SERVICE CHAIR REPORT
SEPTEMBER 16, 2016
I have been searching for some new ideas for service opportunities for all of you and I think I’ve found a few you might not have thought about. Some chapter members volunteer to do grocery shopping for shut-ins who don’t have willing family members nearby, picking up a list and the shut-in’s money and later delivering the items and sometimes putting them in the cupboards or the refrigerator.
Another service opportunity is picking up a church member or someone else who lacks transportation to dental and medical appointments. This requires some coordination between the driver and the person needing the transportation so they will both be free at the same time on the same day. Time spent waiting in the waiting room can easily be used for reading, writing, or for meditation. This is usually done with no payment to the volunteer driver, but in some situations, the client may offer to pay for gasoline, or offer to take the driver to lunch on occasion after the appointment. (This type of medical or service mileage is not currently deductible on income tax.)
According to some emails I received containing service ideas, some DOK chapters serve at wedding and funeral receptions in their churches. Another chapter meets at their church quarterly to address and stamp birthday and anniversary cards which are sent out by the church at the appropriate time. (The church probably buys assortments of cards in bulk.)
I’ve been told in the past about a Methodist Church service group that went into a local nursing home, by prearrangement with the nursing home, to provide and serve refreshments of ice cream and home-made cookies to residents once a month. My own mother went to visit a nursing home resident who had no family nearby at least once each month, taking ice cream sundaes with her. She would sit and visit with the woman while they enjoyed their ice cream.
I learned also of a woman who took her portable sewing machine to a local Seniors Housing area, setting up in the Community Room, and bringing her own sewing supplies. She mended clothing and replaced buttons or broken zippers and snaps one afternoon each month.
There are so many elderly, lonely people in our worlds. Surely we can find a way to show God’s love to them.
Sylvia Crucet
Province VII Service Chair
SEPTEMBER 16, 2016
I have been searching for some new ideas for service opportunities for all of you and I think I’ve found a few you might not have thought about. Some chapter members volunteer to do grocery shopping for shut-ins who don’t have willing family members nearby, picking up a list and the shut-in’s money and later delivering the items and sometimes putting them in the cupboards or the refrigerator.
Another service opportunity is picking up a church member or someone else who lacks transportation to dental and medical appointments. This requires some coordination between the driver and the person needing the transportation so they will both be free at the same time on the same day. Time spent waiting in the waiting room can easily be used for reading, writing, or for meditation. This is usually done with no payment to the volunteer driver, but in some situations, the client may offer to pay for gasoline, or offer to take the driver to lunch on occasion after the appointment. (This type of medical or service mileage is not currently deductible on income tax.)
According to some emails I received containing service ideas, some DOK chapters serve at wedding and funeral receptions in their churches. Another chapter meets at their church quarterly to address and stamp birthday and anniversary cards which are sent out by the church at the appropriate time. (The church probably buys assortments of cards in bulk.)
I’ve been told in the past about a Methodist Church service group that went into a local nursing home, by prearrangement with the nursing home, to provide and serve refreshments of ice cream and home-made cookies to residents once a month. My own mother went to visit a nursing home resident who had no family nearby at least once each month, taking ice cream sundaes with her. She would sit and visit with the woman while they enjoyed their ice cream.
I learned also of a woman who took her portable sewing machine to a local Seniors Housing area, setting up in the Community Room, and bringing her own sewing supplies. She mended clothing and replaced buttons or broken zippers and snaps one afternoon each month.
There are so many elderly, lonely people in our worlds. Surely we can find a way to show God’s love to them.
Sylvia Crucet
Province VII Service Chair
Instructions for making needlepoint DOK crosses from Service Chair Sylvia Crucet