Email - Volunteer Update - November 2010

Greetings, Wonderful Breakthrough Volunteers!There's a lot going on this fall, and as we gear up for the Holiday season, there are lots of opportunities for getting involved at Breakthrough Urban Ministries. Take a moment to read (or skim) this month's updates - bear with me, this one is long, but oh so completely worth it!  And let me know if you're interested in helping with anything...

NOVEMBER MEAL OPPORTUNITIES 

The following meal dates are for November:

• Thursday, November 11th - Men's Facility
  
• Friday, November 19th - Women's Facility (AKA Joshua Center)

Let me know if you'd like to sign up for either or both of these meal times and I'll make sure to reserve a spot for you.  If this is your first time, we usually meet between 6:30-7 PM to set-up and prep food, serve the meals around 8 PM and make plates for ourselves - and then take off after dinner, usually by 9 PM.  You'll get a more detailed email with the address and exact times the week of our serving date if you sign up - so be sure to let me know if you're interested.  Also - if you'd like to help contribute to the cost of groceries (NOT required), the suggested donation is $10 - payable to the chef for the meal.

CHRISTMAS STORE
The fabulous Breakthrough Christmas Store is right around the corner: http://stage.breakthrough.org/general/60/annual-christmas-store, Saturday, December 18th. The Bratschies are planning to host our Annual Holiday Party to benefit Breakthrough on Sunday, 12/12, to collect donations - and ring in this festive time of year - so mark your calendars.  More details to follow.

CRAFTING 

Breakthrough is looking for a group of 2-3 volunteers that are interested in leading crafts on a monthly basis with a group of women that used to be guests at Breakthrough's Joshua Center. This is a great opportunity to build long-term relationships.  Please contact me if you're interested.

THANKSGIVING BASKETS
On Saturday, November 20th, the Breakthrough Fresh Market will be putting together Thanksgiving baskets to distribute to approximately 400 Fresh Market guests.  You can help out by serving Saturday (11/20) AND donating items!  Donations are being accepted now through November 19th at the Breakthrough Ministry Center (402 N St. Louis).  The items needed are:

14 lbs turkeys
1 oz packages of brown gravy
15 oz cans of corn
5 oz boxes of cornbread stuffing mix
16 oz cans of cranberry sauce
13 oz packages of instant mashed potatoes
15 oz cans of yams

BREAKTHROUGH'S NEWSLETTER

There are many more opportunities to get involved at Breakthrough.  Here's a link to their latest monthly newsletter update: http://stage.breakthrough.org/article/100/get-involved-oct-2010.  It includes information on prayer gatherings, Arloa's book (The Invisible - awesome read!), and a lot of information about Breakthrough's Fresh Market program.  If you're interested in urban farming at all - you'll want to check out the Fresh Market - it's doing some really great things in that area.
 
ATTN: AMBIANCE AWARE

If you love to plan meals, ambiance or fancy yourself a type of Martha Stewart-ish host(ess), then you may want to consider joining the planning team as we brainstorm and plan for ways to make our monthly meal times more enjoyable for guests at Breakthrough by using themes and decorations to really put in that extra effort.  The first meal we'll be helping to plan is the December serves for both the men and the women. This is a big serve for both - so it's a good one for us to cut our teeth on...

If you're interested in joining us, we'd love to have you - just send me a quick note with your level of interest and days/time when you're available and most likely to be able to participate.

DECEMBER DATE CHANGE
For the month of December only, we'll be serving on the 3rd Monday of the month, Monday, December 20th, instead of the 2nd Thursday.

The women's serve will remain the same - the 3rd Friday of the month - Friday, December 17th.