March Charity Tray

The March Charity Tray is to assist Fr. Gregory Becker who recently lost all of his possessions when a fire broke out in his home on February 26th.   Father Gregory is servicing St. Elia Orthodox Church in Jamestown, NY.   St. Elia is a sister parish in the Albanian Archdiocese of the OCA.  On behalf of the archdiocese, we are raising money to assist him in his loss.

Haiti Earthquake Victims

We will be collecting the last three Sundays of January to support Haiti.

By now we all have seen pictures of the incomprehensible destruction and loss of life in Haiti who are the poorest of the poor.  Not everyone is in a position to donate to emergency relief, but if you are, please be encouraged to do so. 

International Orthodox Christian Charities is always a great avenue for this.  You can do so online at by clicking on the following link:

http://www.iocc.org/news/1-15-10haiti-resouces.aspx

December-February Charity Tray

Cell Phones for Soldiers

Do you have unwanted cell phones in your house? You can donate them, and in return our soldiers will get free calling cards –

Check this site out:

http://www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com/ 

October Charity Tray

Christmas Stocking Appeal for Albanian Children

As part of an archdiocese wide appeal, monies from the October Monthly Charity Tray will be used to  purchase and deliver Christmas stocking of toys and sweets to needy children in Albania.

Click Here to view a memo announcing the appeal

November Charity Tray

Bridgeport Rescue Mission


Some quick statistics:

21.6% of Bridgeport’s residents live below the federal poverty level; every day, men, women and children receive a hand up and out of their circumstances through the programs and services at Bridgeport Rescue Mission.  

The volume of services provided by the Bridgeport Rescue Mission this year, from January through August 2009:

- Nights of shelter provided: 19,744

- Meals for guests and working poor: 265,733

- Mobile kitchen meals: 25,021


Beyond money, these food items are needed for distribution: cans of vegetables, fruits or soups; pasta, pasta sauces, macaroni & cheese, hot/cold cereal.


For more information, please click onto the link below:
http://www.bridgeportrescuemission.org/

August & September Charity Tray

The monthly collection for August and September will be to provide financial support to the Archdiocesan Seminarian Fund.  The donations will be turned over to the Archdiocese at the Archdiocesan Assembly which will be held in Philadelphia on September 24th-26th. 

June & July Charity Tray

The monthly Charity collection for both June and July is to provide financial support for the Church Planting Grant Appeal (formally known as the “Mission Appeal”) which supports qualifying OCA missions.

Click Here to view a letter from Metropolitan Jonah asking to support to the 2009 Church Planting Grant Appeal.

May Charity Tray

Metropolitan Jonah invites all OCA parishes to support FOCUS North America.  

FOCUS North America is a network of Orthodox Christian social action ministries that express Christ's love in North America for those who are hungry, thirsty, strangers, naked, sick or in prison [Matt. 25:35ff].

"While many of us live in relative comfort, the reality is that many in our country and even in some of our parishes are facing desperation," Metropolitan Jonah writes in his letter. "I know that you are already supporting your parish and other worthy causes, but I hope that, out of the abundance that the Lord has given you and according to your means, you will also support this important initiative."

To view the full letter from Metropolitan Jonah, click below:
http://www.oca.org/PDF/NEWS/2009/2009-0414-focus.pdf 
 
For more information on FOCUS North America, click on the link below:
http://www.FocusNorthAmerica.org

April Charity Tray

The monthly Charity collection for April is  to provide financial support for the Saint Innocent Orphanage and Project Mexico.

These charities state their mission as "Building hope for boys without families and families without homes"

Click on the link below for more information:
www.projectmexico.org

March Charity Tray

Charity collections for March 2009 are to provide financial support for Orthodox missions through the Orthodox Christian Missionary Center (OCMC).   The OCMC is the official international missions agency of the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in America (SCOBA).

If you wish, you may alternately contribute by using the OCMC canisters which are available in the church vestibule.

For information on the OCMC, please click onto the link below:
http://www.ocmc.org/

Church School Lenten Outreach Program

The Church School is sponsoring a food collection as a Lenten Outreach program.

