ECV Christmas Giving Opportunity - for CCA (with NHV)!

ECV Christmas Giving Opportunity - 3 ways to help out!

1. Give $$ to purchase Gifts for kids at CCA's Steppingstone Transitional Housing Program! ($25 = 1 kid's gift) - collecting donations on Sundays (12/4 & 12/11)
2. Buy Gifts for the kids! - wrapped gifts collected on Sun. 12/18
3. Volunteer and Meet the Families at Steppingstone Christmas Reception! - Tuesday, 12/20 from 5:30 - 7:30pm at 660 Winchester Ave. (need 4 - 5 volunteers)

I'm so excited to share with all of you a wonderful opportunity to share some Christmas love to local children in New Haven this holiday season! 

We'll be partnering with the New Haven Vineyard Church (located in West Haven, the church we planted out of) to provide presents for the kids in Christian Community Action's Stepping Stone Transitional Housing Program!

The idea is this - ECV will be buying Christmas gifts for 15 children (in 9 families - half of the families who live in the housing units), ages ranging from 6 months - 17 years, who currently live in Steppingstone's Transitional Housing units. The parents of these families are working hard to find jobs and more permanent housing to provide for their families, and often don't have money left over to buy presents for their kids. So, we have a list of kids (and their wishlists!) who we will purchase and wrap the gifts for, which we will then give anonymously to their parents, who will then give the presents to their kids - it imparts a sense of dignity for the parents to do it this way.

So, how can you help out? There are 3 ways (you can do one, more or all of the below)!

1. Give Money: We will be collecting donations during our NEXT TWO Sunday Gatherings (12/4 & 12/11) - We hope to spend $25 per kid, so you can choose to "sponsor" part of a gift or more! If you can't make it on a Sunday, then feel free to email Hannah to arrange sending your donations to her (checks payable to ECV, write "CCA Christmas" in memo).
   
2. Buy/Wrap Gifts: If you LOVE shopping (and/or wrapping gifts), we are looking for people who will buy the actual gifts for the kids! We will provide you the name, age, gender, and wishlist of kid(s) that you want to buy gifts for and we will be collecting wrapped gifts on Sunday, 12/18. You can shop alone or with friends/kids/your homegroup! Email Hannah if you are interested in doing this.
3. Volunteer and Meet the families at Steppingstone Christmas Reception! - On Tuesday, 12/20, from 5:30 - 7:30pm at 660 Winchester Ave., we will be co-hosting a Christmas reception at the Steppingstone building to meet the families who've received our gifts! We'll provide punch and cookies, etc. We need about 4 or 5 people from ECV to represent us at the reception, so if you are interested in attending/helping out with this (this is a great opportunity to meet the people we've bought the gifts for), then let Hannah know.

If you are interested in helping out in any way or have any questions about this, just email Hannah.
Hope you can help out and share the love this Holiday Season!

ECV Harvest Party! (THIS Sunday, 10/30)

ECV Harvest Party!
Sunday, 10/30
6:15pm (shortly after Worship Gathering)
Bradley Room (downstairs in United Church - corner of Temple and Elm Streets)

After our Worship Gathering on Sunday, please stay and join us for some Fall Festivities together - There will be Pizza, Yummy Treats and Prizes, Games (and possibly even a Costume Contest!)

The Harvest Party will include fun for the kids, even for the "kids at heart" - People of all ages are invited to join in!

Also, if some of you are wiling to help out with overseeing games, setting up/cleaning up, OR even taking pictures (it'd be nice to grab some costumed family portraits!), please let Hannah know.

Hope you can join us (with or without costumes)!

THIS SATURDAY (9/17) - Party in the Park!

Party in the Park!
Saturday, September 17th
10:00 am - 1:00pm 
Edgewood Park 
(Corner of Edgewood Ave. and Ella Grasso Blvd.)
*****

Join us and invite your friends to come to Party in the Park!

There will be food, friendly folks, arts & crafts for the kids...

...and we're bringing back the BOUNCY CASTLE!

This family-friendly event will give our ECV community an opportunity to welcome and engage with our friends and neighbors from the greater New Haven community.

We are also looking for a few people who are willing to volunteer to staff the food table or help supervise an activity with the kids (we can work in shifts if necessary). Let Hannah know if you're interested in helping out!