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Church's connection to Biloxi strengthened its
resolve to help Naperville Sun 11/20/05 Answering the Call spotlights local residents going above and beyond to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Please tell us about your efforts by contacting City Editor Mindy Arbaugh at (630) 416-5104 or marbaugh@scn1.com. Who's answering the call: First Congregational United Church of Christ, 25 E. Benton Ave., Naperville, IL 60504, www.loveandjustice.org , (630) 355-1024. Chartered in 1833, First Congregational United Church of Christ is the oldest chartered church in DuPage county. First Congregational Church has a history championing social justice both in word and deed, beginning with its vocal support for the abolitionist movement and the underground railroad. More recent examples of our involvement include supporting a grassroots renewable energy program, welcoming gay and lesbian people, and opening our doors every Wednesday evening for homeless people to find food and shelter. The effort: We had three meetings where we assembled school kits and personal care kits. We sorted mountains of toiletries and school supplies and then created a production line to assemble the kits. Personal care kits consisted of toothbrushes, toothpaste, razors, Band-Aids, tissues, small bottles of shampoo, soap, combs or picks, washcloths, hand towels and nail clippers. School kits consisted of blunt scissors, ruled paper, rulers, pencil sharpeners, pencils with erasers, large erasers, colored construction papers and boxes of crayons all enclosed in a cloth bag or backpack. As of Oct. 15, we have sent 121 elementary school kits, 23 teen school kits, 145 personal care kits and two boxes of school supplies. In addition, we collected more than $3,000 for supplies, shipping and cash donations for Back Bay Mission in Biloxi. Beyond that, we collected more than 35 boxes of clothing, cleaning supplies and nonperishables, which were loaded on trucks destined for the Gulf area or provided to local agencies that were supporting evacuees. In late September, we were contacted by Naper Place on Main to see if we would be able to help to settle a hurricane evacuee from New Orleans who would be arriving in Naperville the next week with nothing but the clothes she was wearing. In a weekend, we were able to furnish an entire apartment, provide kitchen supplies, bathroom supplies and linens so that this new Naperville resident would have a comfortable place to call home when she arrived. More information and pictures are available at our website with links to the work trip pictures and messages from our contacts at Back Bay Mission. The inspiration: Like many, we were deeply saddened by the incredible destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina. In the first week of August, a group of 16 youths and adults had completed a work trip to Back Bay Mission in Biloxi, Miss. While they were there, they painted two houses, served at a soup kitchen and helped in a thrift shop. The hospitality of the people in Biloxi was great, and our sojourners made many friends. When the hurricane hit, we watched with horror as pictures were shown of the devastation. We quickly learned that the neighborhoods where our work group worked in both Biloxi and Gulfport had been demolished. We had to do something. Some of our members wanted to return to Biloxi immediately for another work trip, but the Back Bay Mission was not in a position to support us if we had come. Sadly, we decided to delay taking a return trip for a while. Instead, we decided to make personal care kits and school kits to send as soon as there was an infrastructure in place to accept them. We were amazed by the generosity of the people in our church as well as the community and were able to provide more help than we had imagined was possible. How you can help: If people are interested in contributing to our effort they can send a check to First Congregational Church UCC, 25 E. Benton Ave., Naperville, IL 60540 with Hurricane Relief in the memo section. This money will be used for kits and shipping. If they would like to contribute items to produce more kits, we need new hand towels and travel size shaving cream. These can be dropped off at the church between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays or 10:30 a.m. to noon on Sundays. We welcome all for worship on Sundays at 9:30 a.m. 11/20/05 |
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