Help Us Spread The Word!

Over the past two weeks you may have heard about the Christmas project we've taken on. The Welcome Home Heroes Campaign is about showing appreciation to the men and women of our military as they return from overseas deployment. Jim Cmolik is involved with the Adopt a Chaplain Program and has been emailing with the Chaplain of the 703rd Brigade Support Battalion, currently stationed in Iraq. This battalion will be returning to Fort Stewart, GA just days before Christmas and many of the men and women of HHC Company will spend Christmas on base.

As a church-wide (and hopefully community-wide) service project, we want to make this a very special Christmas for the men and women of the 703d BSB. We are collecting Christmas items such as stocking stuffers, small presents, hygiene items, pre-paid phone cards, fast food gift cards, Christmas candy and home-baked cookies to brighten their Christmas.

On December 7th at 6:00pm we've planned a Packing Party. We'll sing some Christmas carols, serve light refreshments, and spend the evening assembling packages to ship to Fort Stewart. At the beginning of the evening we'll take a group photo holding a "thank you" banner that we'll enclose in each package with a note thanking that soldier for their service. We also plan to compile a video of the evening, especially the sing-along, and send a copy to the Chaplain to share with the men and women of the 703d.

There's a lot to do between now and December 7th! You can help in many different ways:

• Help us get posters up around the community. Post one at work and get your co-workers involved.



• Do you work for a business that would be willing to donate items to this cause? Talk to your employer.



• As a family, choose to adopt a soldier or two by purchasing and donating items for a package.



• During the week of December 1-7, bake a couple batches of cookies.



• Have your kids draw Christmas pictures to include in packages.



• Hand write notes to a few soldiers, thanking them and wishing them a peaceful Christmas.

These are just a few ways to get involved. What suggestions can you come up with? What will your small group or ministry do to get involved? Let's get some friendly challenges going to encourage Church-wide participation. Let's use this opportunity to show the love of Jesus, not only to these brave men and women, but to the community around us.