St. Michael's Church, Litchfield, CT

Looking to help victims of Hurricane Sandy? This Sunday, January 13, is a good chance.

Round II of Litchfield’s hurricane relief effort will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Town Hall parking lot. The “Sandy Team,” with help from Litchfield High School’s Interact Club, will be collecting school supplies for students at the Frederick Douglass Academy, a high school in the Far Rockaway section of Queens, N.Y., that was devastated by Sandy. Many of the school’s 450 students lost their school supplies when their homes were flooded or destroyed.

Items sought are paper, notebooks, pens and pencils, rulers, index cards, binders, backpacks, makers and erasers. Cash will also be accepted as will gift cards to Home Depot, Lowe’s and CVS. Please help if you can!

Museum Children Free Week at White Memorial
January 12 – 18, 2013

Courtesy of Mr. and Mrs. John Morosani in Memory of Remy Edmund Morosani. Free admission to children ages twelve and under when accompanied by an adult.

If you’ve never visited the fabulous nature museum at White Memorial, this is the perfect opportunity to bring your children or grandchildren to this unique treasure in the heart of Litchfield.

~January Events at the Ritz Crystal Room at Remember When~

Sunday the 13th 11am-3pm ala carte
BRUNCH- Our first Sunday brunch at the Crystal Room. A delicious selection of your favorite brunch items. Book your reservation today! Open every Sunday for Brunch hereafter!

~February Events~
Wednesday the 13th 6:30pm $25
Indoor Gardening Plant Swap- Beat the winter blues by adding more green to your life! Bring one of your houseplants and exchange it for a new addition to your collection. Learn how to take care of your new plant, as well as tips on other great houseplants and indoor gardening. Class taught by Jen Plasky of Season of Growth llc. Buffet dinner included.

Ritz Crystal Room at Remember When | 111 Main Street | Torrington | CT | 06790

Nowhere is a Place
Travels in Chilean Patagonia with Gerri Griswold
Saturday, December 8, 2012
2:00 P.M.
A. B. Ceder Room, White Memorial

FREE . . . Donations will be accepted to help defray the Conservation Center’s programming expenses.
Welcome to one of the last great wildernesses on the planet.
80,000 people a year visit Chile’s 450,000 acre Torres del Paine National Park (over 9 million visit Yellowstone!)
The park is home to a diverse array of birds from the Andean Condor to the Chilean Flamingo and Rhea and mammals like the Guanaco and Puma. Glacial, desert, and alpine climates saturate this extraordinary destination at the bottom of the world.

There will be dozens of participants in the 45th annual Gingerbread Village and Christmas Bazaar at St. George’s Episcopal Church. . .with buildings ranging from churches, pig pens and candy factories as part of the “Sweet Dreams” theme. Beginning this Saturday, December 1, from 10am-7pm, the event continues on Sunday from 12-7pm, Monday-Friday 2-4pm and 6-8pm, ending on Saturday, December 8 from 10am-4pm.

The longtime event is one of the largest fundraisers for the church. Turnout for the event could top 1,000 visitors by the end of next week, where houses range in price from $30 to nearly $200, depending on the level of detail.

The event attracts tourists from across the state, and some make the trip from out of state. It’s definitely worth the trip and children of all ages will marvel at this lovingly handcrafted village!

St. George’s Episcopal Church, Tucker Hill Road at Route 188, Middlebury, CT

Nancy Henderson crunches numbers as an accountant. But other roles stir her passion: Master builder, carpenter, architect, interior designer — all in miniature.

Nancy builds dollhouses, and not simple boxes slapped with a coat of paint. These little homes, one-twelfth the size of real houses, rival scenes from a home design magazine. If little dolls held holiday house tours, hers would be the home everyone would want a look inside. They are appointed with highly detailed kitchens, bedrooms, living rooms, dining rooms and even attics full of tiny toys.

She builds with nails the size of eyeglass screws, covers counters with scraps of linoleum and discovered that binder clips make great hinges for doors and cabinets. Brass nuts, bolts and washers fitted with little bitty bulbs and shaded with soda bottle caps become table lamps.

A quick glance into the rooms of her recently completed pale-yellow dollhouse on display at the Terryville Public Library provides that same double-take sensation. For months, she worked to refurbish the Victorian style, two-story home found at a Bristol auction by Friends of the Library members.

The mini mansion, as it is known at the library, will be raffled off Dec. 8. Tickets are $5 if you want a chance to take this fabulous dollhouse home, or just visit to marvel at its beauty. Terryville Public Library, 238 Main Street, Terryville, CT.

