As we prepare to enter into the celebration of Christmas, there are many for whom the holidays mean just another series of days and nights without adequate food or shelter. Many church shelters close their doors during this season, but First Presbyterian remains open, six nights a week, for ten homeless men from the Olivieri Drop-In Center in midtown. If you are in New York City and have a few free hours in the evening, please consider volunteering at the shelter. More information can be found at www.fpcnyc.org/mission-and-outreach/homeless-shelter.html or by contacting homeless_shelter@yahoo.com.

The following are volunteer openings for the FPC Shelter for the next three weeks of the shelter.

- – - – - – - – - –

- SUNDAY, December 25^th, 1 Overnight Volunteer needed (We have a male volunteer who has advised that they can do this night SOLO but it would be great if anyone can Overnight with him.)

- MONDAY, December 26^th, 2 Overnight Volunteers needed

- TUESDAY, December 27^th, 1 Overnight Volunteer needed

- WEDNESDAY, December 28^th, 1 Evening Coordinator needed, 2 Overnight Volunteers needed

- – - – - – - – - -

- SUNDAY, January 1^st, 1 Evening Coordinator needed, 2 Overnight Volunteers needed

- MONDAY, January 2^nd, 2 Overnight Volunteers needed

- TUESDAY, January 3^rd, 1 Evening Coordinator needed, 2 Overnight Volunteers needed

- WEDNESDAY, January 4^th, 1 Evening Coordinator needed, 2 Overnight Volunteers needed

- – - – - – - – - -

- SUNDAY, January 8^th, 2 Overnight Volunteers needed

- MONDAY, January 9^th, 1 Evening Coordinator needed, 2 Overnight Volunteers needed

- TUESDAY, January 10^th, 1 Evening Coordinator needed, 2 Overnight Volunteers needed

- WEDNESDAY, January 11^th, 1 Evening Coordinator needed, 2 Overnight Volunteers needed

This is a very special tradition at First Church and a lovely way for you to share in the spirit of the season.

PERU: February 4-12. Work in the outskirts of Lima; live in a Dominican retreat center; free time in Lima at end of trip; estimated cost is $1,800.

GHOST RANCH (New Mexico): May 6-13. Work and live at this PC(USA) conference center North of Santa Fe; estimated cost is $1,450.

HAITI: July 7-15. Work in an Anglican school in Cap Haitien on Haiti’s North coast; estimated cost is $1,450.

CUBA: October 5-15. Work and live at a Presbyterian camp and conference center; free time in Havana at end of trip; estimated cost is $1,950.

For more detailed information, pick up a flyer any day in the Mellin-Macnab lobby or during Coffee Hour on Sundays, when you can also sign up.  Additionally, you can sign up or discuss the trips by calling Georgia Pease at (212) 477-1693.

Kids’ Boutique: It’s getting colder outside, which means it’s just about time to clean out kids’ closets! The Tartan Fair is
currently seeking gently used or new infant, toddler and
children’s clothing, coats, shoes and baby gear. Please drop off your items by Wednesday, November 30 in the lobby.

Do you bake? Bring us your baked goods for the Fair!

And we’ll need you to work that weekend and now! We will be sorting and pricing in the church basement every Saturday from 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. and every Monday evening from 6:00 – 9:00 p.m. Join us for pizza at 6:00 p.m. on Mondays!

Questions or offers of help: Joan Ryan at (212)765-2141 or joanlryan@aol.com. Silent Auction questions: Larry Tallamy at ltallamy@gmail.com.

Join us as the Mission Fair returns Sunday, October 30th! During coffee hour the Great Hall will bustle with local and church mission organizations. Come by to learn about service opportunities and enjoy fellowship. The children will be organizing hygiene kits for the homeless shelter. Please consider donating small hygiene items like combs, washcloths, soap, toothbrush/paste, nail clippers, and packs of tissues. For more information please call the church office at (212) 675-6150 or contact Lauren McGill at mlmcgil@aol.com.

Sorrel Ann Alburger
Virginia Baron
Amy Cooper
Christian Deputy
Tony Feliciano
David Garlow
Oddrun Johansen
Betty Jones
Rich Korchak
Dick Pease
Georgia Pease
Rita Rochford
Jon Walton
Marion Ward

First Church is proud to continue our tradition of actively addressing the city’s continued demand for overnight shelter.  Starting on Tuesday, November 1, and continuing until Friday, April 27, 2012, the Homeless Shelter will be open Sunday through Friday nights.  The need for volunteers is essential to this most important church ministry.  We are seeking overnight volunteers to stay with our ten guests in the Church House Parlor.  The tasks are easy (provide refreshments, snacks, quiet conversation with the men and a good night’s sleep on a cot in the Parlor).  The men are screened carefully by a professional drop-in center so that they are appropriate guests for a volunteer environment.  The gratitude expressed by the men is heartwarming and shows that you are making a difference!  More information is available on our church website at fpcnyc.org/homeless-shelter.html.  If you are interested, please call our monthly coordinators at (212) 741-8620 or email homeless_shelter@yahoo.com.

About the Peacemaking Offering

The Presbyterian Peacemaking Program and the Peacemaking Offering celebrated their thirtieth anniversary in 2010. The Offering was organized following the adoption by the General Assembly in 1980 of Peacemaking: The Believers’ Calling, which called for an emphasis on peacemaking across the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). This year we are called to remember the peacemakers of years past—in our congregation, presbytery, synod and the denomination as a whole. Make this year a time to renew your commitment to peacemaking as part of your calling as a follower of Christ, who not only taught us the ways of peace but is our peace.

