DEACON'S CORNER FOR CONSCIENTIOUS GIVING

                                                                                     February 2025

Please prayerfully consider how you can support this month's offering causes and consciously plan your donation

“First Bag” Collection Causes   

February 02: Right at Home Housing Society -- Right at Home Housing Society (formerly the Edmonton Inner City Housing Society) provides secure, accessible, adequate, and supportive affordable housing for individuals and families in Edmonton's central communities who cannot afford market housing. They also provide a range of services for residents, including a non-judgmental and inclusive community, mentor and peer support, and opportunities for life skill development. Right at Home ensures their housing developments are sensitive to community context and are well integrated into surrounding neighbourhoods, both socially and physically. Currently more than 1000 Edmontonians are receiving housing through Right at Home, with an additional 250 people being helped through their new projects. 88% of residents have indicated that their quality of life has increased because of the housing with which they have been provided. Your contributions help to provide housing and valuable services for many Edmontonians.

February 09: Hope and Healing International – Doctors, health officers and community workers go to the world's poorest places to work with people living in most difficult circumstances. With your financial gifts they set up remote surgical units to give the miracle of sight. Their mandate is to ensure people with disabilities are included in development programs and emergency relief efforts. “Jesus spent his life caring for people on the fringes of society – people who were blind, poor, forgotten.”--this is their inspiration. Hope and Healing International has provided empowering, ability-restoring services to 36 million people in the last year. They have 25 project partners in 12 of the world's poorest countries..

February 16: Honduras Water Project -- The Micah Centre at The King’s University, in partnership with World Renew works with communities in Honduras to build community owned and operated water systems, to bring potable running water into the village or to assist with much needed sanitation projects (floors, pilas and latrines). All these projects help to improve the quality of life for the recipients, greatly contributing to the health and well-being of the people in the community. For over 25 years, we have partnered in community building, mutual learning, prayer, financial support, and provision of labour to work toward a world in which everyone has access to clean, healthy drinking water. Each year, a group of King’s students visits a project to help build a stage of the water project and to build friendships with our global neighbours in Honduras. King’s is planning another Honduras Water Project trip in 2025.

February 23: E4C Women’s Emergency Accommodation Shelter -- A homeless shelter open 24/7, it is their last refuge. Women often arrive without any possessions, income, or supportive relationships. They could be suffering from an undiagnosed mental illness, recently discharged from the hospital with nowhere else to go, or escaping prostitution. At WEAC they are provided with three meals, a bed off the floor, a set of hygiene products and clothes, to meet their most immediate basic needs. Once basic needs are addressed, WEAC focuses on assisting women to exit into their own permanent housing. An Outreach Worker and Placement Coordinator work as a team to help the women become healthy both physically and mentally. The team supports women in recovery, works towards ensuring women are on the right medication, connects women with resources and provides income options so they have the

best chance of success when they leave WEAC. The walls of WEAC provide a temporary refuge of support and dignity. By affirming the humanity of homeless women, E4C aspires to help each woman to rediscover their own hopes and dreams and take steps toward ending their homelessness. Your donation will help to make a difference for some of Edmonton's most vulnerable women.

“Second Bag” (blue bag) collection is for the church budget – We as a congregation are committed to Inglewood's annual church budget which includes:

Salaries and Benefits – for ministry staff: Pastor, Worship Director, and Church Administrator.

General Expenses – which includes the cost of congregational programs, children and youth ministry programs, worship services, outreach activities, office supplies, hospitality, janitorial care and supplies, and telephone, internet, live streaming and utilities services.

Ministry Shares – which is a proven, cost-sharing method for Churches to work together to support a variety of Denominational and Classical ministries.

Building Projects – which includes computer related costs, and building maintenance and repair costs.

Please give generously to this cause so that we will be able to honour our financial commitments to Inglewood CRC, Classis Alberta North and the Christian Reformed denomination.