Visitation 1014 - National Christ Child Society

Luke 1:44
Visitation
“… and the child in her womb leapt for joy.”
The
October 2014
Blessings to all the wonderful women of the Christ Child Society. We are so honored to be a part of this
wonderful organization. Mary Briscoe and I just returned from the National Christ Child Society convention in sunny
and very warm Scottsdale, AZ. I wish you had all been able to join us to hear of all the amazing programs that are
going on around our country to help the disadvantaged children. The Christ Child Society was born over 127 years ago
thanks to the vision of Mary Virginia Merrick. Today women from 22 states, 44 chapters continue to be the hands and
feet of Jesus.
We really enjoyed the networking and getting to know other chapter presidents and members. You will all be
happy to know that our fundraising efforts with the Phantom Ball and the Baby Bottle Fundraiser were highlighted at
the convention. Many people thought that the Phantom Ball was brilliant! They were also impressed by the amount of
money we raised with the baby bottles. You should all be proud of our chapter as well as our community for
supporting us so generously.
National Board President, Anne Kelley, is planning a visit here on Oct. 15 and 16. She hopes to be able to see
our Coat program in action, as well as, tour our Crib Clubs. If you have an opportunity to meet her, please make her
feel welcome!
I am looking forward to seeing all of you at the Annual Meeting on November 12!
In Christ, Ann Arnold
“Nothing is ever too much to do for a child.”
Mary Virginia Merrick, Founder
www.christchildsocietyfw.org
!
Pat Cross
Elaine Emerick
Mary Harkenrider
Susie Johnson
Ann Kilfoil
Mary Rose Lorenc
Linda Montero
Paula Riehm
Patti Robertson
Roseann Schreiber
Patty Schrimper
Mary Voors
Susie Wright
“My Stuff”
Backpacks
Christ Child Sewers:
We are so very fortunate to have many benefactors for our Christ Child
Society. Due to the incredible generosity of Kate’s Kart, we will be able to
provide the children in need with many wonderful reading books. We are
extremely grateful for the kindness of their recent donation of 19 large boxes of
books! Their assistance will go a long way in helping us improve the lives of
children in our community.
!
January 12, 2010, Haiti had a devastating 7.0 magnitude on the richter scale
earthquake claiming over 250,000 deaths as reported by www.cnn.com news. 1.5 million
adults and children were displaced. Since then many children were orphaned. The
lucky ones were placed in orphanages. The unlucky ones were abducted into the slave/
sex trades. IAMHaiti.org is a medical group that goes to Haiti once a year to care for the
medical needs of the survivors. They also rescue children from the slave/sex trades,
support churches, schools and two orphanages. IAM approached our little CCS Sewing
group to sew pillowcase dresses for the rescued orphaned girls and string backpacks for
the boys. In one month our sewers from CCS and friends of Dorene Wilson whipped up
100 dresses. Check International Allied Missions to see that our dresses are featured on
their website. This article is a request for pillowcases and/or material. Bring them to
your next committee meetings and the pillowcases will be delivered to our sewing
committee. Anyone interested in sewing? We are excited to welcome you to our little
group. Skills vary within the group so don't be hesitant to join.
These girls were so excited to
receive their new dresses they
put them on over their clothes.
The sewing group originated as a way to advertise Christ Child Society to the
local community. We started out making one of a kind aprons, golf cart seat covers,
casserole totes, stadium blankets and vintage kitchen towels as gifts for the CCS annual
golf outing. The CCS Coats Committee needed hats/mittens/scarves for distribution
with their new coats to needy children in the Fort Wayne area. Our sewing committee
was able to produce these items with donated fleece fabric. Redeemer Radio solicited us
to provide gifts for the donors of their fundraiser. Our president, Ann Arnold, took some
of our items to the National Christ Child Society meeting in September. Vincent Village
approached CCS to help start a sewing class for their homeless families. CCS members
donated sewing machines, sewing accessories, material and are now providing sewing
instructions. Patty Schrimper
Spiritual
Committee
The Spiritual Committee met in late August to plan the Mass with the
Bishop and our first Appreciation Night. We all helped with the invitations,
placemats and the commit”mint” packages. It was a lot of fun all working
together and made us really look forward to a fun evening in September.
We received 145 reservations and the room was suppose to hold 110 so
we were a little cozy but everyone was very understanding. The Mass was with
the Bishop and his words of appreciation and encouragement were greatly
enjoyed. Once again, Pam Downs was our caterer and the food was delicious.
We heard from Cristy Jordan the principal from St. Joseph School on Brooklyn
Avenue. She reported on how the shoe vouchers were so appreciated and how
the school in return will be having a collection for items for our backpacks. We
also heard a couple of eloquent stories from Julie Curran about the backpacks
impacting foster and homeless children. “I, for one was very moved hearing those
stories and made me want to continue serving the children.” stated Nancy.
A reminder: please, for ALL members to join us for first Friday Mass at
St. Mother Theodore Guérin Chapel downtown on the first Friday of every
month at noon. We usually go to lunch after. What a great way to share and
get to know each other through prayer and a fun social time.
