Sunday, Jan. 23 is the 4th Sunday of the month and the recipient of the Outreach Offering will be the Amherst Survival Center. The Survival Center, with the help of many volunteers, connects residents of Hampshire and Franklin Counties to food, clothing, healthcare, wellness, and community. Located in North Amherst, the Center offers a wide variety of services including community meals, a food pantry, fresh food distribution, as well as a large number of special programs. Please consider a generous gift to support our neighbors. If you write a check please make it payable to Grace Church and add “outreach” on the memo line. Thank you for any gift you are able to give.

Soup and community: Many thanks to all who ordered soup for the Dine In, Help Out event! We’re thrilled and touched by your support. Every dollar will go to the school and the children of St. Matthieu, Bayonnais. We hope that this event builds up our own bonds of community as well. Thank you again.

Grace’s Closet is starting up again  With the cold weather upon us, this winter in this time of COVID the Fireplace Room in the Parke House will be a storage and distribution site for warm winter clothes for those in need.  There are several ways you can help.  Volunteers sort and organize clothes in the Fireplace Room, as well as deliver clothing to the Amherst Survival Center, Craig’s Doors, and Not Bread Alone as requests come in.  Parishioners can also donate clean, usable coats and winter clothes for adults only by dropping off items on Sunday mornings or during regular business hours Monday – Friday. We hope you feel called to help, because we need your help. All health and safety protocols will be maintained, including the need to wear a face mask at all times. For more information, please contact Kevyn Smith at kevynsmith09@gmail.com.

The Grace Church Stewardship campaign for 2022  To date 135 pledges have come in totaling $418,988 – most encouraging, we have 7 new pledges.  To those who have pledged God Bless, to those who have yet to pledge please pray and pledge so our Vestry can budget for 2022.  If you need a pledge card, they are available as you enter the church or you can contact the office (413) 256-6754 or Bruce Stebbins at (413) 549-5933.

Calendar Donations  Please bring extra 2022 calendars to the food basket for the Survival Center.

2022 Pledge Envelopes: If you requested envelopes, you may pick them up from the box on the table in the back of the church. They will (hopefully) be in alphabetical order. Note: if this is the first year that you have requested pledge envelopes, your pledge number may have changed

Parish Directory  It’s time for a new Grace Directory! The last one was done in 2018. We have new members, and some folks have moved. Please send your updated address and phone number(s) to Terrie Korpita at tkorpita@gracechurchamherst.org. We plan to use the same photos as the last directory; unless you wish to submit a new one. Thank you!

SAVE THE DATE

Roots of Injustice, Seeds of Change: Towards Right Relationship with Native PeoplesAn interactive online workshop that will change the way you think about the land you call home.  Sunday, Jan. 30th 3-5pm ET. Sponsored by Interfaith Opportunities Network, INterfaith Council of Franklin County, and Karuna Center for Peacebuilding. More info at interfaithamherst.org/400-years-roots and at Karunacenter.org/Jan30. Direct registration link is at: https://www.aplos.com/aws/give/KarunaCenterforPeacebuilding/Jan30

Conversations About Haiti, 7 p.m. on Tuesdays in February and March On Zoom  Please join us in a series of conversations with representatives of organizations that work with education in Haiti.  We’ll begin with brief presentations and will then open up the floor for questions, and for sharing experience, advice, and ideas.  We expect each session to last about 90 minutes.

Because of the Omicron surge, we are moving these events to Zoom. Here is the link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7028052390

February 1: Doug Albertson and Ken Mundt from Opportunities for Communities, Amherst.  This experienced organization seeks to link communities with one another; to build educational opportunity and sustainable development in Haiti; and to prepare college students to work in international development. Students engage in the planning, execution and management of projects in partner communities, such as a school for Restavek children, a summer school, health screening, and micro-lending. During the pandemic, OfC has turned to working with a university in Haiti on academic exchanges and remote learning.

February 8: Sheila Humphreys, co-founder of HOST (Haiti Orphanage Sponsorship Trust), Brattleboro.   HOST is a small volunteer-run organization that supports a partner in Haiti –  an orphanage founded after the 2010 earthquake by a pastor and a teacher who are also volunteers. HOST provides funding for food, medical care, education, and vocational training for (currently) 35 orphans ranging in age from about 9 to the late teens. Its creative fundraising happens in southern Vermont.

March 1: The Rev. Rebecca Crosby, co-founder and Executive Director of the Crosby Fund for Haitian Education, Old Lyme, CT

March 8: Leslie Harrison, long-time volunteer with the Be Like Brit Foundation, Worcester

Grace Church Annual Meeting will be held on Sunday, February 6th immediately following a single service at 9:30am.  All commission and committee reports should be sent to the Parish Administrator asap.