Category: Outreach

As a reminder, the Outreach Committee has decided to move our monthly collection day to the second Sunday of each month.

Next Collection Sunday is October 9

Our Focus: Dalewood Middle School

In 2018, the PTA of Dalewood Middle School began seeking community partners that would support their students, either financially or by showing up for events. A Christ Church parishioner alerted us to this need, and we’ve been involved since then. We’ve purchased uniforms and school supplies for children of low-income families, snacks for students taking achievement tests, items needed for the school emergency closet, plus a few special requests for the staff.

This year, Dalewood has asked us to help restock their empty emergency closet with uniform clothes and laundry detergent. If you want to help, keep in mind that buying new clothes is not the only option. Shopping at thrift stores, or bringing something still serviceable that you or your kids have outgrown, will help us fill Dalewood’s empty shelves. 

Dalewood students wear pants, polo shirts, and sweatshirts. They are in grades 6-8 and are 11-14 years old. 

Pants: khaki or navy 

• Boys size 16, 18, 20; Mens size 28, 30, 32 with inseams 30 or 32 for all sizes
• Junior girls odd sizes 3 through 15; girls size 14, 16, 18

Polos and Sweatshirts: white, gray, red, navy, light blue, or black

• Sizes S, M, L, XL for boys and girls

Other requested items: 

• Liquid laundry detergent, unscented preferable – (Dalewood has laundry facilities on-site for families to use)
• Women’s underwear 3, 5, 7, 9
• Sports bras: S, M, L, XL
• Spray deodorant

We are grateful for your help!

For the past couple of months, Outreach collected funds for school uniforms for 14 high-need students at CCSE. Christ Church is so generous! Thanks to you, we were able to buy the uniforms, and Jennifer Holdaway delivered them to the school a few weeks ago. The parents of these kids were overwhelmed, and so thankful. “I can’t believe a church would do this for me!” was the reaction of one of the mothers. Thank you for working with Outreach to make this happen. We are grateful every time you participate. And you’ve been amazing, helping to keep our own Porch Pantry stocked. We are not there to see who takes the food, but we are making a difference in our neighborhood!

Students will be returning to campus this month, and we expect that some of them will be visiting our pantry. We will not soon forget the young man who, on Fruit Day a couple of years ago, told us that he hadn’t eaten for a couple of days. 

For August, we’ll be collecting food for our Porch Pantry and toilet paper for MetMin. TP is one of those things that MetMin always needs. Any brand, any size–every bit helps. As for the pantry, we need the usual items: peanut butter, canned meat/chicken/fish, soups and stews, canned fruit. 

We plan to be in the Christ Church parking lot from 10-12 on Saturday, August 13, and hope to see you there!

Shopping List for August

For MetMin:

• Toilet paper

For Christ Church’s Porch Pantry:

• Pop-top stew or soup
• Canned meats and beans (chicken and tuna are popular)
• Single-serving canned fruit
• Small jars of peanut butter

Thank you so much for your participation and generosity on June 12th! We collected 17 backpacks, 39 water bottles (14 will go to CCSE, the rest to Community Kitchen), 7 hats for the Kitchen, and 45 items for our porch pantry.

As we mentioned last Exsultet, our July outreach focus will be purchasing school uniforms for 14 specific students in need. Please bring a donation by on Saturday or give online today and mark your donation “Outreach, Uniforms”. We thank you in advance. If you want to sponsor a student (two outfits each, to make laundry feasible), the cost is $86 for a boy and $78 for a girl.

As for our own porch pantry, we need soups, canned meats (chicken and tuna are popular), and small jars of peanut butter. Right now, we are seeking items in humidity-resistant packaging, and pop-tops are helpful. Everything we put in the pantry is taken quickly. Choose something you would like to receive!

Collection Saturday YTD (2 months): 17 backpacks, 39 water bottles, 75 hats, 311 grocery items, $50 donation.

Shopping List for July

For Chattanooga Charter School of Excellence:

• Donations for School Uniforms (Costs are $86 for a boy and $78 for a girl, but any amount helps!)

For Christ Church’s Porch Pantry:

• Pop-top stew or soup
• Canned meats and beans (chicken and tuna are popular)
• Single-serving canned fruit
• Small jars of peanut butter

GAME DONATIONS
Thank you so much for your donations of games for the Chattanooga Charter School of Excellence! You brought us enough to fill four large boxes. Jennifer Holdaway took the games to school, and the students had trouble believing that people who didn’t know them would buy so many games for them. The club teacher said it made a big difference in the children’s attitudes. They wrote us a thank-you note signed by seventeen students and a teacher. Jennifer will post the note in Fox Hall.

COMMUNITY KITCHEN–New Board Members
The Kitchen voted with enthusiasm to approve our two candidates for this year’s Board: Ray Barney and Ginger Sanzo. Ray is in frequent communication with the Kitchen staff, and before the pandemic began, both she and Ginger worked to prepare and serve meals there on a regular basis. The Outreach Committee offers thanks to Johanna Miller and Brooke Montague for their CK Board service for the past several years.

CNP HAITI–We want to provide Plumpy’Nut!
Our December effort to raise money for the Children’s Nutrition Program of Haiti did not work as we had hoped. As we reflected on that at our February meeting, we realized that December had a lot going on, and our Fox Hall publicity was probably not seen by many parishioners. In conjunction with Black History Month, we are trying again. Please make a donation to CNP Haiti, and we will request that your money be used to buy Plumpy’Nut, the therapeutic food that can restore a child suffering from acute malnutrition back to health in a short period of time. Outreach will match your February gifts up to a total of $450. You can give either online or by check (offering plate or mail to church office). Write it to Christ Church and mark it for Outreach–CNP. Thank you for your generosity.

LET’s TALK T-SHIRTS–We have a project for you.

T-shirt production is one of the larger industries in Haiti, with garment production employing 57,000 people. Workers can expect wages of $3.50 to $7 (US Dollars) per day for their factory labor. Working conditions are difficult; workers have struggled to survive during the COVID pandemic.

T-shirts made in Haiti are shipped to the US (we have a trade agreement that was set up to benefit Haiti) and sold under the brands of Gildan, Hanes, and Walmart. At Walmart, you can buy one of them for around $5. Remember, that’s a day’s wage for the person who made your shirt.

Timberland, an ethical US company, is working to return sustainable cotton production to Haiti. Cotton was once Haiti’s fourth-largest agricultural export but the industry collapsed in the 1980s. Through efforts by Timberland, Haitians will be able to own more of the resources and retain a larger profit. 

What does this have to do with Christ Church? During the month of February we are asking you to donate to one of our Outreach partners, the Children’s Nutrition Program of Haiti. And we thought it would be fun to learn a bit about the country where our partner is working.

This week, we have a project for you. We are asking you to count the number of t-shirts you have, then choose your own multiplier…a nickel, a dime, a dollar…and make a contribution to CNP based on your result. Make your gift to Christ Church Outreach and designate it for CNP Haiti.

While you’re counting, pull out the shirts you’d like to pass along and donate them to a place like Northside Neighborhood House or the Chattanooga Community Kitchen. 

We don’t know that your contribution will directly help the person who made your shirt, but it may help their community. And this month, Outreach will match all donations up to a total of $450.