Lenten Rice Bowl Devotional and Lesson Planner

Catholic Relief Services is the single largest non-governmental relief agency in the world. Each year at Lent CRS initiates what is called 'Operation Rice Bowl'. Operation Rice Bowl is a program which focuses our attention on the cardinal aims of the Lenten season: prayer, fasting and alms-giving.
The Rice Bowl project consists of a cardboard box which when assembled, looks very much like the take out boxes that rice comes in. The Rice Bowl is a box which families set up in their homes during Lent to collect loose change and offerings for the poor and hungry of the world. Operation Rice bowl also includes a Lenten prayer calendar with devotional activities, feast days and stations of the cross. Each calendar day has a prayer focus. Specific information about world poverty statistics and needs from around the world are listed also.  Lenten Rice Bowl Devotional and Lesson Planner 

Michigan Homeless Tent Camp Operates Through Winter

A unique kind of homeless shelter exists in Michigan. Camp Take Notice is not housed in a facility. It's a self-sufficiency camp in Ann Arbor, Mich. Camp organizers plan to keep it operational through the winter, says Michigan Radio. I wrote this article last month and only remembered to post it here. If you're looking for a give-back, feel-good kind of mission to support, the residents of Camp Take Notice are more than deserving. Here is information about this community. Read more at Michigan Homeless Tent Camp Operates Through Winter - Yahoo! News

Best Gifts for Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child Box

Best Gifts for Operation Christmas Child Shoe box Looking for a great Christmas giving opportunity? Operation Christmas Child is a charitable giving outreach ministry of Samaritan's Purse. Each year around Thanksgiving, thousands of boxes are shipped to domestic and foreign missions. Here's a list of items to put in your Operation Christmas Child holiday gift box. To participate in Operation Christmas Child, all you need to do is fill a large shoebox with items for a child. Indicate the gender and age of the child you've packed for on the shipping label. Read more.

'One Warm Coat' Drive Begins

'One Warm Coat' Provides a Winter Necessity for Children, Adults For many families, winter poses especially serious financial problems. Added fuel costs, vehicle and home maintenance and other expenses drain a family's budget. Sometimes, the budget just won't stretch to cover winter clothing. Every winter, thousands suffer for want of a something that many take for granted: a warm winter coat. One Warm Coat is gearing up for the 2011-2012 winter season. Read more...

Homelessness and What Taxpayers can do about it

We use vague terms about "needy people," "the poor" and "homelessness." Are people poor and homeless by choice? Do our help efforts enable people to live outside society's boundaries or empower them to make change? Do poor, homeless people really want help? Read more...

Best Giving Tree and Toys for Tots Gifts

One of my favorite parts of Christmas is choosing gifts for the Marines Toys for Tots drive and church missions Giving Tree childrens' gifts. Here are best gifts for domestic and overseas missions, giving tree and Toys for Tots. Read on...

Best Gifts to Fill Operation Christmas Child Boxes

Best Gifts to Fill Your Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child Box
Looking for a great Christmas giving opportunity? Operation Christmas Child is a charitable giving outreach ministry of Samaritan's Purse. Each year OCC ships thousands of boxes children around the world. Here's a list gift suggestions to fill your box.
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Best Toys and Gifts for Toy Drives and Toys for Tots

Best Toys to Donate for Toys for Tots and Giving Tree Childrens Christmas Gift Drive
One of my favorite parts of Christmas is choosing gifts for the Marines Toys for Tots drive and church missions Giving Tree childrens gifts. Sometimes it's difficult to know what kind of gift to choose. Here are some considerations to help.
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My Personal Bucket List: Supporting Fair Trade to Empower the Needy

Top 10 Bucket List Ideas
"Bucket List" has become a word for "list of things to do before you die, or 'kick the bucket.'" Cancer patients Carter (Morgan Freeman) and Edward (Jack Nicholson ) coined the term in The Bucket List movie. Here are my top 10 bucket list ideas.
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Make a School Supplies Kit for Children in Need

Back-to-School Shopping: Donate a School Supplies Kit for Those in Need
School supplies are pricey, but happily for most Americans, we live in a country where we can find great prices on back to school supplies. Not all nations enjoy free public education. How about making a back to school supplies kit for a child in need?
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Homelessness Awareness Update in Indiana

Services and Programs for Homeless and Hungry in Bloomington, Indiana
Homelessness and hunger are worldwide problems. This is a short list of services and programs available for individuals suffering for these things in Bloomington, Indiana.
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Haiti Earthquake 2010:St.Patrick's Parish Twins with St. Simon and Jude Parish in Haiti

Haitian Earthquake 2010: St. Patrick's Church Twins with St. Simon and St. Jude Parish in Haiti
Port-au-Prince, Haiti; January 12, 2010: a earthquake, magnitude 7.0 on the Richter scale has left a trail of devastation. St. Patrick's Church, Grand Haven, MI has been twinning with St. Simon and Jude in Haiti for over 10 years now.
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Lenten and Ash Wednesday Almsgiving Activities

Lenten and Easter Activity: Fasting, Almsgiving, Prayer
Use this lenten almsgiving service project to practice spiritual exercises of fasting and alms-giving. Focus on Social Justice, World Church, missions and prayer. Lesson plans include social studies and math extensions; multiplication, division, counting, sorting, grouping and story problems. Great education for all children. Use for CCD, religious education, classroom service project, homeschool, scout troop, 4H group and more!
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Scholastic Gives Free Books!

Free Back-to-School Teaching Materials for Teachers and Home School Families
Home schooling families can take advantage of free school supplies, teaching materials, books, resources, games, posters, kits, hands-on activities and much more from Scholastic!Scholastic will also donate 100 books to domestic and overseas missions. Each time your family or classroom reads 100 books, Scholastic donates 100 books! Very easy way to give!
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Donation Sites and Holiday Household Purge

Recycle, Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Re-Sell, Remove
Tips for complete household purge. Perfect project for before Christmas! Donation sites listed. Recommendations for the best donation sites. Tx deductible. and clean-up
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