Outreach News for October

New Hope received donations for UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief) in response to news stories of Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee. Thank you for your compassion and generosity!

"New Hope Knitters" can begin making scarves for Night Ministry clients.

Food pantry donations for the months of October and November will be used for the Thanksgiving distribution on November 19th. On the first Sunday, please bring:

• canned sweet potatoes
• cranberry sauce
• vegetables
• gravy
• boxed instant mashed potatoes

The food pantry generally distributes the holiday meal bags to 250 families!

On September 10th we set a new record! 22 volunteers trekked to GCFD from our food pantry. While there they:

• Packed 1,040 senior boxes that will help senior citizens fave food for 3-4 days.
• Placed 14 items in each box, packing a total of 11,960 pounds.
• Earned $5 credit per service hour = $330 that will go to our account at the depository. We are charged between 7 and 15 cents per pound of food we receive from them.
• This is enough for nearly a two-week supply of food.
• Especially good news is that it was the first time for 9 of our volunteers.
• To date, about 75 different volunteers have joined us for at least one Food Depository experience.

Thank you to everyone who participated in HopeFest on September 11th. Our church was an outstanding witness to the love and hope we find through faith. Special thanks to Sue Laurie, Liz Okayama, and Pastor SoYoung for your leadership roles serving on the planning team.

We really surpassed our goal by providing 413 prayer squares that were placed in "Thank You gift bags" to first responders in Norwood Park, Park Ridge and Des Plaines. The bags also contained homemade cookies and a thank you card. In our neighborhood we delivered bags to the Emergency Room at Resurrection Hospital and the Norwood Park Firehouse.

A snapshot of successes -- Besides the relationships built with First UMC Park Ridge, FUMC Des Plaines and with organizations in our community:

• over 200 people experienced a commemorative service at 7:30 a.m. Darryl Stephens played taps here.
• 600 Thank You bags were assembled
• 50 volunteers worked at Park Ridge Youth Campus
• 4,000 items of food donated and dispersed between 3 food pantries
• Over 25 people visited Bethany Terrace in Morton Grove, sang in a combined choir, visited with residents, decorated a party room for Grandparents Day
• 80 units of blood donated at the two blood drive locations
• 1400 thank you notes written to our first responders and military
• 1200 people participated throughout the day