Hawthorne School Partnership

Another new Mission Outreach ministry is our partnership with Hawthorne School. Hawthorne has a large number of low-income students and it is a dual language school offering classes in English and Spanish. A lot of our Burmese refugee families also attend there.

We are having an ongoing collection of new or gently used coats and boots. With the pandemic, many low-income families have had hours reduced or have lost jobs so we hope to meet this need that the Hawthorne staff identified. The first barrel has already been delivered. Thank you to Ascension Knit Wits and families who have contributed already to help the children stay warm on these cold days.

We also had a Thrivent grant to provide lunch for the staff at Hawthorne recognizing how challenging this past year has been. We wanted to say thank you to the staff in a tangible way and to start to build our relationship with them.

Lastly, we’re collecting money to help provide internet hotspots for families without internet service so the children can continue their schooling while in quarantine. With the increasing number of students in quarantine, the school is struggling to keep up with the cost. It costs $18 per hotspot. If you want to make a donation online or by check, please mark the donation as Hawthorne partnership.

If you are interested in this ministry, contact Sarah Aparicio or Shirley Wehmeier.

Creation Care

One of the new Mission Outreach Ministries for 2021 is Creation Care. This ministry is a way to show that caring for the created world is based on love toward God, who created the earth and everything in it. Creation Care is more than recycling and Styrofoam, it’s about relationships with God, each other, and God’s creation. It’s about how we live with each other and honor God and His gift of creation. We will work with Waukesha’s Green Team and offer suggestions on how to live out Creation Care. Our own environmental educator, Lynn Parkhurst is helping lead this effort.

Do you have a set of Christmas lights that don’t work? Ready to toss out a few old sets you’re not using anymore? Most electronic products like Christmas lights are not bio-degradable and will not decompose into the earth’s soil after being tossed away. If you want to keep your lights from going to a landfill and do your part to look after God’s creation, recycling your lights is a great way to do it!

Recycle old or not-functioning lights

1) Visit https://www.holidayleds.com/free-light-recycling to see how you can send (or drop off) your lights to the Holiday LEDs recycling program in Sussex and receive a coupon for $ off your next LED purchase!

2) Bring them in to Ascension during the month of January and we will do the work for you! A labeled box will be in the doorway of the front entrance of church. Simply drop them off!

More information on this local program can be found at: https://www.holidayleds.com/free-light-recycling. Still have Questions? Email Lynn Parkhurst at weeziewilliams@gmail.com.

 

Blessing Bags

Our first delivery of 25 Blessing Bags was welcomed by the people who pick up meals at the Hope Center. The staff at the Hope Center were so thankful that we thought about the homeless who often are neglected at this time of year. With the winter weather arrival, we will be putting together another 25 bags during January. This year the men who can’t get into the shelter will get a voucher for a night’s stay in a motel so they don’t have to be out in the bitter weather. The Blessing Bags will greatly help them have some of their very basic needs met. As I put together some Blessing Bags, it struck me that homeless people only can “own” what fits in their backpack or bag and have such very limited things they can call their own. It brought tears to my eyes to realize some of us have so much while there are people in our community who have so little. Please put your donations in the marked bin in the Donation Center or contact Shirley Wehmeier if you have questions. shwehmeier@gmail.com.

 

Blessing Box

Thank you to all of you who have been helping us keep the Blessing Box filled. As we have more very cold days, please be aware of putting things in the box that might freeze and containers break. We have people checking the box several times a week so that we can monitor that food is fresh and safe. On very cold days, dry products such as cereal, snacks, most canned goods are a good choice. Plastic or glass may break. Fresh produce or bakery will freeze quickly. We also see a little reduction in use when it is very cold so please keep an eye on the weather.

 

Thank you from the Mission Outreach Committee for continuing to support our various ministries whether it be helping our global partners, Cross in Milwaukee or our community partners. In spite of not meeting in person for worship or having ways to promote our projects other than via social media, newsletters or bulletins, we have proudly kept up with supporting our brothers and sisters locally and globally. Jesus said: “What you have done for the least of these, you have done unto Me.”

(Reprinted from the Jan. 2021 newsletter.)