Ministries 
| Gifts are Abundant in Niagara Deanery | | Print | |
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Sarah Harrington, Niagara Deanery Youth Missioner The scene of the Niagara Deanery youth group’s January “Un-Birthday” Party was not that of your usual celebration. Instead, small groups of kids were huddled together, debating over what to purchase and carefully budgeting their funds. For the second year, the youth group decided to give thanks for their birthdays by choosing Gifts for Life from the Episcopal Relief and Development catalogue. This program enables you to purchase gifts that make a difference for people living in poverty around the world. The items focus on meeting the Millennium Development Goals by providing goods that enable people to farm, receive medicine, education, and economic opportunities.The group raised funds for these “gifts” by asking Niagara deanery churches to take a special collection on Epiphany Sunday designated for Gifts for Life. They provided each of the participating churches with collection envelopes, a bulletin insert, and a flyer about Gifts for Life. This year the congregations of St. Andrew’s, Burt; St. Paul’s, Lewiston; St. John’s, Youngstown; St. John’s, Wilson; Christ Church, Lockport and Grace Church, Lockport together raised close to $1,000! The youth then had the task of deciding what “gifts” to purchase with this money. In small groups the kids worked together to purchase gifts that fit within their specific budget in addition to choosing one big gift to present as a choice for our large group donation. In the end many small gifts ranging in price from $12 to $50 and relating to agriculture needs, providing health care and preventing disease were chosen. Some of these were: AIDS prevention education, maternal and child healthcare, shares of a fish farm, drought resistant seeds, tools and mosquito nets. For the large group gifts, the youth decided to purchase four shares of vitamins and general medicine kits for $240 and the seasonal gift of basics for life that provides different necessities based on the season for $240. The youth take pride in this unique opportunity to help others throughout the world. Our Gifts for Life offering was an awesome demonstration of what we can achieve when congregations come together — a big difference was made! |
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