Outreach Opportunities
Jubilee Christmas
Jubilee Christmas will be held in-person at St. John’s in Lafayette on Saturday, December 14th, 2024 We are hosting 40 families, splitting the families into two shifts of 20 families each to ensure the safety and health of everyone involved. The first shift will be from 9 – 10:30am and the second shift will be from 10:30am – noon. In addition to monetary donations, we need volunteers to make this year’s Jubilee a success. Shoppers will need to start as soon as possible to buy the gifts for the children. The other volunteer opportunities will be for the day of Jubilee in December.
For the shoppers, we will need at least 40 volunteers. A shopper will shop for all of the children in the family. Volunteers may join together to pool resources if shopping for a large family. You are not expected to purchase the gifts out of your own funds. You can do all, some, or none. Funds are available to cover these costs. A separate guide with details and logistics to assist shoppers will be sent out once volunteers have signed up. The guide will include details on how much to spend per gift, gift drop-off times and location, reimbursement if needed, etc. Shoppers will also have the opportunity to contact the family to get more information on the interests of the child, if necessary.
Jubilee Christmas will be from 9AM – noon, with volunteers signing up for either the first shift from 9 – 10:30 or the second shift from 10:30 – noon. You may sign up for more than one shift if desired. We will also need volunteers for the setup prior to Jubilee, as well as volunteers for check-in, hosts, runners who will be assisting the families with their gifts and cleanup crew afterwards. For the runners, this will be a good opportunity for the youth group to participate.
To sign up as a shopper, follow this link.
To sign up to help with set-up or on the day of Jubilee Christmas, follow this link.
If you would like to be put on a substitute list in case a volunteer cannot make it, please let Mary Kay McCauley know by email.
We are looking forward to brightening the lives of children and families in our community. Your help and participation in any way possible will be greatly appreciated.
Regards,
The Jubilee Christmas Committee
Cathy Barron, Hilary Cooke, Mary Kay McCauley, Georgia Brist, Angela Mosier, and Maggie McClure
Bread for the World
Offering of Letters
Good Shepherd is once again participating in the "Offering of Letters" for Bread for the World. Writing letters to our representatives is an opportunity to advocate for programs to help keep all our children fed. A full explanation of the Offering of Letters can be found on the Bread for the World website: ol.bread.org. (Please note that the revised global sample letter and email portal at bread.org/ol is now only addressed to senators, not to representatives. So if you wish to email your representative to thank him/her and ask for the additional funding, you will need to do so separately at their individual websites listed below).
Our goal at Good Shepherd to is to send 100 or more letters regarding the Farm bill before mid-March 2024. Once you have written your letters or called your representatives, please let Patti O'Callaghan know (by email, or phone 765.404.1689). Patti needs to know who has been contacted and how they were contacted (phone, email, letter).
We are grateful for the steps Rep. Baird and Senator Young have taken recently. We thank Senator Young for co-sponoring S. 2956 and Rep. Baird for supporting H.R. 4693. We urge Senator Braun to join Senator Young and co-sponsor S. 2956.
A sample letter template and partial letters are available at this link to help you craft your personalized letter. Your letter must be personalized to be counted as unique! Please change at least 20% of the wording to make it your own.
You may contact your representatives by letter, email, or phone. Patti O'Callaghan will collect handwritten letters at the church and deliver them in March. You may drop the letters in the basket in the foyer of the church.
You may send a letter electronically, or you may hand write/type a personalized letter. If you would like to send an electronic letter please go to this link on the Bread for the World website:
If you prefer to hand write/type a letter or call them directly, phone numbers and addresses are as follows:
Senator Mike Braun
115 N Pennsylvania St
Indianapolis, Indiana 46204
(317) 822-8240
Email address: http://www.braun.senate.gov/contact-mike
Website: www.braun.senate.gov
Senator Todd Young
251 N Illinois St, Ste 120
Indianapolis, IN 46204
(317) 226-6700
Email Address: https://www.young.senate.gov/content/
website: www.young.senate.gov
Representative Jim Baird, 4th District
355 S Washington St, Ste 210
Danville, IN 46122
(317) 563-5567
Email Address: https://baird.house.gov/contact
website: www.baird.house.gov
Support for Ukraine
Here are some ways to help Ukrainian citizens including recommendations from journalists on the ground in Ukraine:
United Help Ukraine: A nonprofit volunteer organization that receives and distributes donations, medical supplies, and food to Ukrainian refugees and people on the ground in Ukraine and supports Ukrainian families who have lost soldiers to war. You can access its current fundraiser here, and your donations will go toward providing emergency medical aid and humanitarian relief to those on the front lines. https://unitedhelpukraine.org/about-us
Fundraiser for Sunflower of Peace: Sunflower of Peace’s fundraiser aims to provide first-aid backpacks to paramedics and doctors on the front lines. Each backpack contains enough tactical first-aid supplies for five to ten people. https://www.facebook.com/donate/507886070680475/
Revived Soldiers Ukraine: This nonprofit provides medical aid to Ukrainian soldiers and provides support to their families. https://www.rsukraine.org/
To help children affected by the war Voices of Children: This organization helps provide psychological and psychosocial support to Ukrainian children affected by armed conflict. https://voices.org.ua/en/
To support journalists in Ukraine The Kyiv Independent: You can support Ukraine’s English-language media outlet through GoFundMe or via Patreon. https://www.gofundme.com/f/kyivindependent-launch https://www.patreon.com/kyivindependent
Additional ways to help • Donate to Nova Ukraine’s Heart2Heart initiative, which assembles care packages for people in Ukraine. https://novaukraine.org/
• Donate to the International Committee of the Red Cross, which will provide humanitarian relief to Ukrainians affected by the conflict. https://www.icrc.org/en/where-we-work/europe-central-asia/ukraine
• Donate to Army SOS, which provides food and other support directly to Ukrainian troops. https://armysos.com.ua/en/
• Donate to CARE’s Ukraine Crisis Fund, which aims to provide food, water, hygiene kits, and more to Ukrainians, especially women and girls. https://my.care.org/site/Donation2?df_id=31071&mfc_pref=T&31071.donation=form1&s_src=172220UCFM00&s_subsrc=FY22UkraineCrisisFundMO
• Donate to International Medical Corps, which will deploy mobile medical teams to provide emergency and primary health services, including psychosocial services, to conflict-affected Ukrainian communities. https://give.internationalmedicalcorps.org/page/99837/donate/1?ea.tracking.id=DP~UA22~DPHHU2202
Partnering with Food Finders
We're delighted to be partnering with Food Finders Foodbank to help deliver food to seniors living at Friendship House!
Here's how it works:
Arrive at Friendship House by 1PM on the third Thursday of the month. Food Finders will meet us there with boxes of food and dollies to help with delivery. We will deliver about 50 boxes to residents. Interested in helping? Sign up here.
Questions? Please contact Hilary.