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Volunteer Opportunities are Many!
CUCC Members Serve in the Community all Year around!
Jesus Has Left the Building and We are Following Him! It is a once or twice a year event, but there are opportunities to spread your joy and spirit in our community all the time. Here are a few of the volunteer activities that might spark your interest, and are sure to Increase Our Love for God and Neighbor.
- The Night Ministry: We travel to Chicago to assist this non-profit agency as they reach out to the homeless and potentially homeless of the City of Chicago, including thousands of youth who need to leave home, or were thrown out of their homes. The next scheduled visit is Thursday, September 22, followed by Sunday, January 15, and Thursday May 4. Sign-up sheets for September 22 are posted in Rodgers Hall. In addition to attending the visit and serving the residents of the neighborhood, we need people to volunteer to donate some grocery items (typically things like bottled water, fruit or juice boxes, chips etc.) and to purchase and make sandwiches or other meal items earlier in the day. The contact person for CUCC action with The Night Ministry is Ann Richards. arich4@sbcglobal.net
- Lazarus House: Each month on a Wednesday, we provide the evening meal, breakfast items and sack lunches to the shelter housing St. Charles area homeless individuals. Often if thee is a meal component to the meal, it will be provided, but you would provide the other ingredients, deliver the hot meal and/or other donations to Lazarus House (214 Walnut Street, in downtown St. Charles) and perhaps stay to help serve the dinner. Sometimes a group or committee of the congregation takes over, but even then, help is often needed. Look for information and signups on the Mission bulletin board. This mission is coordinated at CUCC by Grace Caldwell mailto:gracecaldwell@comcast.net and Diane Brown mailto:dianegreg@sbcglobal.net
- Golden Diners Nutrition Program: The Salvation Army in St. Charles delivers meals to homebound seniors. There is a current need for volunteers on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of each month from 10am until noon. You come to the homes of seniors with a nutritious mean, a wellness check along with a smiling face, a human voice and the knowledge that someone cares. You will need to be a friendly, caring adult, go through an application process and have an automobile for making the deliveries. Volunteer once a month, or more. Contact Kathy at 630-232-6676
- CUCC Meal Ministry: Could you provide an occasional meal for a church member? Maybe it would be someone recovering from home after a hospital visit, someone homebound or just someone for whom a home-cooked meal is a welcome treat that brightens their day. You would be called and asked if you are available to prepare and deliver the meal on a particular day, as the need arises. Mary Lou Bracken is coordinating volunteer and may be contacted at mailto:marylou1206@att.net or you may sign your name to the list on the Parish Nurse bulletin board outside the church office.
- Food on the 4th: On the 4th Sunday of each month, we collect non-perishable food and household products (like dish soap, paper goods or baby goods) for delivery to one of the two major food banks in our area, Tri-Cities Food bank at the Salvation Army in St. Charles, or the Elburn Community Food bank, in Elburn. During the summer, donations are “donors choice,” just be sure it is non-perishable. During the remainder of the year, the Highlight or weekly Blast will offer a suggested area of donation, maybe canned meat and fish one month, meals in a can like chill, spaghetti-o’s etc, another month. Even then, if you can donate non-perishable food, it is welcomed, even if outside the suggested category. A grocery cart is placed in the Narthex each 4th Sunday, and your donation will fill or overflow the cart. The Mission Committee is in charge of sorting and delivering to the pantries.
- Manna Cards: Manna Cards are gift cards to any one of more than a hundred merchants, from restaurants to hotels or online merchants like Amazon. They make great gifts for birthdays, anniversaries, graduations or holiday giving, but they are also useful for your every-day shopping! Each card has a stored value of exactly what you paid for it. So if you purchase a $50 Kohl’s card, you can spend it all at once, or in multiple visits at any Kohl’s store, up to $50. The Mission Committee of CUCC receives a discount on the value of the card you purchase, and accumulates a fund used by the Mission Committee for needs that are not provided in the regular committee budget. Cards for some popular merchants, like Jewel and Meyer, Walgreen, Panera etc. are often available for immediate purchase. For others, you order on Sunday to pick up the next Sunday. Stop and speak with one of the volunteers at the Manna table in Rodgers Hall after 9:30 worship for more details. They can also tell you about ordering online, and even about some merchants that offer e-cards, delivered to your inbox just minutes after ordering.
- Save Pop Tabs: How easy is this one? Collect the aluminum tabs from the top of soft drink and other beverage cans and bring them to church. They will be passed on to a group that turns them into cash to help support the New Ronald McDonald House near Northwestern Central DuPage Hospital. The project has to end date, so whenever you remember to bring your stash, just put them in Rev. Pat Kitner’s mailbox in the office, or find the green bag on the information hutch outside the office!
- Watch for other opportunities!: One-time, occasional or special opportunities come up throughout the year. Things like mission trips, packing food for overseas mission, ringing bells at holiday time and so forth. Watch the Highlight newsletter, the weekly Blast or Sunday Bulletin for this opportunities!