Category Archives: Seasonal Initiatives

News from the Service Commission’s Seasonal Initiatives program

“Coats for Kids” Drive: November 8-9 and 15-16

Coats for Kids Saint John Poster_2014_SMALLAre you preparing for the winter? Have your kids outgrown last year’s coats? Are there coats in your closet that aren’t being used?  Here is a great opportunity to share the warmth – when you donate a warm coat, you help warm someone’s heart!  
St. John’s is participating in the 20th Annual Coats for Kids drive by Anton’s Cleaners. All you have to do is drop off the coats on the weekends of November 8-9 and 15-16, and we will take care of the rest.

What Type of Coats? Warm coats of all sizes for babies, children, teens, and adults in good quality with no rips, tears, broken zippers or permanent stains – coats you would give to a friend. (Click on the image above for more details.)

When/Where Do We Drop Off Coats? After all Masses on the weekends of November 8-9 and November 15-16 in the Rectory garage (behind the church.)

Questions?   Please contact Shilan Yeung (781-237-2612) or Deirdre Heilbron (617-894-4416)

June 14-15: Men’s Clothing Drive for St. Francis House

stfrancishouseHappy Spring! Every year in June, St. John’s parish conducts a men’s clothing drive for St. Francis House, the largest day shelter in New England, serving over 800 men and women on a daily basis.  St. Francis House distributes clothing to the homeless in Greater Boston, clothing 30 to 40 persons per day on average.  To help meet this ongoing need, we are collecting men’s gently-used, everyday clothing such as jeansT-shirts, sweatshirts, hats  and footwear, as well as new socks for their Foot Clinic, which provides foot care and socks to homeless clients. We hope you will take the time for a quick spring cleaning, and remember to bring the items to our church garage on the weekend of June 14-15.  Right now, the highest needed items include:

  • Men’s pants (especially jeans – given out on a daily basis)
  • T-shirts (extremely important – given out on a daily basis)
  • Footwear (extremely important)
  • “New” Socks
  • Sweaters & Sweatshirts
  • Backpacks/duffel bags
  • Coats, hats, gloves, and scarves (larger sizes in extreme needed)

Please do not send in children’s clothing, used socks, or any discolored items.

If you need to drop items off sooner due to travel schedules, etc. or have any questions please contact Shilan Yeung, either email shilanhappy@gmail.com or call at 508-801-7072.

Christmas Wish 2013

Christmas WishThe St. John Christmas Wish Committee invites new members to join us for this special work of filling Christmas wishes for many children in the surrounding communities of Roxbury, Lowell, Brockton, and Wellesley. We will gather over 400 children’s requests and fulfill them through the generosity of our St. John community families through sponsorship, shopping and donations. Help us as a parish coordinator assistant, data entry assistant, or phone helper making follow-up calls to St. John volunteers. To join our committee, please contact Liz Corcoran at efcorcoran@aol.com or contact Sarah Connolly at the Rectory, st-johns@comcast.net.

Coats for Kids: Weekends of November 2-3 & November 9-10

As temperatures drop it’s time to think about cleaning out your coat closets for the annual Coats for Kids collection, organized by Anton’s Cleaners. We are collecting coats of all sizes for children, teens, adults and babies. Please be sure they are of good quality with no rips, tears, broken zippers or permanent stains. We will be collecting the coats in the Rectory garage during the first two weekends in November: the 2nd/3rd and the 9th/10th. Any questions? Please call Deirdre Heilbron at 617-894-4416.

Thank You from St. Francis House!

The St. Francis House Men’s Clothing Drive on the weekend of June 15–16 was a huge success – thank you for your generosity!  As a parish community, we collected a truck load of gently-used everyday men’s clothing such as jeans, shirts, sweatshirts, and hats, as well as new socks for their Foot Clinic, which provides foot care and new socks to homeless clients (see photos below.)  We send a special Thank You to those who purchased new socks! 

St. Francis House VanThe driver who did the pick up from St. Francis House told us that he’s been doing this for 17 years, and when he started he went to 120+ churches.  Now he’s down to 25 or so, with the volume of donations at many trending down.  However, he said that St. John’s has shown the reverse trend, with increasing donations of the highest quality clothing, which their clients so appreciate, especially as they try to return to the work force. Our volume increase about 30%-40% from last year’s collection. We achieved this as a community! 

Click here to see photos and a special thank you message from the Service Commission!

Coming June 15-16: The St. Francis House Men’s Clothing Drive

stfrancishousePlease help others while you do your spring cleaning!  Every year in June, St. John’s conducts a Men’s Clothing Drive for St. Francis House, the largest day shelter in New England serving over 800 men and women on a daily basis. St. Francis House is the largest distributor of clothing to the poor and homeless in Greater Boston, distributing more than 750 changes of clothing every month.  To help meet this ongoing need, we will be collecting men’s gently-used everyday clothing such as jeans, shirts, sweatshirts, and hats, as well as new socks for their Foot Clinic, which provides foot care and new socks to homeless clients.  Donations may be dropped off over the weekend of June 15-16 in the garage (behind the church) any time during the day (until 5pm.)  The St. Francis House Wish List includes:

Men’s Items
Jeans: Sizes 32×32, 34×32, 36×32, 38×32, 40×32
Belts: All sizes
Casual Short Sleeve Shirts: M, L, XL, 2X, 3X, 4X
Shoes and Sneakers: Sizes 7-15
Spring/Fall Jackets: M, L, XL, 2X, 3X
Hooded Sweatshirts: M, L, XL, 2X, 3X, 4x
Baseball Hats
*New* Socks

Other Items
Plastic shopping bags
Backpacks
Ponchos

 

Questions? Please email Shilan Yeung or call 781-707-8290.

