Donation Drive for MainSpring Homeless Shelter

Since Christmas is the celebration of Jesus' birth and He can't be here in person, we should give the gifts we bring for Him to one another.

What would He want?
For us to care for the least of our brothers & sisters-- Matthew 25:34 to 46

The angels appeared to the shepherds, the poorest of the poor considered the dregs of society. He loved the poor, we are to do no less.

I, along with Bridgewater Life Teen at Saint Basil's Chapel are now having a DONATION DRIVE for MainSpring homeless shelter from now till Sunday January 4, just before the Feast of the Epiphany

I'll deliver blankets as I get a car load. Everything else will be given to MainSpring staff when they come to Saint Basil's on the 4th to educate teens about homelessness.

WISH LIST:
(used is okay as long as freshly laundered and in good repair)

• BLANKETS: sleeping bags and twin blankets
• SHEETS/BEDDING: twin (no child's theme)
  
• TOWELS/FACE CLOTHS: bath towels, hand towels, facecloths
• UMBRELLAS: small collapsible kinds—must be portable
• SOCKS/HATS/GLOVES: adults
  
• HYGIENE: whatever you’d buy for yourself—razors, shaving cream, toothpaste, toothbrush, deodorant, shampoo, feminine products, handiwipes/Purell, brush/comb/pick, etc.

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FEMININE BASKETS:

Shampoos/conditioners, hair ties/accessories, lotions, feminine soaps, sprays (not perfume), underwear/bras (non bloomer/ non hoochie), more feminine products, nail polish, tweezers, makeup (muted colors for a natural look, lip gloss not lip stick, no mascara or eye liner please—we want to lift their spirits not put them on a corner)

We’ll use hatboxes/stationary boxes and the like for baskets

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Donations can be brought to Saint Basil's or to my home.
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Soles for Souls Walk

3 Mile Walk Sponsored by

The Bridgewater Council of Churches

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Saturday, October 11, 2008 Rain or Shine

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Gather at 11:15 a.m. to Register - Step off at Noon from

Saint Thomas Aquinas Church on Center Street, Bridgewater

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PLEDGES TO BENEFIT

The Bridgewater Food Pantry

The Bridgewater Council of Churches

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Festivities to follow the walk at Saint Thomas

Live Music, Food and Games!

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For more information you can contact Maura Chappelle at

MauraAnnette410@gmail.com or (508)697-2008

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In consideration of the environment we won't offer individual bottles of water.

If you bring a refillable container, we’ll have plenty of water to top them up with.

We will also have paper cups available.

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Anti Casino Blog

Don't let a casino come to Middleborough!

http://casinofacts.org
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Also, my cousin's wife, Kim, has a Blog I think should interest many.
http://carverchick.blogspot.com

Please check it out the sites and support her and the NO CASINO cause.

Find out what a casino in Middleborough will mean for Bridgewater
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If you liked the Honduras pics, please think about helping...

http://www.honduranmission.org

If you were at all inspired by the photos from my mission to Honduras please consider helping--
in person or financially. Click the link above to learn more.

I recommend going to Honduras yourself-- your life will never be the same.

I look forward to your comments-- especially if you're thinking of going.

The chapel in the video cost about $2000 in American money to build--
if 100 people gave $20 each another one could be built in another village.

1 John 1:31-46
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Bridgewater Community Resources

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If you live in Bridgewater or immediate area you should definitely check out and join this group. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Bridgewater_Community_Resources/
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Sharing My Castle in the Clouds

http://twsblog.wordpress.com

My cousin Nancy is starting a business that she calls "a new triple-bottom-line enterprise based on Nancy's innovative and comprehensive values-driven business concept." Whatever that means.

What I gather from her blog (which I encourage everyone to visit and bookmark) she is focusing on....
... well, I don't know how to describe the mission she is on.
Check it out for yourself!

http://twsblog.wordpress.com Make sure to sign up for the e-newsletter.
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Photos from Honduras

In January I went to Guaimaca, Honduras....
I need to go back soon because I left my heart behind.

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THE CONVENT/GIRLS' SCHOOL

*I may not have been attentive on the convent tour....

*I may even have been a bad example to the other students...


