"Open Hands" - In the Summer 2020...

Your Visions Aid Fund at Work

Donation highlights:

• HeadStart  ($500)
• Reconnect ($257.45)

Our giving hands haven’t been able to be quite so generous during these times of physical isolation. We are missing the ReConnect jar for your small change, the Recycling dollars and the grocery cards given regularly to Karing Kitchen. Thanks to those who give by PAR we have some funds available to make one or two donations each month.

If you would like to contribute for the summer months please mail in a cheque made out to Visions United Church with a note/memo that it is for "Vision Aid". It will be received with deep gratitude!

HEADSTART
In June your donations to the Visions Aid Fund enabled us to give $500 to Headstart for their backpack program. This year there will be a very different format. Parents will be called and asked for a list of what they need. Backpacks will be packed for each child and parents will be given a designated time to come to the yard to pick them up.

• If you would also like to make a personal donation, cheques made out to Moncton Headstart Inc. with “school supplies” in the memo line can be mailed to them at 1111 Mountain Road, Moncton, NB, E1C 2S9.
• Calculators, construction paper and pencil sharpeners are also badly needed and can be dropped off or mailed.

RECONNECT
In August we sent a donation of $257.45 to ReConnect: $200 from Visions Aid Fund, and an additional $57.45 received from your summer donations.
ReConnect needs our help more than ever. Homeless people can no longer find relief from the heat in public places like the library or mall. ReConnect’s outreach team has set up a misting tent at Avenir and is busy giving out food, water and clothing.

• Please continue to turn in your recyclables and forward a cheque to Visions United so that we can pass it on to ReConnect.

CROSS CANADA PANDEMIC PILGRIMAGE

The Visions Aid Team, with the expertise and support of Terry MacTavish-Hawkes, organized and planned the summer pilgrimage project. Our July "Giving Hand" highlights this activity for our summer sabbath month.

Visit the pilgrimage page on the website to read about this virtual adventure:

"Open Hands" - In the Spring 2020...

Your Visions Aid Fund at Work

Donation highlights:

• ReConnect  ($400)
• Karing Kitchen ($200)
• Inclusion Advocacy ($200)
• Crossroads for Women ($400)
• Camp Ta-Wa-Si Virtual Camp ($500)

In March the Karing Kitchen donations that we received in February were forwarded.  We made a donation to Inclusion Advocacy which works to help those with intellectual disabilities attain full inclusion in community life. In April we gave from our Vision Aid fund to ReConnect  and to Crossroads for Women, organizations that providing safe housing, education and counseling for women and children in crisis. Our May donation went to Camp Ta-Wa-Si to help with the new virtual camp they are setting up for this summer.

Our giving hands haven’t been able to be quite so generous during these times of physical isolation. We are missing the ReConnect jar for your small change, the Recycling dollars and the grocery cards given regularly to Karing Kitchen. Thanks to those who give by PAR we have some funds available to make one or two donations each month.

If you would like to contribute for the summer months please mail in a cheque made out to Visions United Church with a note/memo that it is for "Vision Aid". It will be received with deep gratitude!

"Open Hands" - In the Winter 2020...

Each hand shows donations to Reconnect and Karing Kitchen.  In addition

In December:

• we supported to Moncton Headstart Toyland,
• the John Howard Society for Tim Horton’s gift cards
• and the Salvus Clinic helping the homeless.

In January two services were cancelled due to snowstorms so there were no additional donations.

In February a donation was made to the YouthQuest fundraiser

• Coldest Night of the year.

"Open Hands" - In the Fall 2019...

There were donations to Reconnect and Karing Kitchen each month, and during the following months to these individual groups

• September, to the Alzheimers Society,
• October to Hospice Greater Moncton and Camp Ta-Wa-Si for repairs,
• November to Inclusion Advocacy.

This Association was initially formed in 1984 and was incorporated in 1987 as the Greater Moncton Association for Community Living.

In 2016 it was re-branded as Inclusion Advocacy SENB.

The purpose of the Association is to ensure that appropriate supports are in place for people with an intellectual disability to live, learn, work and participate, as valued contributing members, in their own communities.

Some of the services offered are education, individual and family support, workshops, training, public awareness and fund raising.

The Association depends on community fundraisers.

With this in mind, Visions United, from the Visions Aid fund, has recently donated $300.00 to Inclusion Advocacy SENB.

We wish them all the best in their work with families in South-East New Brunswick.

The Vision Aiders were out in November to visit the Peter McKee Community Food Centre. They were taken on a tour of the facility and were excited to share their experience and some pictures with the congregation.

For more about the centre you can visit their website: http://fooddepot.ca/en/default.php