There’s no symbol more appropriate for expressing our theological understanding that God is the energy of love and goodwill in the world, and we co-conspirators, than people linked hand to hand against a trouble.
There are surprisingly large numbers of people, living in Waterbury who face the troubling question of making ends meet this month. An answer, though clearly not the whole solution, is to provide food available for free for anyone in this kind of trouble, be it temporary or long-term. The Waterbury Common Market, aka the food shelf, does this for hundreds of families each month.
On November 17, you are invited to join together, standing arm-to-arm and hand-to-hand against hunger and in support of all of those individuals and families who rely on the Common Market to get them out of a jam. Here’s how we do it:
We’ve been collecting food. If you can bring in a little food (see below for what kinds of food are needed) the next few times you come to church, we’ll be able to make a statement by standing arm to arm in sharing food, and tangibly help people today in our community who struggle with food insecurity. Leave your food in the narthex of the church or in the office, depending on which way you come in. By November 17, we hope to have a large assortment that we will then pass down to the food shelf hand over hand.
Here’s a list of needed supplies from the director of the Waterbury Area Food Shelf:
- oatmeal (plain or flavored)
- hearty soups
- canned meals
- peanut butter & jelly/jam
- baking mixes (pancake, muffin, cake)
- jars of pasta sauce
- dried pasta/noodles
- or simply a check (you can make it out to the church and earmark it for the food drive.)
I hope you can join us on November 17, after worship. It’s simple. And it’s powerful.