*Okay, I wasn't really helpful.... union break


*My job was literally to move clumps of dirt from point A to point B
*Me and Mohamed fighting as Darth Maul

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LIFE IN THE SANTA ROSA DE LIMA MISSION


*Honduran Coooffeee!
*Father Craig, Sister Marta and Sister Maria


*Our bunks like Madeline (12 women in all in that room--us and 4 nurses)
*Mmm..... more Honduran coffee


*Our little yellow school bus

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MISSION FARM


*Sweaty and gross but exhilarated from picking cucumbers
*Ox Cart ride at farm


*Mary was the mission cook, she also helped at the farm that day
*Yippee! Riding in the back of the pickup--my favorite thing!


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EVERY DAY LIFE IN GUAIMACA


*Feeling rich as I fan my hundreds of limpera, but the Honduran economy is so bad it took almost 19 limpera to make one American dollar. So my thousand limpera was only about $55.oo


*Shopping at a market. Those potatoes were gross!
*Guaimacan "Gap" I got a skirt there for $3


*View from the convent, typical yard
*Bodega--seemed like everyone had a store in their home


*The mission had a flush toilet but that was a luxury. Most homes and churches have outhouses.


*Outdoor shower. No indoor plumbing.
*Growing and roasting coffee was as common as a garden.


*Self portrait while riding in back of a truck
*The BSC group walking from convent to mission


*Typical stove and oven (that's Olga)
*Yard of one of our new friends This particular home is considered "well off"


*Cows have the right of way
*Me and Beth being "King of the World"in a pickup bed


*How many Hondurans can you fit it a pickup?

*Guaimaca has two paved road that intersect and no
working street light. This is sunset over the wires--
pole on the left makes me think of Christ on His Cross


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ANIMAL PROBLEM







*Rare pet animals. All over Guaimaca there were hundreds and hundreds of scrawny street dogs. Basically what squirrels are to us. I came across three "pet" puppies and a handful of kept guard dogs, the rest roamed hungry and procreating. Even the pets are scrawny. The sleeping dog pictured is the nuns' pet Flaco (means Skinny).

*Cats were not so abundant. Between the starving dogs and the often equally starving people, cats are usually dined upon. I looked high and low for cats and kittens and only saw 12 the whole time. One of which was tied up in a home to fatten it like a calf, it was so sad.

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SAINT VINCENT DE PAUL



*One morning was spent delivering food for Saint Vincent de Paul. We brought some rice, powdered milk and cucumbers to the poorest of the poor and they were thrilled.


*Alas, childhood illnesses that are easily remedied in the U.S. become life long debilitations in Honduras

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ESKIMO!



*We ate...er, I ate... far too much delicious ice cream. I love you Eskimo Man!


*Some local kids out for ice cream with us

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SOCCER



*We were foolish enough to challenge the young people from the church to a soccer game-- they slaughtered us!

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DEVOTION OF THE PEOPLE


*These photos can't begin to do justice to the steepness of the mountain hills the villagers would walk miles in when they had the opportunity to attend Mass-- small children and the elderly included.


*We look down on our trucks because I had the brilliant idea of walking part way home so we could have the experience the people do. Man were our legs and lungs sore. That's me crossing a mountain stream.


*Musicians at San Bartolome, at Masses EVERYONE sings and the sign of peace is an experience


*This church was made possible because of the donations of money as well as pews, etc. by American parishes



*Looking down upon the two room, cinder block school that becomes a church when Padre Craig comes
*Father and daughter in their Sunday best


*After Mass everyone sings a few more songs, then Father Craig chats with the villagers as a group.
*Outside they commune even longer. Villages only have Mass about once a month, so they hate to say goodbye to him.



*I kept calling this chapel "the castle". After driving an hour or so up hill we parked the truck and walked up a hill too it.
*Bottom pic is the view of the horizon from the altar that morning. No mortal artist could create that.


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ADIOS


Father Craig & Mary say goodbye to us on the bus. Mary sand De Colores and made herself and us cry
*Coffee was about $3.50 (American) a pound so I filled a suitcase. I looked like a drug dealer.

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INCREDIBLE BEAUTY



*Just some beautiful shots of that incredibly gorgeous country.... all gifts of God...