YM Outreach	Adult Outreach	Individual Outreach
Coping With Divorce	Grief Recovery Group
Adopt-a-Parish	Christian Service Commission	Ecumenical Outreach

---

YM Outreach Team

Check under Community Builders on the Youth Ministry Page under for information on YM Outreach Team Fundraisers.

---

Adult Outreach

The whole law is summed up in a single commandment, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." -Galatians 5:14

The Adult Outreach was started in 2003. Adults from Blessed Sacrament parish work together to complete short-term projects to help people in need. Our activities are varied, and we rarely repeat the same activities. Few projects have the same group of volunteers.

Our goals are to reach out to help those in need around us. Working together, we build bonds between parishioners of all ages. We create an awareness of poverty, aging, loneliness and other needs in our area. Volunteers are exposed to the joys and faith-building opportunities in our parish, that are even possible for those with busy lives. We broaden our view of "neighborhood", "community" and "parish" through our work. We also have a good time!

Some group project examples:
Sort food at a soup kitchen or women´s shelter.
Build a handicap ramp.
Work with seniors to build bird feeders, planters with plants, or making holiday cards.
Collect and sort coats or toys.
Cut brush or do landscaping work.
Paint and decorate a women´s shelter.
Stain a chapel and paint bedrooms for a juvenile home/school.
Rake and clean a yard.
Collect and distribute food, art supplies or school supplies.
Join work on Habitat building crews.

If you would like to find out more about Adult Outreach, call the parish office at 835-6777.

---

Individual Outreach
(reaching out to help our neighbors)

Whenever you need assistance in any of these areas,     Transportation - to church or for an errand     Visitation - a visit to people alone     Home Service - small household repairs or tasks     Meals - at a time of special family need     Respite Care - occasional relief of care giver

Call the coordinator or the parish office     Coordinator - Mary Jo Asadorian - 687-6477     Parish Office - 835-6777

---

Coping with Divorce

...there´s no need to go through it alone.
Blessed Sacrament Parish offers an eight week Group Recovery Process for men and women of all faiths. Any adult experiencing the pain from divorce is welcome, regardless of when the divorce occurred.
Click here for more information

---

Grief Recovery Group

...for adults coping with the death of a loved one.
The process was developed by the Diocese of Saginaw to help those who are experiencing grief through the death of a loved one. A trained facilitator will lead all the sessions with much opportunity for reflection and sharing by all.  Support material is provided.
Click here for more information.

---

Adopt-a-Parish

      Glenmary Home Missioners, through its Adopt-A-Parish program, links Blessed Sacrament with St. Mark´s Parish in Ackerman, MS. Our contribution of $350 each month helps St. Mark´s, under the leadership of Sr. Alies Therese, to be the Catholic face and voice of Choctaw County.
    Sr. Alies oversees missions in Choctaw and Webster counties. One is a parish the size of a small city (over 5,000 women, men and children), the other is the only Catholic presence in a county where less than 1% of the 9,500 residents is Catholic. One parish offers a single Mass on two Sundays of each month; the other parish provides three Masses every weekend. Two large chemical companies power the economic engine of one parish´s community, members of the other parish rely on timber and cotton for their income.

---

CHRISTIAN SERVICE COMMISSION

Blessed Sacrament is committed to an active role in serving the needs of others, both in the parish and in the wider community. The Christian Service Commission oversees 25 ministries ranging from such community services as Habitat for Humanity and the Midland County Emergency Food Pantry Network to parish services such as Coffee & Donuts and Welcoming Newcomers. Information on the many Christian Service ministries can be found in the Volunteer & Enrichment Opportunities section of the website.

---

Emergency Assistance

As part of the parish tithe for outreach, Blessed Sacrament budgets over $30,000 every year to assist people in the community with emergency financial needs, such as rent, utility bills or medical bills. In any given month, 30 to 40 individuals or families, not necessarily members of the parish, receive assistance. For more information, please contact the parish office.

---

Funding Grants

Also as part of the parish tithe for outreach, Blessed Sacrament offers grants to agencies or organizations working with people in poverty. Since 1981, the parish has provided over $1.7 million in grants.

Christian Service Funding Grants for 2010

---

ECUMENICAL OUTREACH

Haiti

Uganda

Each year we have a Mission Cooperative Appeal through the Diocesan Mission Office. We have been given permission to use the Haiti and Uganda outreach efforts for our Mission Cooperative Collection. We will split the collection between Uganda martyrs Parish and the Medical Mission to Haiti.

Haiti - Three Angels Children´s Relief
http://www.threeangelsrelief.org/

Recently, we have heard the news of rioting in Haiti due to the world food shortage. In April, hundreds of protestors bashed in the front gate of the presidential palace in Port-au-Prince chanting, "We´re Hungry!" In addition, hundreds of people were injured and several killed during the rioting. This violence is due to a 50-70% increase in food prices over the past one and a half years. The greatest impact is upon the poor countries of the world, such as Haiti. Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere and one of the poorest in the world. 75% of the 8.5 million people who inhabit Haiti live on less than $2 per day. Haiti had already been plagued by poor nutrition prior to the food shortage with 20% of children being clinically malnourished. After the recent increases in food prices, families simply cannot afford the staples of rice, beans or corn. In a recent news article, a Haitian father states that he can only feed his children 2 spoons of rice every other day and another notes families preparing meals for their children by mixing dirt with salt and vegetable oil. It is expected that this food crisis will last at least several months and possibly much longer.

You can help relieve some of this suffering by donating to Three Angels Children´s Relief. Three Angels Children´s Relief is a nondenominational Christian organization in Port-au-Prince, Haiti that is dedicated to reaching out to the most impoverished children of Haiti. It consists of 3 specific programs.