Health experts report that even a 2-degree drop in body temperature results in reduced heart rate, loss of coordination, and confusion. Adults cannot work effectively and children find it difficult to learn. For most, a warm coat solves the problem. But, for the now nearly 15% of Americans living in poverty, a warm winter coat is a budget “extra” they simply cannot afford.

The triple disasters of the century’s worst storms, prolonged unemployment and shrinking public-sector budgets have created a rising tide of need. One in five children live in households whose earnings fall below the poverty level in the U.S. Those children, and adults, living below the poverty level who cannot afford winter clothing . . . live near us – they are our neighbors.

Please consider donating clean like-new warm winter jackets, coats and heavy sweaters to St. Michael’s Warm Coat Drive. Donated clothing may be taken to the church office at 25 South Street, Litchfield, on weekday mornings (if the office is closed, please leave clothing in large box outside the door) . . . or contact events@stmichaels-litchfield.org for pick-up.

UPDATE: I am gathering items RIGHT NOW for the hurricane victims for a group that will be delivering them to the most devastated areas this weekend. Saturday is the NEW deadline to have all items.

Please bring your donations inside of St. Michael’s Church at 25 South Street in Litchfield and leave donated items in the back of the church today and through Saturday afternoon.

These items are particularly needed:
New clothing for adults & children: sweatshirts, sweatpants, unisex socks and underwear
Blankets
Bottled water
Sterno cans
Personal toiletries
Breakfast bars
Canned meals preferably with fliptops: ravioli, beef stew, spaghetti & meatballs, etc.
Crackers
Cereal
Shelf-stable milk products
Canned tuna, salmon
Canned fruit
Peanut butter, jelly
Baby food, diapers
PLEASE: No glass containers since that’s a danger in transport.

“The present life is the only opportunity that will be given me for helping others in this world. That is a privilege which even Angels are not allowed. We shall have Heaven for ever, but we have only a short time for service here, and therefore must not waste the one opportunity.”
- Sadhu Sundar Singh (1889-1929)

With apologies for the extremely short notice, I am gathering items RIGHT NOW for the hurricane victims for a group that will be delivering them to the most devastated areas this Thursday. Please bring inside of St. Michael’s Church at 25 South Street in Litchfield and leave donated items in the back of the church today and through Wednesday afternoon. These items are particularly needed:
New clothing for adults & children: sweatshirts, sweatpants, unisex socks and underwear
Blankets
Personal toiletries
Breakfast bars
Canned meals preferably with fliptops: ravioli, beef stew, spaghetti & meatballs, etc.
Crackers
Cereal
Shelf-stable milk products
Canned tuna, salmon
Canned fruit
Peanut butter, jelly
Baby food, diapers
PLEASE: No glass containers since that’s a danger in transport.

Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation
October 16, 2012

Greetings!

On October 27, Episcopalians from parishes all over the Diocese of Massachusetts will commit to one another to bank locally and close their accounts with Bank of America and other big banks. The Wall Street banks have preyed on our neighbors and fellow Church members with unfair and illegal “robo-signed” foreclosures, and after receiving hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars in the “bailouts,” they continue to gouge consumers with hefty and often financially crippling fees. We hope that our efforts in Massachusetts will serve as a starting point for actions, education, and prayerful discernment throughout the whole Episcopal Church.
Join us for a Day of Economic Reconciliation!

WHO: Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation, Episcopal City Mission, Micah Fellows of the Life Together program, Bishop Tom Shaw, SSJE, and clergy and parishioners from all over the Diocese of Massachusetts – as well as our many ecumenical allies – invite you to join us!

WHAT: Opportunities for further learning and a challenge to parishes will be presented before we sing, bless, and pray in support of the parishes and individuals who have or who are moving their accounts from Wall Street banks to local banks and credit unions. Then we will process – as only Episcopalians can – to Government Center for a special Eucharist and picnic lunch.

WHEN: SATURDAY, OCTOBER 27, 9 AM sharp! Our goal is to be done no later than 1 pm.

WHERE: The Cathedral of St. Paul, 138 Tremont St, Boston.

WHY: Because we are Christians, we must respond to the economic crisis that is creating soaring rates of poverty in our communities – and the despair and violence that result – when there is a clear opportunity to do so. This is one place to start.

RAIN OR SHINE – In case of inclement weather, dress accordingly and get excited for singin’ in the rain!