Feeding the Invisible People - Our Lenten Outreach Project
3/1/2017
Final Report
St. John's donated $820 and 317 pounds of food to AFAC during Lent.
The Season of Lent and the Goals of St. John’s
The season of Lent in the church calendar is the forty days leading up to Easter. It has traditionally been a time of fasting, prayer, and penitence. In recent times this inward-directed tradition has been supplemented with an outward-reaching emphasis on serving others, helping those in need around us. This contemporary outreach emphasis for Lent is coincides exactly with St. John’s goal of broadening our support for AFAC.
How The Project Works
This effort would ask each member of St. John’s to make a commitment to support or expand their support of AFAC during the forty days of Lent. Each person’s support would depend on what that individual feels he or she can do. The range of activities is broader than might at first be apparent. Making weekly food donations is one obvious option. Making a weekly monetary contribution to AFAC through St. John’s is another option. Coming to AFAC the second Friday of March and April to help convert bulk food into family-size servings is another. If the weekly food donations to AFAC can be increased enough, our regular food deliverers might need help taking donations to AFAC. The nature of participation is left to the imagination.
Several points about this project are important to keep in mind. First, we are asking for ongoing participation through the time of Lent. The idea is that this is an ongoing activity throughout Lent part of our preparation for Easter.
Members of St. John’s will be asked to make a commitment of support by signing a pledge to support this outreach effort, and returning it in a sealed envelope with the member’s name on the outside. The pledges are never opened. The contents and the fulfillment of the pledges are between the member and his or her conscience.
UPDATE --- As of March 5 there have been 22 pledge cards submitted.
