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

Next Monday, July 19, 2021, is our opportunity to serve at the Hope Dining Room. I have included a Signup Genius with our needs and anyone who has helped in the past, can tell you how GOOD it makes you feel to be part of a team that makes meals for people who are SOOO grateful!

We will begin preparing 45 meals at 10 a.m., at the Kingswood Methodist Church in Brookside Park, Newark. We are usually finished cooking and cleaning up by noon. It’s a very quick “good deed”.  

Here is the Sign Up Genius for the fruit cups, cookies and kitchen helpers:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0A4DACA72AAAFF2-hope11  

You may drop off your donations of food at St. Thomas’s, Tuesday through Thursday from 9 a.m. – noon, or Sunday morning when you are there for church. If those times don’t work for you, give me a call and I will pick it up at your house.

Many Blessings,
Madeline Johnson  mad1240@comcast.net

The Hope Dining Room, located in the basement of the Kingswood United Methodist Church, Brookside Park, provides a free hot noontime meal with dignity for all who are hungry. They have been in operation since 1983, and rely on volunteers to keep the effort going. St. Thomas’s and St. Nicholas have come together to help this effort. On the third Monday of every month, a small team from our parishes join to feed those in our community who need help. It’s typically a 2 hour task, from 10 a.m.-noon.

The menu varies throughout the month and each serving group determines the meal but include a protein, vegetable, starch and dessert. Something that makes the meals that our group provides special is the veggies; they come from the St. Nicholas garden! Last year, the harvest continued into November 2020. What a blessing!

At this time, all serving is done as a “grab and go” lunch, outside. Normally, the Dining Room provides a safe place to sit down and be served a hot meal and have conversations with others. Friends and contacts are also made. They expect to go back to a seated meal sometime this fall. This is when we will need more volunteers to help with serving and cleaning. Right now, masks are optional and social distancing is practiced.

You could donate to the cause by dropping a check at either church, with “Hope Dining Room” on the memo line. You could be a one-time volunteer, or sign up by the month, if the day we work is convenient for you (3rd Monday). If you would like to be on the volunteer list, please email Madeline at mad1240@comcast.net. It’s also helpful to spread the word. Please let your friends and neighbors know about this resource, so they can also help to share this relief with others.

Hope Dining Room provides a needed service to the community, not just to feed the homeless, but also to
provide a lift for those who may just need a few meals per week covered, to help them stretch their funds further. All who come are warmly welcomed, and there are no questions asked.

If you are interested in learning more, please reach out to Madeline Johnson at mad1240@comcast.net.

Date: Wednesday, March 10, 2021 beginning at 1 p.m.
Price: Free
Open to the public but must register.

ALL are Welcome to BE A FIRST RESPONDER! Your one donation can save three lives! Every drop counts.
Call 1.888.8.BLOOD.8 or register online.

To care for the health and safety of our community, donations are by appointment, social distancing will be observed, and masks are required.

This event is sponsored by St. Thomas’s Episcopal Parish, Newark, Delaware and Blood Bank of Delmarva.

Questions? Call or write St. Thomas’s Parish at:
Cana Hartman, Parish Administrator
StThomassOffice@googlegroups.com or (302) 368-4644

Greetings St. Thomas’s!

Pastoral Care is continuing to provide help to the Tarbiyah School, which reaches out to individuals with needs in our community. Your generosity to Tarbiyah over the Christmas Season was beyond expectation and the school’s administration was so grateful and appreciative for the love expressed through the donations by St. Thomas parishioners. 

We are asking for your kindness again. Kohl’s has offered us a 30% discount and Jill Jensen is meeting one of the Tarbiyah teachers tomorrow to purchase clothing. 

The following list was sent to us and reflects the needs of those in shelters. (I have heard that Colgate toothpaste and deodorant are $1 at ACME….)

1. Blankets and Towels (these do not need to be new, but should be clean and in good condition)
2. Diapers and wipes
3. Toiletries (soap, toothpaste, tooth brush, shampoo, body wash, deodorants)
4. Recently a family who used to take meals from our school had their house burned down completely due to an electric short circuit. Thank God all the 3 girls, their parents, and grandparents were safe and no one sustained an injury, however they are displaced. I was thinking perhaps if clothing can be arranged for them – girls are 7 years, 6 years, and 3 years. 

A collection box will be placed outside the parish office starting tomorrow until Tuesday, February 23, 2021. 

Thank you for any items you feel you can donate.  
Blessings to all, Pastoral Care

Dear Families of St.Thomas and St. Nicholas,

Next Monday, February 15, 2021 is our volunteer opportunity at Hope Dining room. We can only have 5 masked-people in the kitchen at once (COVID rules). Serving is done  as a “grab and go” from a table in the front of the room. Our guests come in one door, walk across the room, grab their lunch and go out the other door, 6 feet apart. ALL of them are masked, as well.

If you are free on Monday, February 15, 2021 we have a job for YOU! We begin preparing the meal at 10 a.m. at Kingswood Methodist Church on Marrows Road in Brookside Park. If you volunteer, you will be finished by shortly after noon. The kitchen manager and I will stay for the serving duty from 12 – 1 p.m.

Here is the Sign Up Genius for the cookies and the volunteers:  
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0A4DACA72AAAFF2-hope6  

You may drop off your donations at St. Thomas’s on  Wednesday or Thursday from 9 – noon, or on Sunday, immediately before or after the service. If those times do not work for you, I am happy to pick them up at your door.  Give me a call or email me.

MANY Blessings for your care of the hungry,  
Madeline Johnson   

Hope Dining Room is going very well on the 3rd Monday of every month. Our third lunch was served on October 19, 2020. We prepared 50 lunches (Substantial Nachos – with taco-seasoned  ground beef, kidney beans and cheese sauce served over taco chips,  with a side of salsa.)  Included in the lunch was a beautiful fresh salad (greens from St. Nicholas’s Community garden as well as fresh and colorful peppers and grated carrots). We served 38 meals and took 12 leftover meals to the Empowerment Center.

Hope Dining Room is going to give Christmas Bags to all guests who come in for lunch on December 18, 2020. Homemade cookies and hotel-sized toiletries are still needed for those bags. If you would like to contribute to that effort, you may put the items in the “Hope Dining Room” box, outside the office at St. Thomas’s.  Please let me know if you can make cookies and I will deliver them to the “packers”.

St. Nicholas is doing a Mitten Tree in January, so as the time draws closer, I will put another box outside the office at St. Thomas’s for mittens.                         

Madeline Johnson

 Hope Dining Room is going well on the third Monday of every month. Our first lunch was the 3rd Monday of August and we gave out 35 meals. For our lunch in September, we made 50 meals and gave out 47 and took 3  left-over meals to the Empowerment Center. We had 3 volunteers from St. Thomas’s and 3 from St. Nicholas, including one who picks and prepares veggies from their Community Garden. Our next lunch will be served on October 19, 2020. If you are free that day at lunchtime, we’d LOVE to hear from you!.

We are still doing” grab and go lunches”, served from a table outside. Social distancing is observed and masks are required. 

Hope Dining Room is thinking about Christmas bags, which they distribute to all comers who show up,  the Friday before Christmas. They fill the bags with socks, a small flashlight, a mask, hand sanitizer, a knit hat, small hotel-sized toiletries and cookies. 

They do 10-15 bags for children and fill them with a coloring book, crayons, a small toy, mittens, child-sized hat and mask and cookies. They fix about 70 bags for men and 30 for women. If you would like to donate any of these items, there will be a box outside the office in early December, so start gathering.          

Respectfully submitted,  
Madeline Johnson <mad1240@comcast.net>