Faith in Action
The highly energized Faith in Action committee and supporters met on Saturday, September 24th to discuss the status of projects that support First Parish's 2011-12 Neighborhood initiative. All projects are in need of additional ideas, energy, and, most of all, volunteers.
Listed below is a little information about each project and details on how you can get involved.
Neighborhood Family DinnersWe will be holding neighborhood family dinners at First Parish on the first Sunday of each month to provide nourishment, through both food and human connection, to families in our neighborhood. Volunteers are needed to help organize, prepare, and serve the meals. For more information, contact Marge Stockford.
Support and Legal Advocacy for Newly Arrived Immigrants
Help
newly arrived immigrants living in Portland and the surrounding area through the
process of obtaining asylum and becoming eligible for, and obtaining employment,
and support them in other ways as they make their adjustment to American
society. For more information, contact
Cliff Gallant gallant.cliff555@yahoo.com. PLUS
please save the date: Sunday, November 27, 4-7 PM, for a family-friendly musical
fund-raiser to support this project. Boston's Adam Ezra Group will perform,
along with local talent and dinner will be served. To help, contact Kitty
Coughlin. Check out the event page here
Preble Street Soup Kitchen
On the fourth Tuesday of every month, come help prepare food, serve dinner and then clean-up from 4:30 - 7:30 pm. If you are interested, please contact Harold Caswell in advance.
Restorative Justice Center
First Parish is planning a center for restorative justice, the practice of resolving conflicts through facilitated dialogue and mediation, to provide our civic leaders a community-based option for assisting neighborhood youth at risk of rising up through the criminal justice system. These youths' troubles often stem from neither having been heard or respected, nor understanding their role in our community. Training in facilitated dialogue and mediation will be offered as well as collaboration with the Portland Police and the Cumberland County DA's office. To get involved, contact Elizabeth Chapman.
Youth and Family Outreach
Believe
it or not, Youth and Family Outreach is First Parish's oldest Social Outreach
project! YFO has a 167+ year history of
serving the disadvantaged of Portland, which got its start because of the
courage and vision of both the minister and the congregation of First Parish.
We are excited to develop new and creative ways to nurture this historical
connection that involve YFO children, families, and staff. If you'd like to get involved, please contact
Jackie Oliveri.
Portland High has welcomed our desire to assist students as classroom volunteers and mentors. Volunteers help with English Language Learners during school hours. Mentors can assist in a wider range of subjects, outside school hours. Commitments can be as small as one hour per week. To get involved, contact Allen Armstrong.
Neighborhood
Mapping
To
be a good neighbor, you have to know your neighbors. Take part in our effort to
create a large map to display in Parish Hall that shows the residences,
businesses, parks and institutions surrounding First Parish. To begin, we will
survey the blocks around our church. From our surveys, we will construct a
fantastic map that can inform our Faith in Action efforts at First Parish this
year and beyond. For more information, and to get involved, contact Marge.
Beyond our Neighborhood initiative, we are also working on a Books for Prisoners project – we're collecting "experienced" books and delivering them to the prison in South Windham. For more information, contact Cliff Gallant.
We are also working on neighborhood projects related to serving children and developing a "faith in action" film series – you'll be hearing more about these projects over the course of this year.