Greetings St Thomas’s People!

Thank you to everyone who is working to fill the wish list of our neighbors who are in need.  Our box in the Church foyer has new goodies added daily, but… We still have needs that haven’t been met.  Please see info for this project and check out specific information about giving items or donating money.

We still need candy (miniature candy bars, candy canes), crayons, and washable markers to fill our 50 Goody bags. And, with the coming of cold weather, any donation of a new coat, mittens, hats (male and female, sizes children’s 4-adult) are really welcomed by our friends who are not only dealing with winter, but with COVID and record unemployment.  This is a year unlike any other in terms of needs. 

I am asking all of you to prayerfully consider how you can help.  Tarbiyah is doing good work in our community – let’s join in!

Best,  Jill
Jill Englund Jensen

What is Tarbiyah?
Tarbiyah is a Muslim School located in Newark, Delaware. They are dedicated to teaching all of their students love, kindness, and respect.

What have they done during the pandemic?
The Tarbiyah School has distributed 1.3 million meals since March to children in Northern Delaware in need of food. They currently have 13 distribution sites, giving out a total of 5,000 to 7,000 meals every day, but they want to do something extra special for the holiday season.

What does St. Thomas’s need from you?
We Need Donations of:
● New Adult and Kid Size Coats
● New Hats and Gloves
● Educational Toys/Games
● Stuffed Animals
● Goody Bags – Sign Up to Donate Supplies for Goody Bags
You do not need to sign up to donate coats, gloves, hats,stuffed animals, or educational toys.

What do I do with my donations?
Donations can be dropped off in the Great Hall at St. Thomas’s Episcopal Church, or you can contact Jill Jensen at jeejensen@gmail.com to request a pick up. The children and youth at St. Thomas’s will prepare the donations for distribution. Our goal is to have all donations by Thursday, December 10, 2020.

Don’t Like Shopping?
You Can Donate Money at St. Thomas’s Online Donations.

Print and share our flyer.

Dear families of St. Thomas’s and St. Nicholas,

As the cold weather approaches, the Newark Empowerment Center is in need of sleeping bags to keep our homeless friends warm at night. IF you happen to have any sleeping bags that are no longer in use, I will put a big box outside the office at St. Thomas’s today, to collect them.  I will take them to the Empowerment Center. IF you would rather take them there yourself, they are located in the parking lot, behind the Newark Methodist Church (parking lot is off of Delaware Ave.)  The Empowerment Center is open from 1 – 3 p.m. (on weekdays) and they serve lunch from outside at that time, so you can just drive up and someone will  take it right from your car.  (no contact)

MANY Blessings,
Madeline Johnson

Dear Families of St. Thomas’s and St. Nicholas,

Next Monday, November 16, 2020, is our Hope Dining Room day! Here are the duty times and jobs:
Preparing the meal: 10 – 11:45  a.m. (3 people)
Serving the meal: 11:45 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.  (2 people)
Doing dishes and cleaning up: 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (2 people)

We can only have 5 masked-people in the kitchen at any one time and serving is done from a table in the front of the room, as a “grab and go”.  Our guests come in one door and walk across the room, grab lunch, and go out the other door – 6 feet or more apart,  ALL of them are masked as well.

If you are free on Monday, November 16, 2020, we have a job for you! Here is the Sign up Genius for the fruit and dessert: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0A4DACA72AAAFF2-hope3

You may drop off your donations of food at St. Thomas’s on Wednesday or Thursday between 9 a.m. and noon, OR before the 9 a.m. service on Sunday. There is a box for Hope Dining Room outside the office. If that is not convenient for you, give me a call or an email and I will pick it up at your door.  If you would like to volunteer to help in the kitchen, please email me or call.  No experience is necessary!

MANY BLESSINGS,   Madeline Johnson 

Dear Families of St. Thomas’s and St. Nicholas,

Next Monday, October 19, 2020 is our Hope Dining Room volunteer day!   

