Christmas 2023
On "little Christmas Eve" December 23rd we will be cooking a special meal. Please join us at 10am in our St. Mark's kitchen to cook and prepare, or bring some homemade cookies for us to share.
They would also really appreciate donations of hams for other days during the Christmas season, and also are looking for people to make tamales! Does that sound up your alley? Please contact Megan Edwin at NH if you're interested in either of these options (meganed@ccsww.org).
Do you have extra Christmas decorations cluttering your garage? Nativity House would love to use them to brighten up the holidays for their guests. You can deliver them to NH during the week, or drop them off at church.
Nativity House guests are also in need of warm coats, socks, and blankets.
Their chapel also needs some more Bibles if you have any extras.
If you're shopping on Amazon it's really easy to get a few extra things to help people at Nativity House. Find their wish list here.
How about making Christmas stockings or holiday gift bags for guests? Suggestions include
warm winter gloves
handwarmers
personal hygiene items (dollar store?)
activity books like Sudoku
magazines
coloring books
holiday treats (homemade or not)
Donations can be dropped off at NH - 1323 S. Yakima Ave, Tacoma
or at St. Mark's on Dec 23rd from 10-12:30p.
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This was what we did on Saturday, December 24th, 2022
Part 1: we'll be preparing a special ham meal and side dishes at St. Mark’s, and then delivering and serving the food at Nativity House. The menu: sliced ham, cheesy mashed potatoes, green beans with almonds, sliced spiced apples, and rolls. The Hulsts are coordinating getting sliced ham, and we'll be preparing and cooking rest of the items at St. Mark's. We'll also be packaging up any desserts that people bring on Saturday or drop off beforehand at the church.
Part 2: we'll transport the food to Nativity House, and people can help serve the food on site at Nativity House.
Please note a couple of things:
1) only people 18 and over can volunteer (serve meals) on the Nativity House site (insurance rules)
2) I believe that Nativity House has rules requiring masking up while working in the kitchen or serving food
3) serving on site may require completing additional paperwork (see below).
If you want to help with a dessert, you can do that too (whether you cook, serve the meal, or neither). Ideally, a dessert would include something individually wrapped and easily transportable -- cookies or the like ideal. If not individually wrapped, please wrap the item or place it in a ziplock back or similar. The church will have a marked location for Nativity House meal dessert drop-offs starting Sunday the 18th and running through Saturday the 24th.
The schedule:
10:00 let’s meet at the St. Mark's kitchen for meal preparation and cooking, with a goal of finishing by 12:30 p.m. or so.
12:30 Food delivery to Nativity House
1:00 or 1:15 start serving the meal at Nativity House for about an hour. I anticipate a relatively small amount of post-meal wrap-up activities at Nativity House since we'll be using disposable containers, plates, and utensils.
It would help to know who plans to help at St. Mark's on Saturday the 24th and who would like to help serve the meal at Nativity House. If you could reply stating whether you plan to help and if so at St. Mark's, at Nativity House, or both (and how many people, if more than one), we'd appreciate it -- Melanie (melaniesummerour@gmail.com) and Peter (p.postovoit@gmail.com). It would also help to know if you plan to drop off a dessert.
If you want to help with serving on site at Nativity House on the 24th, you need to complete some paperwork and provide a copy of your vaccination card. Please see the tab on this website about volunteering on site at NH. I'd recommend doing so ASAP -- ideally by Wednesday to allow for processing time. To return these, please contact Megan Edwin at Nativity House:
* meganed@ccsww.org
* cell: 253-365-4111 (M-F, 9 am-5 pm)