Items for the Hat and Mitten Tree, Bedford Prison, and Toys for Teens will be collected during the services on Giving Sunday, December 4. You can find details of what is requested below. (If you are unable to attend services on December 4, you may drop off items in the church office). There are a number of ways to benefit the Food Pantry, detailed below. We ask you to consider giving to one or more of these efforts.
And don’t forget to make your holiday purchases at the Alternative Giving Market on November 13 and 20!
The Food Pantry Needs Your Turkeys!
The Food Pantry appreciates gifts of turkeys for our clients’ Thanksgiving dinners. They can be dropped off on Saturday, November 19 at the back door to Room 16 (cemetery side) any time between 7:30 am and 10:30 am (we open at 9, but turkeys arriving late will certainly find a home!)
Food Pantry Cards
Need a gift for someone that has everything? Looking for an alternative to the commercial Christmas gift? Need a hostess gift to take to Thanksgiving dinner or a holiday party?
Why not make a donation to our Food Pantry in honor of a friend or family member? Donations can be made in any amount AND they will be doubled via our matching program with the FPCY Food Pantry Trust! For each donation, you can select a card that you can mail or deliver in-person. In November, stop by the table in the gathering space after church.
Help Buy Hams for the Food Pantry
Our Thanksgiving Offering will buy hams to supplement the food we give through our food pantry in December. Christmas hams are an “extra” that would not normally be provided. Please give generously so that we can help everyone enjoy the holiday season.
You can either use your Thanksgiving offering envelope, or mark your check with the memo “Thanksgiving Offering,” or you can contribute online using the line item for this offering.
The Hat and Mitten Tree
Carol Gaetani reports that there will be another “Hat and Mitten” Christmas tree set up in the hallway leading into the sanctuary in early Advent. The Deacons would like to invite all of you to participate in this project again this year. The hats, scarves, gloves and mittens that you provide will be distributed during the Food Pantry in December. The Pantry clients will be able to select hats, mittens, scarves or headbands from the Christmas tree for each of their family members before obtaining their grocery items that day. “The Knit-Togethers” do an amazing job each year and contribute over 100 handmade items. Members of our Congregation placed additional items, purchased from stores in the area or hand made, on the Christmas tree located near the Gathering Space. Several “friends” of the First Presbyterian Church of Yorktown in the area also knit or crochet and donated hundreds of beautiful items. All together we have hundreds of beautifully hand-crafted, colorful and unique items to give to our clients. It is a joyful event for ALL involved!
Bedford Prison Children’s Center
Toys for Teens
The church runs the Toys for Tots distribution each December.The Yorktown Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops will send scouts to assist and coordinate the effort on distribution day. Most of the donations people give are for young children (not too surprising given the name). However, many of our food pantry clients and other people in need have older children as well. We are asking the congregation to help us supplement the Toys for Tots program with Toys for Teens — gifts for older children and teens (ages 12-18).
Some ideas for gifts are below (not all inclusive, just some examples):
For girls: nail polish sets, perfume, handbags, makeup kits, dress scarves.
For boys: cologne, Axe body wash, shave kits, hair gel, model cars.
For both: basketballs, soccer balls, diaries, books, games, CDs, winter scarves, grooming kits, sketch pads, art supplies, gift cards.