Our next planned event at this time will be a bus trip to St. John,
Indiana in the spring to experience the outside Way of the Cross. We will let
everyone know when the date has been set.
We are also feeling led by the Spirit to step down from leading this
wonderful group of women. If anyone is interested in a leadership role please
contact Nancy or Tina. Please know that the Spiritual Committee keeps you in
prayer as we all strive to be Jesus to the children in need.
God Bless, Nancy Winling and Tina Bailey
Did you know that
the Christ Child
Society is the second
oldest non-profit in
the nation?
The Red Cross is the
oldest.
October 15, 22, 29th, Coats for
Kids distribution @ Rudisill
Building
!
November 7th, First Friday
Mass @ 12:05pm St. Mother
Theodore Guérin Chapel
!
November 11th, Backpacks @
1pm Bishop Noll Center
!
November 12th, Annual Fall
Meeting @ 9:30am St. Mary’s
Church
!
November 19th, Layettes @ 9am
Bishop Noll Center
!
December 5th, First Friday
Mass @ 12:05pm St. Mother
Theodore Guérin Chapel
First Place
Layettes
Dates at a Glance
Welcome DeKalb County to the Christ Child Society! The ladies of
Immaculate Conception in Auburn are putting together layettes to serve the
deserving clients of DeKalb Hospital. We are happy to welcome several of
these ladies to the Christ Child Society of Fort Wayne and support their
endeavors in their community.
Along with this great news, we are thrilled to be up and running
thanks to the great ladies on the Layette Committee. We actually ran out of
layettes for a few days due to high demand. During September’s marathon
packing session, we put together 196 layettes! Many thanks to the great
Layette-ites!
We will be lending our energy to the Coat Committee in October and
will not be packing any layettes this month. Please plan on a super November
packing session on the 19th to carry us through to January.
See you at the November 12 Annual Meeting at St. Mary’s Church!
Layette Chairs, Teri Clark and Tammy Jones
Second Place
Golfing For Kids ~ Annual golf outing took place
Monday, September 22nd at Autumn Ridge Golf Club.
It was a brisk day to start. All of the ladies were loving
the hot cider and snack mix and welcomed the sun that
did show up. The ladies enjoyed a wonderful lunch
catered by Catablu ending with a silent auction with all
proceeds going to Christ Child Society of Fort Wayne.
Thank you to our wonderful committee of hardworking ladies. Everything you did to help make this
another successful fundraiser is very appreciated!
Third Place
Coats
for Kids
At our first coats distribution there was a family of four: a mother, a
father and two sons - one in 5th grade, the other maybe in second grade. The
5th grade boy and I had made friends, as he was just looking for something to
do while he was there waiting. After they received their coats and hats and
gloves and were heading out the boy came up to me and said “Hey, I found a
dime. " I replied “Hey, this is your lucky day. You got a dime. You got a new coat.
You got a hat and gloves! You're all set.” At that point, he gave me back the dime
and said “I want to donate it back to the charity.” He handed me the dime as his
family walked out of the building.
When Pam Lunsford was leaving her shift, she gave me a dime and
shared this story of how she received the dime. When I got home and emptied
my pockets there was the dime.
I was able to reflect on this and really thought about this little one who
had received so much that day and he did not blink an eye in passing on the
dime to Pam. It reminded me of the widow who had so little to give yet gave
everything she had!!
Janet Didier
!
May I introduce you to Josephine “Jo” Cavellaro Russo. She was
born on May 15, 1913 into an Italian family and raised Roman Catholic in
Bristol, Rhode Island. She married her sweetheart, Jerry Russo and had 3
kids, Joseph(deceased), Michael in N.C. and Anna in Fort Wayne.
Jo is a vibrant, fun-loving lady, who this summer moved into
Georgetown North apartments where she has made many friends and plays
bingo twice a week.
She learned to crochet at a young age and would make afghans,
pillow shams, dresses and the Lord’s Prayer. Now days, she crochets scarves
for our Coats For Kids. She puts in 175 stitches in 10 rows of love and hard
work in each of the 300 scarves she’s made this year. She is 101 years young
and we thank her for all she has given to the children of Fort Wayne. You are a
blessing and role model for all to witness!
Bishop Dwenger students were brought
in on their day off to help break down
boxes and carry them out to the recycle
bin. They did an outstanding job of
cleaning and organizing!
The Visitation
Christ Child Society of Fort Wayne
PO Box 12708
Fort Wayne, IN 46864
Spiritual Advisor
Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades
President
Ann Arnold
President Elect
Pat Spoltman
Past President
Linda Montero
Recording Secretary
Patty Schrimper
Treasurer
Karen Schleinkofer
Corresponding Secretary Judy Hein
Newsletter
Tina Bailey
***Notice Is Hereby Given That***
The Annual Fall Meeting
of the
Christ Child Society of Fort Wayne
Will be held on
Wednesday, November 12, 2014, at 9:30 AM
St. Mary’s Catholic Church
1101 South Lafayette Street, Fort Wayne,
Indiana
A light continental breakfast will be served.
No RSVP is necessary but
please consider your attendance mandatory.
Donations of
baby items of
any kind will be
accepted along
with pillowcases
and material
for use in our
Christ Child
projects.