The specific program being supported is called the "Week-ender Backpack Program" which helps children in the Greater Bridgeport area who do not have enough food to last them through the weekend.

Click Here for more details on the program.

February Charity Tray

5th Grader’s Service Project: Project Warmth

As part of his Talented and Gifted (TAG) program, TJ Coughlin was to create a Service Learning Project.  As his topic, he chose one that dealt with helping those less fortunate deal with heating their homes in the winter.  Following research and interviews, he developed a “Power Point” presentation and an informational/educational brochure for the parish and after a Liturgy presented his project to the parishioners.

Following his presentation on February 1st, he invited everyone to a coffee hour that he sponsored – and even baked for!

The support of this project will be the February Charity Tray. 

Click Here to view TJ's presentation materials.

Click Here to go to the Photo Archive and view additional photos of TJ addressing the parish and explaining his project at the coffee hour he sponsored.

Photo - from Left to Right:  First Selectman of Monroe Tom Buzi and TJ Coughlin.

Click Here to view a newspaper article from the Connecticut Post.

Support for homeless Connecticut veterans

This is a very exciting time for many VA Connecticut veterans who have been homeless. Soon they will be moving into their own apartments.

Furniture in good (lightly used) condition and household items are needed to make these apartments a home.

If you have items to donate please call Jennifer DeGaetano at the Errera Community Care Center at (203) 500-5613.

Support to local Food Banks

Hunger never takes a vacation! 

The collection of non-perishable food stuffs is an on-going ministry in the parish.  The proceeds are directed to area food banks (generally to the Trumbull Visiting Nurse Association and the Merton House of Bridgeport) for distribution to those who are in need.

St. George maintains collection boxes in the church for donating non-perishable food items all year.  We appreciate everyone's continued support!

January Charity Tray

In the month of January 2009, we collected for the Thomas Merton House – a soup kitchen in the city of Bridgeport.

Click Here to view a recent article about the Merton House.

December Charity Tray

Below was the purpose of our December 2008 Charity Tray:

Real Break is a pan-orthodox program of North American Orthodox Christian Fellowship, Standing Conference of Orthodox Bishops in America (SCOBA). We would like to support one of our “native sons.”

2009 Real Break Greece: The project will take our parishioner to a place in Central Greece, near the city of Karditsa. This is an area rarely visited by the average tourist from abroad. However, the mountainous terrain attracts the few, who seek hard enough, to find areas unspoiled by a deluge of tourists.

The team will be based in the sixteenth century monastery of the Twelve Apostles, known by the locals as “Red Church,” just outside of Karditsa. The Twelve Apostles monastery works closely with Saint George Monastery near Mavromati. St. George Monastery is famous for housing one of the four icons of the Virgin Mary associated with St. Luke the Evangelist. This monastery is one of two historic monasteries in the local Diocese which have been recently reopened. The other, near the village of Katafigi, is the sixteenth century monastery, Moni Petras. Moni Petras is famous for its Wonder-working icon of the Virgin Mary. Both sisterhoods of St. George and Twelve Apostles, as well as the brotherhood of Moni Petras are international in character consisting not only of Greeks but people from various other countries such as the United States, Russia, Germany, Georgia, England, South Africa and Israel, to name a few. Most members of both monasteries speak English at least as a second language. The team will be working with all three of the monasteries on any tasks that they need our assistance.

Even though this mission will be taking place during Great Lent, the hosts will do all in their means to offer genuine Greek hospitality, as well as the opportunity to participate in their daily lives of prayer and work.

The monastics at these three monasteries are wonderful people. They are looking forward to the team’s arrival. They have plenty of plans to keep the participant busy, but will also make sure he/she learns and experiences Orthodoxy in a truly unique manner, one which cannot be experienced anywhere else.

Photo - from Left to Right:   Parish Council President Bill Kovachi presenting a check to Christopher Adams to help subsidize some of his travel expenses to Greece for his Real Break experience.