Angel House Orphanage
Angel House opened its doors on May 1, 2003 in Port au Prince, Haiti. In the beginning, Angel House cared for seven infants. Over the years, the capacity of Angel House has risen to up to 44 infants and young children. Many of the babies abandoned to Angel House lost their parents or had mothers that were too malnourished to breastfeed. Some of the children were even found in the trash, close to death. Most of the babies are now growing and developing into healthy young children.

Three Angels Christian Academy
In September of 2005, Three Angels Children´s Relief opened an elementary school, for two hundred children in Port au Prince, Haiti; this year we have 335 children. Most of the children currently attending would not have the opportunity to attend a school. Many of the children are not blessed with regular food at home. At present, the children receive bread and peanut butter, but our goal is to continue to gather sponsorship and financial support for the children so that they can receive a daily meal of rice, beans and milk.

Halos Medical Clinic
The health of the people of Haiti is ranked as the worst in the Americas. The bulk of the population has little access to health care. It is estimated that only 1 in 10,000 Haitian citizens has access to medical care.
Approximately 1 in 17 infants die before their first birthday and 1 in 8 children die before their fifth birthday. The mortality rate for children under 5 in the neighboring country of Cuba is only 1 death per 133 children. The leading causes of death in Haitian children are all preventable or easily treated; these include lower respiratory infections, diarrhea, malnutrition, tuberculosis, malaria, and HIV/AIDS.

---

Agape Community Transformation (ACT) Uganda

The latest on what's happening in Uganda can be found on www.actuganda.org Below is a summary of our efforts to date.

Blessed Sacrament began its involvement with Uganda in the summer of 2007. During the initial trip to the area, the team from Memorial Presbyterian Church met Father Bruno Byomuhangi, pastor of the local Catholic parish, Muko Ugandan Martyrs. On returning to the US, needs were communicated to Father Pete for assistance in finishing construction of the parish church. Blessed Sacrament responded by contributing funds for the roof on their church.

Because of the generosity of Blessed Sacrament parishioners in the 2008 mission collection, there has been a lot of progress made in the Muko region of Uganda. This is a very poor rural area in the very southwest corner of the country. We had described some of this progress earlier this year in the newsletter. Contributions from Blessed Sacrament and St. Anthony/St. Joseph's parish in Auburn allowed the local Catholic parish, Muko Ugandan Martyrs, to continue completion of their church building. They were able to add doors and windows to the church and were able to pour a concrete floor to replace the dirt. Additionally, the community has begun construction of a health facility adjacent to the Catholic church. Travel in Muko is primarily by foot over hilly, difficult terrain. This health facility will provide services to many more who cannot make the difficult walk to the next closest clinic in Ikamiro. There remains much more to be done on both the church building and the health clinic for this year. Once again, our 2009 mission collection will go to help these efforts.

Muko Ugandan Martyrs Church showing roof, doors and windows provided by Blessed Sacrament

A concrete floor for the interior of the church was also completed recently.

Blessed Sacrament's efforts are part of a larger ecumenical effort known as ACT (Agape Community Transformation) and we work together with Memorial Presbyterian and St. John's Episcopal Churches in Midland. During this year, ACT has also been active on other efforts for the wider community in Uganda. Packets of fruit and vegetable seeds, appropriate for the local soil and climate, were provided to about 200 families to help their self-sufficiency. A motorcycle was provided for Blessing, ACT's local social worker, to facilitate travel to the widespread locations of local children orphaned by HIV/AIDS. Additionally, a laptop computer was purchased to assist with the record-keeping for the orphan care program, previously all done by hand. Bicycles were also purchased for other volunteers who care for destitute people in the community. In the orphans' homes, the new items provided by ACT such as simple foam mattresses stand out like beacons amid the meager, well-worn possessions of their household. For the future, it is important to continue to provide means of self-sufficiency for the community. It is common to only earn about $1/day in Uganda. There are dreams for the construction of an ACT Centre where people can work on items for sale such as baskets and jewelry as well as receive education and training to improve their skills.

We have also recently initiated a dress project at Blessed Sacrament. The response of the parish to this project has been overwhelming. Simple but beautiful dresses have been created from pillowcases. A large number of parishioners have worked or donated to this effort. And our fifth grade school children have contributed their fund-raising proceeds from the past school year to help with shipping and other expenses. About 190 dresses have been shipped to Uganda to date.

Here are some of the beautiful pillowcase dresses made at Blessed Sacrament for the young girls of Uganda

Some Quick Facts about Uganda
  Gained independence from Great Britain in 1962
  Population as of about 2006 was 26 million people. Average lifespan is 52 years of age.
  There are 19 major ethnic groups in Uganda with the largest being 17% of the population.
  English is the official language of Uganda. About 2/3 of adults are literate.
  Capital city is Kampala with almost 1.2 million people.
  Current president is Yoweri Museveni who has been in office since 1986.
  Currently 85% of Uganda is Christian and 12% Muslim.
  Currency is Ugandan Shilling with about 2000 Ugandan Shillings equal to one dollar as of Sept 2009. Some people in Uganda earn as little as $1 dollar/day.
  Uganda has some of the most productive farmland in Africa with about 75% of the land being arable. Main cash crops are coffee, tea, cotton, tobacco and sugar cane.
  Area is 236,040 sq km. Uganda is one of the best watered countries in the world with 36,000 sq km of the country covered by water. The source of the Nile River is located in Uganda.

Uganda is in central Africa between Kenya and the Congo		Communities we assist are in the very southwest corner of Uganda