Woof! Meow! Bark! All the wonderful sounds of some of God’s greatest creatures filled the grounds of the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection in Decatur, TX, on October 5. We celebrated the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi on that beautiful Saturday along with our brothers and sisters from the First United Methodist Church of Decatur. Our own Fr. Tony Hiatt was paired with Pastor Cassie Wade in officiating our meaningful service, giving thanks to God for the animals given to us to care for and watch over.

Every October we also gather items needed at our local animal shelter. This year we collected the following items for the Bridgeport Animal Shelter: Cat litter, bleach, Dawn liquid detergent, kitten food, puppy food, inexpensive leashes. Afterward, there was a neighborhood hot dog lunch for anyone wishing to come and stay for fellowship and a meal. It was a great day!

Here are some pictures:

Little children and senior citizens have much in common. Each group gets excited during the holidays; their eyes light up at the wonderment of the seasons — Easter with parades and baskets of chocolate, Thanksgiving with fall decorations and turkey and dressing, Christmas with all the colorful lights and stockings hung high on the mantel. Who wouldn’t be excited?

Seniors who live in assisted living settings, or in nursing facilities sometimes don’t have the same excitement as they used to have when they were in their own home settings.

During August and September, we decided to work with the Wise County Committee on Aging to gather items for stocking stuffers to hand out to residents of assisted living and nursing/rehabilitation centers. Many, many items were collected which included games, thank you notes, blank stationery and stamps, adult coloring books and crayons/pencils, books, lotions, throws, etc.

Here are a few pictures of the items gathered and delivered:

If anyone needs assistance from the Wise County Community on Aging or would want to help by volunteering their services, please contact the Committee: