharing Fish Bank
All the children in Sunday School will be given a Fish Bank on Sunday, February 21 along with a sharing calendar, illustrating daily how their coins will help. This Lent, the children at Westminster are supporting One Great Hour of Sharing, PCUSA's effort to fight hunger, by filling fish banks with change. View PCUSA's Calendar of Sharing to learn more, and print a fish for a child to color in.
As an example, one day on the calendar we learn that more
than a billion people in the world lack access to safe drinking water. And
we are asked to give a coin for each time that day we wash our hands with
clean water. Or almost half of the girls in the world’s poorest countries
have no access to primary education, so we are asked to give a coin for
each year of formal schooling we have. The fish banks and the sharing
calendars offer us a daily challenge in Lent. We have the opportunity to
learn how people around the world live, and our coins can help change
their lives. It is remarkable what our gifts can do.
Jesus said that where
our treasure is, our hearts will be there also. (Matthew 6:21). This Lent
place the sharing calendar on your fridge or someplace close to your fish
bank and use these daily reminders to challenge your hearts.
Allocation of gifts to One Great Hour of Sharing
After deducting administrative costs (up to 5 percent) and the costs of creating and distributing promotional materials (roughly 5 percent), the remaining un-designated gifts are divided among three programs as follows:
Presbyterian Hunger Program (36 percent)
For ministries working to alleviate hunger and eliminate its causes, responding with compassion and justice to poor and hungry people in local communities, in the nation and throughout the world, as well as ministries addressing homelessness and affordable housing. Learn more about the Presbyterian Hunger Program.
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (32 percent)
For disaster response and ministries with refugees. Learn more about Presbyterian Disaster Assistance.
Self-Development of People (32 percent)
For partnerships with groups of people who are oppressed by poverty or social systems, who want to take charge of their own lives, have organized to do something about their own condition, and have decided what they need to do to produce long-term benefits for themselves. Learn more about Self-Development of People.
Easter at Loaves and Fishes
Each year at the Palm Sunday breakfast the congregation makes bunny bags filled with Easter candies for the attendees at Loaves and Fishes.
Last year under the leadership of three of the Sunday school dads, and the work of the youth we made 150 bags for Loaves and Fishes Easter dinners. We need donations of wrapped candy, granola bars and other Easter goodies. Drop off your Easter treats in the Bunny box in the Holmes Room and sign up for the Palm Sunday breakfast.