Thank You Event Recap

On Saturday September 19 we hosted a special Thank You! Luncheon at FCC Scottsdale.

This was a Dream Fund event that grew out of the excitement we are feeling at the church for all of the wonderful things that are happening right now. The Dream Team put together a special luncheon where the only agenda item was to say "Thank You!" Because, you see, it is only through the generous and full support of our church family that we are able to do the things that we are doing.

In the end, the event grew into more than just a luncheon. We also built Outreach Opportunities into the day so that we could celebrate by reaching out to our local community and to the wider world.

Here are a series of pictures (and some stats and stories) from a great day at FCC Scottsdale!

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Feed My Starving Children

We had 17 folks from FCC Scottsdale who spent their morning at Feed My Starving Children's new facility in Mesa. Volunteers at FMSC hand-pack meals specifically formulated for malnourished children, and these meals are then shipped to distribution partners all over the world. It is an amazing operation! Here are the stats for the day:

     Total Number of Boxes Packed: 143

     Total Number of Meals Prepared: 31,000

     Total Number of Children who will be fed for an entire year: 84

     Destination of the Food: Cambodia

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Plarn Event

Meanwhile, back at the church we 18 folks hard at work making Plarn. 

For those who don't know, Plarn is short for "plastic yarn" and it is a material that is made from old plastic grocery bags. You cut off the handles, cut off the bottom seam, and then cut the remaining plastic into four equal strips (loops actually). Once the bags are prepared you simply knot the loops together one after another with a simple slip knot. Once assembled we deliver the plarn to a friend of the congregation who crochets it into lightweight, durable, weatherproof sleeping mats for local homeless men and women. 

We owe a HUGE "Thank You!" to Jean Decker for preparing thousands of loops for us ahead of the event. Jean took home every single plastic bag that was donated to the church and put them together. She emailed me the following observations: 

"I have the following interesting facts about plastic sacks and the shopping habits of this church after cutting all the bags down!

Plastic sacks come in several sizes.

Walmart has had white and gray bags.

Fry's has had tan and white.

Fry's is the grocery store of choice for the church followed by Albertsons.

We shop at both Petsmart and Petco, CVS and Walgreens; the Dollar Store, the 99 cent store and Goodwill.

I found grocery lists, lettuce and other food and remains of bugs in the sacks!

And my rarest find was a sack from Smittys!!!"

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Thank You! Luncheon

 Our Thank You! Luncheon was catered by the good folks at Paradise Bakery. We had 80+ folks in attendance and in addition to enjoying a delicious lunch we had time for fellowship, updates on Dream Fund Projects, Singing, Praying, and a special word from our Regional Minister the Rev. Dr. Denny Williams. Oh, and we said "Thank You!" a lot! 

Denny helped us to not only celebrate, but challenged us to see the event not as a capstone moment of a finished project, but rather as the beginning steps of a larger journey. Taking our "dream" theme further than we ever have Denny invited us to continue, "Living the Dream" and as a community of faith to "Keep on dreaming!'

In that spirited we collected more dreams from the congregation and will be adding them to the full list of our Dream Fund Ideas as seek to discern the ways that God is calling us forward!