Donate Hats for Kids
On Sunday, February 5 or Sunday, February 12 we will collect hats for children at a Tanzania orphanage. Our mission team, who will travel to Dar es Salaam on February 17 and during their stay they will attend a hat party at the orphanage. All types of hats are welcome--baseball caps, bucket hats, sun hats. Hats that are easy to pack are the most helpful, as our missioners will be carrying the hats with them.
On February 12 we will bless the hats at both services as we commission the mission team. Please join us in this special project.
Holy Cross to Host Hypothermia Shelter
Holy Cross will open its doors and hearts to our homeless neighbors in the shill of winter by acting as a host shelter for one week beginning February 19. Working with FACETS, we will provide healthy meals, a warm place to sleep, and hospitality to those who might otherwise sleep on the streets in the cold of winter. This undertaking requires an outpouring of generosity from a very large number of people. We hope you will find a way to participate in this important event and sign up by going to www.mysignup.com/hchypothermia2012.
Tanzania Mission Trip
Ten members of our Holy Cross community will travel to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania on February 17 to work with the medical staff and patients of the hospital we have been supporting with our prayers and contributions for the past several years.
Each of our missioners will be put to work from 7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. making repairs, assisting with patients and students at the adjacent elementary school and traveling to a remote village at the request of the archbishop for eastern regions of Africa. High on the list of activities are visitations to home-based patients in need of food, painting and repairing the health center buildings, landscaping work at the women’s and children’s center, assisting nursing staff by taking blood pressures and other vital signs, and participating in an annual Hat Day party for 88 orphans from the surrounding region.
At the invitation of the archbishop, our rector, Wes Smedley, will deliver the Sunday sermon for the English language service at the nearby Anglican cathedral.
Cooking for the Homeless
Please come help cook meals on the second Tuesday of every month. Our next meeting will be in the kitchen at 6:30 p.m. on February 14th. It’s a wonderful opportunity for fellowship and outreach. You will meet some wonderful people, and you may learn a new recipe or two. You are welcome any time.
Contact Contact Robin Yi or the parish office if you have questions or would like to help.CHO Food Pantry
The Committee for Helping Others (CHO) is an organization that provides emergency and long-term assistance to those in need in the Merrifield, Dunn Loring, Oakton, and Vienna areas.
One of their services is a food pantry that provides food and other basic supplies to its clients. Holy Cross collects items on a weekly basis to help support this program.
You are invited to bring in items at any time and place them in the red wagon outside the sanctuary. You can also help by delivering the contributions to CHO as needed.
CHO Clothes Closet
The Committee for Helping Others (CHO) is an organization that provides emergency and long-term assistance to those in need in the Merrifield, Dunn Loring, Oakton, and Vienna areas. One of their services is to make clothes in good condition available to clients at no charge.
Holy Cross parishioners contribute to the clothes closet, which is open from September through June, on an ongoing basis by bringing in gently used clothing and placing it in a hamper in the Narthex. Volunteers deliver clothes to the closet as needed.