The theme for the 2011 Offering is “A Harvest of Justice Is Sown in Peace” (James 3:18). The art is Santa Cena, a serigraph by José Ignacio Fletes Cruz.

For more information, visit pcusa.org/peacemaking.

Everyone is invited to the Great Hall during the Sunday morning Coffee Hour (12:15 p.m.) to speak with representatives from local mission organizations. Walk freely around the tables and discover service opportunities for the entire family!  Join us to learn about the work of reconciliation and justice in which the church is already engaged.

The fair is hosted by the Church & Society Committee.

For more information please call the church office at (212) 675-6150 or contact Lauren McGill at mlmcgil@aol.com to reach a member of the Church & Society Committee.

The major famine in Somalia and other parts of the Horn of Africa has become a significant humanitarian crisis.  The Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit (FSNAU) and the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) have declared famine in five areas in Somalia.  Although many organizations are working aggressively in the southern regions of Somalia, with access restrictions and difficulties in scaling‐up emergency assistance programs, famine could spread across all regions of the south in the coming four to six weeks.

The number of people in need of assistance has risen to 12.4 million.  About 29,000 children have died from the famine, and thousands more are at risk.

An unprecedented number of Somalis are taking huge risks every day, walking hundreds of miles and crossing borders into neighboring countries hoping to reach the safety of refugee camps and feeding centers.  The Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya —the world’s largest refugee camp—has exceeded its capacity.  The camp, originally built to hold 90,000 refugees,  is now holding more than 420,000 refugees.

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) is responding to this crisis in cooperation with members of ACT Alliance (Action by Churches Together).  ACT members with experience and partnerships in the area are working to help meet basic humanitarian needs of food, water and sanitation, and medical care for people in the camp and in host communities in both Kenya and Somalia.  Special therapeutic feeding and nutrition is being provided to children under the age of five.  PDA has provided $200,000 from One Great Hour of Sharing funds towards relief efforts in Somalia and the Horn of Africa.

You can help respond to this critical need by standing in the GAP for affected families.

GIVE.  Share your financial blessings.  Make a gift online, through your local Presbyterian congregation, or from your cell phone: text PDACARES to 20222.

ACT.  Stay informed and share information about the need with others. Use some of the prayers and worship resources found on the Horn of Africa response index to help lift up the need.

PRAY.  Our best response is prayer. Please pray for families struggling to survive the harsh conditions of this famine and for those who lost loved ones due to this crisis. Pray for those responding to the disaster, and for those whose lives are linked to both the disaster survivors and the workers who minister to them.

For the Fair’s Silent Auction, we especially need your silver, china, jewelry and antiques.  Let Rebecca Brown know (rebeccaraderbrown@gmail.com) if you can donate tickets to plays or sporting events, give computer lessons, dog-walking, or other special personal services.  For the White Elephant and Book sales, we need your gently used housewares and books.  Bring them to church any weekday (8:00 a.m.-9:00 p.m.) or Sundays.

This summer after several of the Wednesday evening BBQs and on some Saturday mornings, we’ll be sorting and pricing all donations.  If you can help with Books let Diana Pardue know at diana_pardue@nps.gov; to help with White Elephants, let Jane Ritter know at jmr719@aol.com; and to help with the Silent Auction, contact Larry Tallamy at ltallamy@gmail.com .

And Santa’s crafty elves take note:  We will have a summer craft-making night after the BBQ on Wednesday, July 20.  Mark your calendar!  Let Ellie Garlow at ellie2@nyc.rr.com know if you can make it.

Following the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, the First Presbyterian Church of Tuscaloosa, AL, responded with generous donations to our congregation, which were used for rental assistance and legal aid for those who lost employment and risked losing their housing as a result; grants to mental health facilities for trauma counseling; and a variety of other individual and institutional grants.

In the wake of recent devastation in the Southeast, FPC Tuscaloosa has established a Tornado Relief Fund to aid in the community’s recovery, for rental assistance and other short term needs. Checks may be made out directly to FPC Tuscaloosa (900 Greensboro Avenue, Tuscaloosa, AL 35401), or to FPCNYC, with Tornado Relief in the memo line.

ACT

Through Sunday, May 22, the Church & Society Committee will receive your donations for disaster relief in the Southeast.  Drop boxes will be available in the lobby of the Mellin-Macnab Building. On Sunday, May 22 at 10:00 a.m., volunteers will gather to box the supplies for shipment, via church member and Alabama-native, Leigh Bishop-Taub.

Needed supplies include:

trash bags

paper towels

work gloves

baby wipes

diapers

instant formula

first aid items

batteries of all sizes

personal hygiene items

hand sanitizer

PRAY

Pray for the vulnerable people in the affected regions, for the relief workers that are offering assistance and that hope will be found out of the chaos of disasters.

We meet periodically to sort and price your goodies and books.  The next session is set for Monday, May 2 from 6:30 p.m. to 9ish in the basement of the Mellin-Macnab Building.  Come one, come all!

Our regular meetings are on the second Wednesday of each month at 6:30 p.m.—pizza provided.  The next meeting is on Wednesday, May 18 (not the second Wednesday this time).  Call Joan Ryan at (212) 765-2141 or email joanlryan@aol.com to volunteer to work or to be one of the Fairest!