Worship Service Sunday at 10:00 a.m. Telephone: (860) 228-3077
Gathered 1748 Meeting House 1838

Homeless Awareness Night
(11/04/06)

The Youth Group paticipated in their 6th Annual Homeless Awareness Night. This year the group was joined by additional youth from Andover Congregational Church and the Hebron Girl Scouts, which along with the GCC Youth, brought the total to 20 youth.

They arrived around 5PM with boxes in hand to create their “homes” for the night. They added tarps, foam, and wood to help support their structures. At 6PM, they all came in to the “shelter” for a meal of soup and bread which was provided by the Women’s Fellowship. Following dinner, two speakers from Foodshare gave a moving presentation on the importance of their organization.

Foodshare is the regional food bank for Hartford and Tolland counties. They distribute food to over 350 community kitchens, emergency shelters, food pantries, and other anti-hunger programs in the area. They are a non-profit organization that survives on food donations from grocery stores, cafeterias, local farmers, and hotels. This food is warehoused and trucked to those who need it via food pantries, halfway houses, soup kitchens, and shelters. Their presentation included a video of four families that are experiencing hunger. One family lost everything in a fire. A second family became hungry due to the costs of an extended illness. A third family was a mother of two small children who had not received any child support. The last family was a father who lost pay and benefits due to downsizing. All these families were having to make the decision between food, rent, and the electric bill. Unfortunately food is usually what is given up. The father in the last story skipped meals in order for his children to have enough food. Foodshare makes a big difference to these families. The speakers also provided much information for how we can all help support them thru volunteering, donations, and time. The youth already participate in the Walk Against Hunger, which helps Foodshare , but look forward to adding more Foodshare opportunities to the Youth Group calendar.

The evening continued with 2 HIHS service projects. The youth stuffed and labeled 5,179 pieces of mail for the HIHS fundraising mailing. This project becomes a bit of a competition each year to see which table can stuff the quickest. There was also a project to make apple pies for the HIHS Thanksgiving baskets. This year there was a little struggle to get the apples peeled and sliced, but they resorted to peeling and slicing by hand to make a total of10 pies. During the evening, members of the congregation dropped off 42 coats for MACC’s Thrift Shop and 108 food items for the HIHS pantry. While the youth have the opportunity to warm up in the social hall and drink hot cocoa, it allows them to see what it could be like for someone who finds themselves homeless.

This annual event is a wonderful example of what the youth do to help serve our community!

(As with all our photos, click on one for a bigger view)