“Tis the season for giving!”   

On Sunday, December 16 (Our final Edge night of this calendar year) middle schoolers will have the opportunity to put their faith into action by creating gift bags for the homeless of Richmond.This will be a Christmas Service Party!!! There will be lots of good food and fun this night to go around too!

Every Wednesday, in the heat, the rain, or the freezing cold, almost 80 homeless men and women line up for a warm meal at St. Peter Catholic Church in downtown Richmond.  A small group of St. Michael parishioners serve dinner on the first Wednesday of every month.The homeless sleep in doorways or under bridges. They do not have warm gloves, hats, or socks to protect them from the cold temperatures.

In James 2:14-17, we read:
Dear brothers and sisters, what’s the use of saying that you have faith and are Christians if you aren’t proving it by helping others? Will that kind of faith save anyone?  If you have a friend who is in need of food and clothing,  and you say to him, “Well, good-bye and God bless you; stay warm and eat hearty,” and then don’t give him clothes or food, what good does that do? So you see, it isn’t enough just to have faith. You must also do good to prove that you have it. Faith that doesn’t show itself by good works is no faith at all—it is dead and useless.

With that in mind, we are asking that you empower your middle schooler to use their own money and buy new items to put in the gift bags they will be creating while we have some Christmas fun and games on the 16th! And we ask that everyone take a moment to put themselves in the shoes of the homeless on these cold winter nights.

6th Graders:   Please bring in 2 pairs of adult size, WARM gloves.  

7th Graders:   Please bring in 2 adult size, warm hats or scarves.

8th Graders: Please bring in a PACKAGE of WARM socks and Either 1 pair of adult size, WARM gloves OR 1 adult size hat or scarf.

 
We have around 80 middle schoolers showing up each Sunday Edge night. If everyone brings in what is requested, we will create 65 bags. Generally, we have almost 80 homeless people on the first Wednesday of the month, so if you are filled with the Christmas spirit, please bring in more items then requested!!  We don’t want anyone not to get a gift bag.  
The Edge team is looking forward to this night where we can SHOW our FAITH through GOOD WORKS!