Helping Hands
a silent auction organized by the Outreach Committee at Grace Church

Sunday March 9, 2008
at Coffee Hour (11:45 am)

to benefit St. Luke’s our partner parish in Renk , Sudan

 It's not a Craft Sale, It's a Small Miracles Sale.

 When I was living in Japan I learned about a concept called aichaku.  Aichaku is a word made up of two characters--one means "love" and the other means "to adhere to." The idea is that we have a relationship with the things we use everyday. We have memories and associations with a beloved pair of jeans or a favorite coffee cup. It's why people love receiving handmade gifts and it's why people frame their children's art.

On March 9th at Coffee Hour we will have a silent auction to raise money for our partner parish in Renk , Sudan . Mother Alice hopes to purchase some tents that could be a rental income source for her impoverished church in an area that has withstood war for a generation. As I write this members of the Grace Community of all ages are using their hands to make small items or their skills to offer experiences and services with the hope that we might in some way make a small dent in this overwhelming problem of extreme poverty. Last Sunday several of us watch in amazement as some of Grace' s children and adults spent hours knitting, sewing and making embroidered items for the auction. The items that you will see and the services and experiences that will be offered are each individual's way of saying, "I want to help. I want to make it better for another member of the flock. This is what I can do." 

I ask you to think about what you might be able to offer and to bid as generously as you are able on the items being offered. Not only will you be able to improve the lives of those in our partner parish, but that little bookmark made by a 6-year-old from Grace will remind you every time you use it that each of us has the power to make the world better—one bookmark at a time.

-Weeks Ringle