Christmas Wish Thank You To All Of Our St. John Community!

Christmas Wish Volunteers 2_2013The Christmas Wish 2012 Committee would like to thank each one of you who generously donated time, contributions, shopping efforts, coordination of parish family needs, data entry, attending meetings, bundling packages, matching gifts to families, and many tireless efforts to make Christmas special for over 300 children in our community. We worked with 118 families and 312 children in St. Patrick’s in Brockton, St. Patrick’s in Lowell, St. Katharine Drexel in Roxbury, Julie’s Family Learning Program in South Boston, and St. John the Evangelist in Wellesley to provide gifts of clothing, toys, special gift wishes,and even food cards to make the holiday special for so many.

Christmas Wish Volunteers_2013Over 220 St. John families helped with this effort by family sponsorship, shopping, financial donations, program co-ordination, religious ed community service, and gift delivery. We extend a special thanks to McCabe Movers for their donation of the truck for gift delivery again this year. We thank Bill Logan and Steve DuFour and his son for volunteering to deliver the gifts to Lowell and Roxbury.  (Check out the Parish Photo Album  for more pictures!) We would also like to thank our committee of Kathy Maher, Christine Kehoe, Becky Kannam, Paula Gomez, Peg Tally, Corinne Spinale, Pat Colton, Alyson Karpowicz, Joyce Farah, Donna Buckley, Liz Corcoran, Susan Logan, Patti DuFour, Joan Savitt, Keith Temple, Kerry Dario,Rosemary Matejka, Jennifer Campanella, Marcia Gorgone, and Marybeth Schulte. We welcome all parishioners to join us next year in this heartwarming holiday effort of the 2013 Christmas Wish Program.

Thank You from Anton’s Cleaners and Bristol Lodge

Thank you so much for your support! St. John’s has donated over 200 coats for two consecutive years and that makes a big difference in our annual coat drive. Our distribution partners in your area include the Wellesley Housing Authority, Circle of Hope (Needham), and The Second Step (Newtonville). After the coats have been cleaned at Anton’s Wellesley location, the distribution partners pick up however many coats they need. This is our 18th year of Coats for Kids and we appreciate all that St. John the Evangelist has donated along the way!
– Stephanie Littlefield, Anton’s Cleaners

I wanted to let you know how much we look forward to the Thanksgiving feast provided by the parishioners from St. John the Evangelist. The food was delicious and, in addition to serving over 90 guests, there was enough to go around for ‘seconds’. It was a great day and thanks so much. Have a wonderful Christmas.  – Mike Hannon, Bristol Lodge

Our Advent Gift: Vitamin Collection for Haiti Marycare THIS WEEKEND December 15-16

Hope is not about moving mountains.
It’s about moving one single stone, and then another.

Since 1994, Haiti Marycare has been working with local partners to improve lives through child and family health programs, education, and community development.  This Advent season we are so pleased to assist them in their critical work through our Advent gift – a parish-wide vitamin collection after all Masses on the weekends of December 8-9 and 15-16.  We are specifically in need of pre-natal vitamins, multi-vitamins for adults, and children’s chewable vitamins. (Please no gummy vitamins – they melt).  Pre-natal vitamins, while expensive, are available without a prescription and can mean the difference between having a healthy newborn or one who suffers from birth defects.

Haiti is a country of 8 million people, 98 percent of whom live in rural areas and 2 percent of whom live in the capitol, Port au Prince.  Life expectancy is 52 years, and of 1,000 children born, 123 die before the age of five. Everyone suffers from a lack of nutritious food and vitamins, and for pregnant and nursing mothers the situation is far worse. Many mothers eat less so they can give more to their children.  Despite these unimaginable statistics, Haiti remains a country defined by people of great hope and spirit.  A common proverb in Haiti is “Lespwa fe viv”, which  means “Hope makes us live.”  Let us bring hope to this impoverished nation and to their people.

If you have any questions, please contact Beth Dugan (bethdugan@comcast.net) or Marybeth Schulte (mbschulte@comcast.net).  We thank you in advance for your generosity.

The Parish Service Commission

This Weekend – Annual St. Francis House Men’s Clothing Drive!

This weekend, June 9-10, drop off donations in the garage (behind the church) any time during the day (9am to 5pm) for St. Francis House, the largest day shelter in New England, serving over 800 men and women on a daily basis. Suggested donations are:
Men’s Casual Short Sleeve Shirts: M, L, XL, 2X, 3X
Men’s Jeans: Sizes 28-38 all length 32-34
Men’s Shoes and Sneakers: Sizes 7-12
New Socks
Spring/Fall Jackets: M, L, XL, 2X and 3X
Baseball Hats
Hooded Sweatshirts: Sizes M, L, XL, 2X, and 3X
Belts: All sizes
Plastic shopping bags

Please email Shilan Yeung or call 508-801-7072 for details.