Here are the duty times and jobs:
10 – 11:45 a.m. – cook and assemble meals
11- 12 noon – do dishes
11:45 – 1:00 p.m. – serve (hand out “Grab and Go” meals, outside, at Kingswood Methodist Church, Brookside)

We can only have 5 masked-people in the kitchen at one time and serving is done  from a table, outside, as a “grab and go”. If you are free on Monday, October 19 at lunchtime, we have a job for you! Here is the Sign Up Genius for the fruit and dessert: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0A4DACA72AAAFF2-hope2

You may drop off your donations of food at St. Thomas’s on Tuesday-Thursday from 9 – noon or before the 9 a.m. Sunday service. There is a box for Hope Dining Room outside the office.  If that is not convenient, give me a call  or an email and I will pick it up at your door. If you would like to volunteer to help in the kitchen, please email or call me. No experience is necessary!

MANY Blessings,
Madeline Johnson at mad1240@comcast.net

Dear family of St. Thomas’s,

We have been looking for opportunities to work with our friends at St. Nicholas. Our quarantine – YouTube-services were well received by both parishes, so when we entered into the Hope Dining Room project, we invited St. Nicholas to join us. St. Nicholas has been providing not only help in the kitchen, but also, veggies from their community garden. St. Nicholas has come up with another timely pandemic-related community outreach project and they have invited us to partner with them.

Because of COVID, most local public schools are totally virtual, at this point. The Christina School District has made sure each child has a computer, but some local families do not have internet access. The principal of one local elementary school, has identified the families that can’t afford it. Our two churches would like to team-up to provide that service for the effected families.

If you would like to help with Hope Dining Room expenses or the “internet for education” project, you can send a check made out to St. Thomas’s with “St. T’s/St. N’s co-outreach fund” on the memo line. Donations can also be made electronically using your bank account or credit card on our Giving page.  If you feel passionate about one or the other of these outreaches and wish your money to be used only for that one, please note that and we will respect and act on it.

It takes a village and a couple churches to raise a child in a pandemic. Food and education are two necessities that we feel called to assist with in our town. God at work – in love – for our community.

Many Blessings to you all – stay well,
Madeline Johnson

Hello St. Thomas’s and St. Nicholas families! I have some good news about our homeless friends.  SOME of them have found jobs! Some have found housing, some are back on the street and a few are still at the Red Roof Inn. There is a need at the Empowerment Center for “Go Bags” (a meal in a bag – shelf-stable entree, fruit cup, drink, crackers, cookies or bars and a plastic spoon/fork with a napkin). There is a box outside the office at St. Thomas’s, labeled “Go Bags”.  I will deliver all donations to the Newark Empowerment Center. There is another box outside the office at St. Thomas’s labeled “HOPE Dining Room”.  It is for our Hope Dining Room lunch on September 21, 2020. I would  LOVE to hear from you, if you would like to be on our September kitchen team! Here is the Sign Up Genius for Hope Dining Room contributions: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0A4DACA72AAAFF2-hope1

10 – 11:45 a.m. –  cook and assemble meals
11- 12 noon – do dishes
11:45 – 1:00 p.m. – serve (hand out  “Grab and Go” meals, outside, at Kingswood Methodist Church, Brookside)

Let me know at which shift you would like to help, as we can only have 5 masked-people in the kitchen at one time.

Questions or to volunteer? Call or write to me via the Church Office at StThomassOffice@googlegroups.com or (302) 368-4644.

Bless you all for your care of our homeless friends,  
Madeline Johnson

The Newark Empowerment Center (NEC) is staffed by a Friendship House professional and supported by hospitality volunteers primarily supplied by faith community, including our faith family at St. Thomas’s. They serve Newark’s citizens in need, and right now they are in need. They have a critical need for “Go Bags”.

Because there are so few free meals served in Newark, the Center distributes Go Bags to homeless clients every weekday. With enough food for one meal, a typical Go Bag will have a variety of nonperishable food items. The Newark Empowerment Center (NEC) is located in the Newark United Methodist Church at 69 E. Main St., Newark, but we are making a collection of Go Bags here at St. Thomas’s: the box is located right outside of the office. Please consider contributing.

EXAMPLE GO BAG
gallon sized ziplock bag with the following:
protein serving (pasta, stew, tuna or chicken soup)- flip top cans only
granola or cereal bar
8-16 oz. juice
peanut butter/cheese crackers
fruit serving (single serve peaches, mixed fruit applesauce, raisins)
napkin and plastic spoon
dessert optional (single serve pudding, cookies)