Category: Mission

CROP HungerWalk

For the past 40 years or so, our church has been walking each spring or fall to help raise money for Church World Service (CWS) and their worldwide campaign to help end hunger. CWS does this by providing non-sectarian expertise on the ground in all corners of the world to assist in building up food infrastructure and community rebuilding and resilience. A portion of the money we raise in our walk will also stay local and go to our food shelf.

The walk is Sunday, October 11 at 1 pm! We’ll gather at 12:30 for a little socializing and registering. We’ll have freshly baked brownies and crisp apples to eat.

Here you will find information on 1) how to be a walker and 2) how to be a donor.

Last Year’s Walkers making their way through Hope Cemetery
  1. A majority of our fundraising this year will be done online. For the first time since we’ve been doing this, there is no envelope to pick up or hand in. If you want to walk with us on October 11 at 1 pm, register on our walk website (https://www.crophungerwalk.org/waterburyvt/). Once there you will have the opportunity to register, which involves the usual name and address. You will also have a Covid-19 disclaimer to accept. It will ask you for a password, which means that if you want to check out your fundraising progress, you’ll need to remember/record it. The final step in registration is to make yourself a donation.
  2. If you are not walking but would like to contribute, go to the same site (https://www.crophungerwalk.org/waterburyvt/), and instead of clicking on the register button, click on the donate button. There your options or to donate to the team (our church) in general, or a specific walker. You can pay by PayPal or regular credit card. All donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.

It’s that easy! I hope you can join us!

Volunteer for Laundry Love

Laundry Love began when a church group working with the homeless in California after a conversation with a homeless man revealed that if he had clean clothes people might treat him like a human.  Big problem.  Simple solution: offer to do his laundry.


It has become a movement.  Shortly after I heard about this Californian idea, I received a call for help from a woman in Duxbury who was desperate to get her laundry done, but with all of the other demands on her limited income, had been unable to do it.  Now her children were being made fun of at school for smelling.  Could we help?

We’ve been doing this for a few years now. It’s small and easy to do, but for the people who receive money for their laundry it’s a pretty big deal.

 Laundry sessions are on the 2nd Wednesday of each month, from 5 pm –  7:00  pm through the summer. Our only job is to welcome people who have laundry to be washed, put money in the machines when they are ready, provide the detergent, and tidy up a bit when we’re done.

We need volunteers! Hit the Sign Up button below. Thank you!

Sign Up!

Church World Service Kits

This year, because of the COVID crisis, Church World Service has postponed its annual trip around the Northeast to pick up hygiene, school, and clean-up kits from Spring to Fall. We have served as a kit depot for over a decade and will continue to serve in that capacity this year during the week of September 15 – 18.  Churches from across the northern tier of Vermont will be making kits of various sorts and dropping them off at our church for pick-up by the CWS semi-truck later in September. 

For our part, we will not only host the kit depot,  but contribute some kits to the cause as well.  We are asking you to help us by making a school kit this year. School kits give children in impoverished schools, refugee camps, or other difficult settings some of the basic tools for learning.  All of the supplies are easy to purchase locally.  One of our board members put together a complete school kit at Shaws.  Each kit costs $12 – $13.

Here’s what you need to purchase:

  • One pair of blunt scissors removed from the package (rounded tip, only)
  • Three 70-count bound notebooks or notebooks totaling 200-210 pages (no loose-leaf or filler paper)
  • One 30-centimeter / 12” ruler
  • One hand-held pencil sharpener removed from the package
  • One large eraser (no pencil cap erasers)
  • Six new, unsharpened pencils with erasers (please remove pencils from the package)
  • One box of 24 crayons (only 24)

Put it all in a tied shut shopping bag (1 kit per bag, please) or other type of sealable bag, and bring it to the church starting September 1.  The board of outreach will assemble all the kits that arrive by the end of the day, Wednesday, September 9.

Thank you!

Instructions for Summer Food Volunteers

Thank you for helping to provide meals for the food insecure families in our community. You can review what you’ve signed up for and can sign up for more slots later in the summer, here.

Drivers

Your job is pretty straightforward:
1) stop at the church (8 North Main St.) to pick up the empty coolers from the previous distribution. The church will be open at 8 AM.
2) drive to the Berlin Park n’ Ride to meet the Barre Food Service people at 8:30.
3) Return to the church and help unload the coolers.

Serving

  1.  Meals will be distributed under the drive-thru from 9 AM to 10 AM (unless the exit is blocked, see scenario #3 in Traffic Flow). Arrive at 8:45 AM to set up under the drive-thru of the church.
  2. Please note: On Wednesday CSA delivery to the Congregational Church happens usually before 8 (but not always).  CSA members will be in and out that side entrance from 8 on.
  3. Two folding tables will facilitate the assembly of meals. We will store the tables, chairs, and the empty coolers in the coatroom just inside the door.
  4. Meals will be delivered to us in coolers. Start assembling meals right away. Each bag will contain 2 breakfasts and 2 lunches
  5. There will be a Waterbury Recreational Camp pick-up at the end of the shift of 60 bags for 60 children.
  6. Ask of each car that pulls up for the number of children being served.  Give 1 bag for each child.
  7. The second volunteer will keep a tally of the number of children served.
  8. Volunteers must keep a proper COVID distance of 6 feet and wear gloves and masks.
  9. When the shift is over, please return the chairs, tables, sanitizer, bags, sign(s) and coolers to the coat-room.  Do not lock the door.
  10. If you have left-over, nonperishable food, leave that in a cooler with ice packs. We will add that food to the next day’s bags. Please ask the people who arrive for pick up if they’d like a little extra until you run out.

Traffic Flow

We will make several signs for the different scenarios we may encounter due to ongoing street construction.

The church building is located in the middle of a U driveway.  The entrance to that U is on the parking lot side (east side of the church).

There are two exits: drive under and out the other end of the U, or exit through the cemetery.

Scenario #1) If there is no street construction blocking either end of the ‘U’ then traffic flow will be into the parking lot entrance, under the building in the back where distribution will take place and out the exit. During set up, please put up the “SUMMER MEALS ENTER HERE” sign at the main entrance.

Scenario #2) If there is construction blocking the main entrance, please put up the “SUMMER MEALS ENTER HERE” sign at the ‘exit.’

Scenario #3) If the exit is blocked, set up will have to be by the side entrance to the chuch so that drivers can exit through the cemetery. Place the sign that says “EXIT HERE —->” pointing into the cemetery.

If you have any questions or if any problems arise please call Peter on his mobile phone — (802) 560-4667.