November Community Outreach Update

“And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’” (Matthew 25:40)

Hello WCC! Welcome to our latest Community Outreach Update for November 2022… This time we’re highlighting some urgent needs, some events to serve at, some things to look out for, and putting out a call for some exciting future opportunities we want to share with you. Take a look and jump in whenever or wherever you can. Have any questions, please let us know…

LOCAL PANTRY & SHELTER NEEDS
Our local pantries at Combined Community Services, Salvation Army, and Our Father’s House are continuing to serve an increased number of households. Please consider picking up a few extra items when you shop or join with your growth group to stock up and drop off at one of the pantries. You can find a current list of regularly needed items, with drop-off locations and times here: Local Food Pantry Needs. In fact, our kids in Sonlight are teaming up with Salvation Army for their current offering project. Encourage them as well or join along. You can find drop-off bins outside all the classrooms to drop items off. In addition, Fellowship Missions has some shelter needs and volunteer opportunities. A list of needs can be found here, and to learn more about the latest volunteer opportunities check here.

CASA HOLIDAY FESTIVAL VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
CASA of Kosciusko County believes all children deserve the right to grow up in a safe and nurturing home and to help their efforts towards that, they need our help to support vulnerable children at their annual Holiday Festival on Friday, November 11. To keep overhead event expenses low and funnel as much to their cause, they strive to “staff” the event through volunteer time and talents. Responsibilities include welcoming guests, auction spotters, silent auction helpers, table hosts, and more. This is a true feel-good event where the generosity of our county towards vulnerable children is on display. Volunteers get to witness this for free! Please see the CASA Holiday Festival Volunteer link for details.

UPCOMING EVENTS & OPPORTUNITIES TO WATCH FOR
As the holidays approach, we wanted to point out some upcoming opportunities that are fun to participate in and serve through, while making a huge difference. We provided links to events that are being promoted. For others, check back with the …

• Turkey Lurkey 5K for Combined Community Services on Saturday, November 19.
• Adopt a Family through Combined Community Services has begun family sign-ups.
• Bell ringing for Salvation Army begins later in November.
• Annual Night of Hope & Inspiration Concert with Danny Gokey & Ben Fuller for Fellowship Missions on January 29, 2023. Tickets go on sale in mid-November.

EISENHOWER & PIERCETON SCHOOL TEAM SUPPORT
As part of our focus on helping vulnerable children and supporting our school staff on the front lines of care, we’re looking to expand our Eisenhower and Pierceton Elementary School volunteer teams. Whether you can help regularly, or your time is limited, the teams would love to keep you in the loop. We’ll have some different opportunities throughout the year, special events to volunteer for, and a new food and clothing pantry to help keep stocked. Want to help at Eisenhower, Pierceton, or curious about other schools? Send a message with your name and contact information to our Outreach email and we’ll get you plugged in.

FUTURE VOLUNTEER TEAMS We’ll be putting some additional teams together to serve the different needs of our county, but we’d like to get a list of interested people we can keep in the loop as more details become available and we can share next steps and answer questions. If you’d like to learn more, please contact our Community Outreach Director, Greg Demopoulos, by email or call 574-268-0188, x256 for more details.

News and Text Alerts
As a heads up, when we have urgent needs, we post on the WCC News Blog and often send a quick text message to our Community Outreach Response Team. You can find the News Blog here, or sign up for the text message alerts by texting the word WCCRESPONSE to the number 877-329-2240.

Thank you for making an eternal difference at WCC and in our community!