service projects | The Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd

Hard to believe the Christmas pageant and Holly Fair are behind us and we are halfway through another Sunday School year! The kids have had quite a busy first half!

Earlier in the year, we mentioned kicking off Youth Outreach Activities in lieu of a bible story (of course, we still welcome Bible Storyteller volunteers). During those activities, the children have decorated pumpkins for Pitman Manor, colored pages for “Color a Smile”, left their mark on our Outreach bulletin board, and more! We have a few more outreach activities planned including Valentines for Vets.

In addition to outreach, we’ve held two Youth Fellowship activities. Youth Fellowship activities are a chance for children of all grade levels to come together and for a special lesson and project. Two more are planned for the second half of the year.

How can you help? We’d love ideas for organizations in need for our outreach activities. We could also use volunteers to lead a Youth Fellowship activity. Also, we are in need of two to four teacher volunteers for two remaining school year terms. Finally, we’d love IDEAS! As is typical for this time of year, attendance is lower. Perhaps it’s those cold, frosty Sunday mornings or the long list of kid activities that always seem to take over our weekends or maybe something else. Please reach out to Kathy or me if you have ideas on how to rev up our program and as always THANK YOU for your support!

A few weeks ago, parishioners met to discuss plans for our upcoming Sunday school year. One topic on the agenda was our Bible Story program. For those unfamiliar, at the start of class each Sunday, a parishioner volunteer would spend 10 minutes telling a bible story to the students. For MANY years Pat Braidwood has dedicated her time leading this activity and scheduling volunteer storytellers each Sunday. After prayerful consideration, Pat has decided to step down.

Due to this, along with declining volunteers over the past few years, we’ve decided to repurpose the program slightly.

Four times during the school year, Mother Susan will visit with the children at 10am (former Bible Story time) to discuss various stages of Church year using a wooden calendar. The students will have the opportunity to connect with Mother Susan, while also gaining understanding of how we progress through the Church year
We will introduce on-going service projects the children will work as a group (all grades together in the all purpose room) for the first 10-15 minutes. Service projects will range from Project Linus, placemats for Meals on Wheels and various other outreach activities. (Please let us know if you have other ideas for service projects.)
During the time of the pageant, children who are in the pageant will use the Bible Story time to rehearse while students not in the pageant will work on the service project.
In the event parishioners would still like to volunteer to tell a Bible Story, they are MORE THAN WELCOME to do so!! Please contact Amanda or Kathy if you are interested. We’d love to have you!

We are excited about the various aspects of our Sunday school program and the opportunity for our children to learn about God’s love and our Church through various activities and programs!