Be the “change” you want to see in the world
One of the many things I’ve thought about while sitting at home is that as we have been unable to gather in our beloved church, Gertrude, our hungry goose has not been fed either.
I quote an article I found and believe it still holds true today, props do work. Whether it be a plastic goose, a shopping cart or a plastic bank shaped as a Church. The children, and some of us adults, loved feeding Gertrude during coffee hour. Kudos to the person who started with this prop.
From article of 2012 in the South New England Conference United Church of Christ
“Paul Shailer, a deacon at the Brookfield Congregational Church, believes the goose -- which is put out at coffee hour -- is very visible and stands out. "Gertrude the Goose" (as she has been named by the Sunday School children) has become the church's ambassador for mission donations.
"Kids love to put money in its bill and watch it swallow the change," explained GwenYaskoski, a trustee and treasurer at the church. "The prop really gets the children involved and they have become very curious as to not only where the money goes after it's eaten by the goose, but who is being helped by the donations."
Whether it's a faux fowl or a real shopping cart, unique props can be helpful to mission and fundraising programs”
We have a post of our focused Missions for each month. If your heart is being called to support any of these focused Missions, please submit your donation to the church at P O Box 457, Brookfield, MA 01506. In the memo line, please note: feed Gertrude - Focused Mission (and the month).
Our Lenten giving mission, which was to benefit Dismas as well as Abbey’s house, was impacted by the outbreak of Covid19 and as we will be unable to plan a Suicide Awareness and Prevention vigil in May, as hoped, I would request that we allocate any funds raised during May to donate to Dismas and Abbey’s Feel free to visit their websites for ways you can help…at: http://www.dismasisfamily.org/donate/” and https://abbyshouse.org/donate/
I’ll sign off with the following….perhaps til we can be together and you can feed Gertrude directly, a fun little prop to make with the kids...a “feed” bag with scraps of material to stick your loose change into...
In His light and love,
Tammy, aka “T”, Mission Chair