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

Monday, May 17,  2021, is our opportunity to serve at Hope Dining Room. If you are free between 10 a.m. and noon that day, we would LOVE for you to experience the joy of being on a team that makes a simple lunch for people who really need it.

We begin cooking at 10 a.m. at Kingswood Methodist Church in Brookside Park on Marrows Road and we finish cleaning up a little after noon. Only 5 masked people are allowed in the kitchen at any one time.

Here is the Sign Up Genius for the fruit cups, cookies and volunteers:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0A4DACA72AAAFF2-hope9          

You may drop off your donations of food at St. Thomas’s, today through Thursday, May 13, 2021 between 9 a.m. through noon. Or, feel free to drop off your donations on Sunday morning, May 16, 2021, if you are coming to the big celebration of Baptisms, Confirmation, and Bishop-welcoming!   

If those times do not work for you, give me a call or an email and I will pick it up at your house.

Many Blessings, Madeline Johnson    mad1240@comcast.net

HOPE DINING  ROOM

Our Hope Dining Room event is Monday, March 15, 2021 and we are set to prepare 44 meals. The numbers have gone down to between 36 and 40 people / day at Hope Dining Room. I take the leftover meals to the Newark Empowerment Center.

2  SAINTS BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP

The 2 Saints Book Group will start up a couple weeks after Easter, on Tuesday, April 20, 2021 at 10 a.m. by Zoom. We will be discussing  “Holy Envy – Finding God in the Faith of Others”  by Barbara Brown Taylor, who is an Episcopal priest and who now teaches a class at Piedmont College in Georgia on the world’s religions. Order your book now, so you’ll be ready to chat about the first 3 chapters on April 20, 2021.

HOPE CENTER

I took 3 big boxes of children’s books and toys to the Hope Center and they were thrilled to get them.   

Madeline Johnson, Vestry liaison for Outreach

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

Next Monday, January 18, 2021 is our Hope Dining Room day! We can have 5 masked-people in the kitchen at a 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, January 18, 2021we have a job for you! We begin preparing the meal at Kingswood Methodist Church on Marrows Rd. in Brookside, at 10 a.m. and serve it from 12 – 1 p.m. Here is the Sign Up Genius for the fruit cups, cookies and volunteers:  https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0A4DACA72AAAFF2-hope5

You may drop off your donations of food at St. Thomas’s on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday from 9 a.m. – noon. If those times don’t work for you, give me a call or email and I will pick it up at your door.

Many Blessings,
Madeline Johnson   mad1240@comcast.net

Our Hope Dining Room service with St. Nicholas happened on Dec. 21, 2020.  We prepared 55 meals,  served 36 of them and took 19 to the Newark Empowerment Center. We also provided MANY toiletries and cookies for the Christmas Goodie bags for the guests at Hope Dining Room.

We joined forces with St. Nicholas to provide mittens, hats and socks for the tiny children at St. Michaels Day Nursery in downtown Wilmington. I delivered all of our collection to St. Nicholas on January 10, 2021.

Two years ago our CREW (teens) collected warm sweaters, coats, scarves, gloves and socks for use at Code Purple which did not happen 2 years ago, because of the mild winter.  There were only 3 Code Purples called and we didn’t get any of them – they were done by 3 other churches in Newark. This year, Code Purple can’t be done in the churches, because of the pandemic. So, after consultation with Kelly Tompkins and Belinda, I took all the boxes of warm clothes to the Newark Empowerment Center. They will keep some of the items and send some to the Hope Center, where many of our homeless friends are staying.

I would like to THANK all of our St. Thomas’s family for their generosity and care for people who truly need help.  The needs are many and St. Thomas’s always steps up, royally!!!   BLESS you ALL!!!

Respectfully submitted,
Madeline Johnson

Merry Christmas, St. Thomas’s family!  Every year, St. Nicholas Parish provides help to the St. Michael’s Day Nursery in downtown Wilmington. It is the oldest early childhood education program in Delaware and was started in 1890! They provide high quality, affordable childcare and early education to children, 8 weeks old to 5 years old.

St. Nicholas collects mittens, hats and socks for those tiny children and we would like to supplement their collection.  St. Thomas’s has done LOTS of outreach lately and PLEASE do not feel you must participate in ALL of it – that’s kind of overwhelming!

There is a box outside the St. Thomas’s office if you would like to contribute any of those items. They will be delivered to St. Nicholas on January 10, 2021. You still have time to knit  🙂

Many Blessings to ALL,  
Madeline Johnson     mad1240@comcast.net 

Our wish list is filling out and the enthusiasm for the project with Tarbiyah School is spreading through the Parish.  Thank you everyone who has shopped and donated. Our coat collection is growing and our diaper donation, with the exception of pull-ups, has been met.  There is still room for hats, gloves, candy, books, toys!  And of course – coats!  It’s cold outside. ?

The date by which we need your donations is December 10, 2020*.  We will be putting the goody bags together ? and doing final shopping this coming weekend. Everything will be delivered to Tarbiyah on December 15, 2020. 

 2020 has been an unusual and difficult year.  Whatever you can give is meaningful and appreciated. GIving brings both the giver and the receiver sparks of joy- something we all need at this time.  The joy we give and get brings this season’s meaning close.

Again, thanks to all at St. T’s, you are wonderful!

* if you have ordered something that has not yet arrived, let us know so our shopping lists reflect your gift. If you need something picked up, that can be arranged.  See more information at Tarbiyah or how to give.

Jill Englund Jensen

Good Morning families of  St. Thomas’s and St. Nicholas,

On December 18, 2020, Hope Dining Room gives each person who comes to pick up lunch, a goodie bag. The items in the bag are being provided by all the churches that serve, during the month. We are donating hotel-size toiletries and cookies.

I think we have the cookies covered, but we are still in need of small toiletries. There is a box just outside the office at St. Thomas’s, labeled “Hope Dining Room”.  If you have any small toiletries to share, the door at St. Thomas’s is open Monday – Thursday from 9 a.m. – noon. If you can’t make that schedule, give me a call, and I will pick them up at your house.

Many Blessings to all,
Madeline Johnson   mad1240@comcast.net