Being a mother is a precious gift but being a mother and having to leave your home to find a haven must be the worst possible scenario.  Wise Hope Shelter and Crisis Center is that haven in Wise County.

Celebrating Mother’s Day in a shelter is sad, especially if the children are not with the mother.  For our April Mission of the Month we gathered items like facials, soothing lotions, hair accessories, nail polishes, devotionals, journals, pens, etc.  These items were put together in special baskets and given to the mothers who were staying at the shelter on Mother’s Day.

Thank you all so much.

If you know of anyone who needs to leave a dangerous situation, below is the shelter’s information:

Wise Hope Shelter & Crisis Center

24 Hour Crisis Hotline – 940-626-4855

P.O. Box 569 • 608 North Business 81-287 • Decatur, TX 76234

Tel: 940-626-4855  • Fax: 940-626-4117

On Sunday, March 17 before our 10 a.m. service, Mike Darst, of the Court Appointed Special Advocates for children of Wise and Jack Counties (CASA) gave a presentation to our congregation, highlighting their mission of being advocates for children who have no one to speak for them in the courts.

He spoke of how we could volunteer to give hope to a child. Court Appointed Special Advocates represent the best interest of abused and neglected children. CASA Advocates speak up for children in court and help ensure that the goals of safety and stability become reality. CASA of Wise and Jack Counties served 140 children in 2018, but more children are waiting for the hope that CASA Advocates provide.

If you are interested in volunteering, you may contact Mike Darst, training and recruitment coordinator at 214-632-6611 or mike.darst@casawise.org.

As we do every January, we try to revitalize not only ourselves, but our ideas on how we can be a help to our community.

So, we sit back and pray about what we can do. We always come up with many ways in which our “Little Flock” can be of service.

As our years increase, it seems as though we have to hold our books and newspapers a little farther away until our arms aren’t long enough!

For our December Mission of the Month, we chose to gather large print books, word puzzle books, jigsaw puzzles, crossword puzzle books, sudoku books, and take them to two different senior assisted living homes.

We also gathered small embroidery kits, yarn, knitting needles/crochet hooks, colored pencils, and other items that will help the residents keep their fingers flexible and moving. Many seniors used to do these types of crafts, but now that they are living in a different place, they might not have all the familiar items they loved.

Below are a few pictures of the things gathered.

Our November Mission of the Month was threefold:  First mission was to help plan and co-host the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth’s convention which was held at the Decatur Conference Center, Decatur, TX.   Our sister church in the Northern Deanery*, Episcopal Church in Wichita Falls, joined us in the planning of the worship service on Friday, November 9, at 1:00 p.m.  Person after person commented on the wonderfully catered food and the quality of the hotel rooms.

All of the furnishings my husband created for our church (portable altar, altar candle holders, lectern, Paschal candle stand, and baptismal font) were carefully carried out of our Church of the Resurrection, placed in our vehicles and taken to the Center.  We set everything up at the center and arranged the furnishings appropriately.   On Saturday, all was taken down, repacked in our vehicles, and returned to our church.

We assembled the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection table, covering our church board with cloth, finding/printing out pictures, and putting trim on it.  The theme of our table was our Missions of the Month.   A picture of our church building was placed in the center with hands reaching out showing our mission work throughout our community.  Our scrapbook of each mission was on display for anyone to look through.

Since we became a new church plant in 2015, many people in the diocese didn’t know where we were located.  Because of that, an open house was planned for any who wished to take a tour of our tiny building and to grab a hot dog with all the trimmings, chips, other snack items, and soda or water to eat on the veranda or to put in a to-go bag for the trip home.  We believe around 40 visitors came to see where we worship.  Pictures were taken, questions were asked, food was eaten, and a good time was had by all.

*Deanery:  Geographical section or area within a diocese. A dean presides at meetings of the lay representatives and clergy of the deanery.

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The second mission was to assist 4Saints Food Pantry which was in need of diapers, sizes 3, 4, 5, and 6.  Our members gathered the needed items and they will be delivered to the pantry.  Below are several pictures of diapers we collected, as well as a few of our members sporting new church t-shirts.  Over 55 lbs. of diapers were collected.

4Saints Food Pantry – 4301 Meadowbrook, Fort Worth, TX  76103

4 Saints Episcopal Food Pantry is an Episcopal food bank at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, located in the Meadowbrook neighborhood of east Fort Worth, a food desert. The pantry board has members from the Fort Worth East Deanery, which includes St Stephen’s, St Martin-in-the-Fields, St Luke’s, and St Alban’s

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The third mission was to deliver snack items to the residents living in Brookdale Senior Living, Weatherford.  The chips, cookies, etc., were greatly appreciated.

October is the month we always partner with our friends at First United Methodist Church in Decatur to have a traditional Blessing of the Animals as close to St. Francis Day as possible.  Our furry friends are beautiful creations of God and He has given them to us for our care.  We gathered around our St. Francis statue on Resurrection grounds for the blessings.

We also support the Wise County Animal Shelter in October and they conveyed to us their need for bleach, kitty litter, and puppy food.  Below are pictures of what we collected: 160.5 lbs. of puppy food; 269 lbs. of cat litter; 10 gallons of bleach and 6.4 lbs. of kitten food.  Thanks everyone.