Dear Friends,
In the shadow of our church is a very special place, a place that provides shelter and safety for nearly 150 kids each year, kids who find themselves with nowhere else to go. Common Ground Sanctuary is an agency that provides temporary shelter for kids that, for one reason or another, cannot stay in their home. Maybe there are issues of abuse. Maybe the child cannot figure out how to live within their family system. Some of the children are in the foster care system and need to find a new family. Sometimes a kid who is wrestling with their sexual orientation or gender identity feels like their home is not a safe place to figure that out. Common Ground Sanctuary provides a place for all these kids to go and gives them trained counselors and social workers who will help them figure out their next steps. This amazing little agency is making a big difference right here in Royal Oak, literally just a few blocks from the church.
I don’t think you can have a place that is helping homeless kids as one of your neighbors and not do something to help them out. We are in the midst of our Easter journey, a journey of going deeper into the heart of our faith. The deeper we go into this journey the more we will discover that we are called to be generous and giving people. So, for our Easter offering this year, I am asking you to help me collect 120 pillows and pillowcases for these kids. When a kid arrives at the Common Ground they often arrive with very little that is their own. They have had to leave most of their things behind and are entering into a place where nothing is familiar. We want each kid to have a pillow, pillowcase and blanket that is all their own.
So sometime over the next two weeks, will you run out and pick up a couple of pillows and bring them with you to church. Come Easter morning, we will be able to offer these pillows and blankets to our neighbors at Common Ground who are engaged in some very important and significant work.
We are a congregation committed to making Christ’s love real and together we can make a difference!
Grace and Peace,