Heat Respite Lunch Pack Update & Photos

Jul 11

Thank you to the great crew of 25 who, after worship, efficiently prepared 200 sandwiches on June 22nd! You are making a difference!

We delivered on Monday morning and extend to you the thanks of First Church UCC Pastor Susan Valiquette and volunteer coordinator Roger Snell. We learned that, on a single day in the prior week, they had served 148 people; their volunteers made more sandwiches to get them through the week. Thank you, again, to Lou and Nancy for slicing ham and to Ron Bigley who helped with delivery.

We are preparing for the next two New Journey packs on Sundays July 27 and August 3, during Fellowship time. (New Journey is hosting the back-to-back July 28 and August 4 lunch packs because other NEVC friends are volunteering for the ELCA Churchwide Assembly in Phoenix during that time.)

· We need at least one driver for Monday, July 28 to First Church UCC - Phoenix.

· We need 2 drivers for Monday, August 4 also to First Church. (Kris is away, so please step up!)

Going for 1000! Given savings, including the donations from Foothills Food Bank, we will be able to host a 5th lunch pack, 9:00 a.m., on Tuesday, September 2 at Inspiration Academy, located at Shepherd of the Hills campus. In recent years, Inspiration Academy students have joined our lunch packs – which doesn’t really work for Sunday mornings – so we’ll join them for sandwich making and deliver the food to Wesley United Methodist Church (South Phoenix) in time for lunch that day. We will need just a few volunteers to partner with the kids in sandwich-making as well as at least one driver for 9:30-11:00 on September 2. (First Church UCC needs to close down as a heat respite center on August 10 due to Montessori School starting; that is why the NEVC heat respite lunch project shifts to Wesley UMC starting on August 11.)

Remaining NEVC lunch pack schedule: July 7 and 21, Christ the Lord; July 14 and August 18, plus September 15, New Covenant; and August 11 and 25, Living Water. Others are also looking to extend lunch packs into September, given the extended extreme heat season. The NEVC heat respite lunch project is funded through a hunger grant from Ascension Lutheran Church.