Hello Out There! I have so much to say - If you read my blog on a regular basis you know
how much the MINISTRY of the Sack Lunch Ministry at Sacred Heart means to me and so many others! Janice and I have composed a letter that we are going to send out tomorrow about helping support this much needed ministry. The letter will speak for itself.
I've copied it for you:
Dear Friends and Family,
The third anniversary of the Sack Lunch Ministry at Sacred Heart Cathedral is this month.
When this ministry began in July of 2013 we had no idea how quickly it would grow.
We started out small, handing out about 8 -15 lunches a day the first couple of weeks.
We now average anywhere from 50 – 80 lunches a day, sometimes more than that. The
lunches are simple – a meat (ham, turkey) and cheese sandwich, a bag of chips,
a fruit cup or sometimes fresh fruit, and a bottle of water is served four days a week.
Once a week we serve peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. A packet of mustard or
mayonnaise is offered with the meat sandwich. We also put a package of peanut butter
crackers in the lunches a couple of times a week. Sometimes organizations will bring by
left over cookies or donuts, etc. and we will put those in the lunches. There have been
so many generous people that have dropped by with donations of cases of water, bread,
lunch meat, special treats during the holidays – the list goes on and on. We have also
been blessed with monetary donations and those are so appreciated and needed.
Before I continue, I would like to share with you how much this ministry has touched our
hearts. We are blessed to be able to use the kitchen and cafeteria at Sacred Heart Cathedral.
We are especially blessed with our many faithful volunteers. The people who prepare the
lunches and pass them out and the people who pick up all the supplies are volunteers.
We hand out the lunches from 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Monday – Friday. We start making
the sandwiches and packing the lunch bags at 9:30 a.m. We also take time to decorate the
sacks. During the school year the children from Angelo Catholic School and the CCD classes
from Sacred Heart Cathedral decorate many of the sacks for us.
The people who come and pick up a lunch are so appreciative. We have our regulars and
some we just see every now and then. Some you see for a while and then never again. These
people have touched our hearts and we always feel like we are the ones who have been
blessed.
Even though we receive some monetary donations, the majority of the costs have been
paid by Sacred Heart. We would like to make this ministry more self-sustaining.
Janice Pelzel and I (Sharla Ynostrosa) have many ideas about how we can all help to make
this goal a reality. The attached sheet has a list of different ways that businesses and
individuals can help.
This is how we see this beautiful ministry –
The Sack Lunch Ministry at Sacred Heart gives food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty
and welcomes the stranger five days a week – come and join us and be blessed!
Page 2 - How you can help with this amazing ministry!
It is our dream that this opportunity to serve our neighbors in this ministry will expand
to embrace more of our community. If we all work together this ministry will continue
to bless those in need.
Weekly expenses are approximately $400.00 – This amount covers the cost of sandwich
bread, lunch meat, cheese, individual chips, individual crackers or individual fruit cups.
This also covers bottles of water (16 oz.), foil wraps, napkins, lunch sacks, mayonnaise
and mustard packets and spoons. We serve meat (usually ham or turkey) and cheese
sandwiches four days a week and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches once a week.
Ways to sponsor this ministry:
1.
Donate a month of groceries - $1,600.00
2.
Donate a week of groceries - $400.00
3.
Share sponsorship with another family or partner with another
business or friend.
4.
Purchase some supplies and drop them off in the cafeteria (Example
– a parishioner
from Holy Angels Catholic Church drops off (3) 40
count packs of water every week)
5.
Donate water for a week (about 8 – 40 count packs of 16 oz.
waters) approx. $32.00
6.
Volunteer! Pick once a week or twice a month and come and join in
the fellowship as
we prepare the lunches and hand them out. Call Janice or
Sharla for more information.
7.
Any type of donation will be greatly appreciated.
With your permission, an
acknowledgement of your donation will be printed in
our weekly bulletin.
(Example – The supplies for this weeks’ Sack Lunch Ministry
are being donated
by or are being sponsored by ….)
Checks should be made to Sacred
Heart Cathedral Sack Lunch Ministry
Thank you so much for your
generosity in considering your sponsorship of this ministry.
Jesus
said to him, “Feed my sheep.” John 21:17
I realize this blog post is mainly for people in the San Angelo area but we need to get
the message out that we need help to keep this ministry going! Sharing this message
on my blog and posting it to face book are some of the best ways I know to get the message
out!
I'm going to share two or maybe three of my favorite posts about the Sack Lunch Ministry to help you see how vital this ministry is to our community!
http://adoptedandblessed.blogspot.com/2015/11/trying-to-be-light-in-this-dark-world.html
http://adoptedandblessed.blogspot.com/2015/11/let-my-little-light-shine.html
http://adoptedandblessed.blogspot.com/2016/01/sanctuary-for-most-of-us-place-to.html
Blessings to you and yours, Sharla
No comments:
Post a Comment