Did you know you can support the Inland Valley Hope Partners’ and their efforts by simply doing something you’d do anyway – grocery shopping for your family? Simply go to eScript and register your shopping discount cards (or even your debit/credit card!) and then each time you shop at a participating merchant, that merchant will donate a percentage of the sale to your chosen charity. Make sure to choose Inland Valley Council of Churches (we’ve not switched the name on that system yet).
Best of all, you can track just how much you’ve earned for your cause each month!
Plus, if you’re shopping at Vons, make sure to drop any extra change you can into the coin boxes at check-out. It a painless way to help and all our pennies add up to help those in need.
How your giving helps
In November and December 2009, Inland valley Hope Partner’s four food pantries served over 6,000 people EACH MONTH! What an amazing accomplishment, thank you to all the volunteers and donors who make this possible. If you have extra time or money, please give as you can.
Your donations will still make a HUGE difference in the relief efforts in Haiti. If you wish to give, simply put a check in the offering plate or mail one to the Church Office and mark “Haitian Relief” on your check. You can make it out to the church. Our Finance team will make sure it gets to the proper place – we will cash your check and then pool all our gifts together into one bulk check so you don’t have to wait for it to be mailed and cashed, which can sometimes take a while.
In the face of natural disasters and in areas of extreme poverty, Church World Service Baby Care Kits help young mothers care for their newborn babies. To assemble a Kit you will need:
- Six cloth diapers
- Two T-shirts or undershirts for newborns (no onesies, they outgrow them too fast)
- Two washcloths
- Two gowns or sleepers
- Two diaper pins
- One sweater or sweatshirt (can be hand-knitted or crocheted)
- Two recieving blankets (one can be hand-made)
Items MUST BE NEW and sized to fit infants under 12 months old. Wrap items inside one of the receiving blankets and secure them with both diaper pins. When you’re ready to ship, contact the Church office, we have forms for shipping them.
Soon, you will have an opportunity to offer your gift to Week of Compassion. Week of Compassion (which you can give to year-round) is a fund that empowers Disciples’ relief, refugee and development funding and efforts around the world. Week of Compassion seeks to meet basic needs in Christ’s name throughout the world, sharing resources that strengthen people to improve their own life and communities. During our upcoming Week of Compassion giving campaign, each of us will decide how to respond to Jesus’ question, “Do you love me?” that he posed to his Disciples after his resurrection.
The members of the family of God – from those we know to distant sisters, brothers and cousins in parts of the world we may never visit – are all part of God’s flock, the sheep of God’s pasture (Ezekiel 34:31). Yet, God’s flock is often forcefully scattered and stalked, as people are chased from their homes and livelihoods by brutal expressions of war, as communities and futures are blasted by natural disasters and as societies and countries are ground down by unrelenting hunger, disease and poverty.
Jesus calls us to tend his sheep caught in these situations of deep need. And with love and energy, the Church responds! Through giving to Week of Compassion you are enabling:
- Disaster victims to quickly receive shelter, food, water and medical supplies
- Local communities develop secure sources of food and clean water.
- Minds and bodies around the globe to grow stronger with new schools and medical clinics
- Refugees to receive housing and long-term help to construct new lives.
The current economic situation is challenging for many of us. For many others, it has simply pushed them beyond their abilities to cope. Life is not simply challenged by the economic climate, it has become literally life-threatened. By sharing your resources through Week of Compassion, you WILL change lives – including your own. If you wish to give, you can mail a check or money order to the Church office – make sure to include a note that the donation is to go to Week of Compassion.
