Backpacks for Reentry is a pilot project spearheaded by Volunteers of America Northern New England. for those leaving Maine Coastal Regional Reentry Center and Knox County Jail. Backpacks will be tailored to those leaving incarceration and returning to our communities with items for immediate needs; and loaded with Recovery and Prevention literature. Items include things like Fentanyl Test Strips, information on how to obtain Narcan and exchange Needles.

This is all made possible by our community partners; Knox County Community Health Coalition, Waldo County Sheriff’s Office, Knox County Sheriff’s Office, Sweetser Inc., Groups Recover, Waldo County General Hospital and many more!

If you are interested in making a donation to continue this project in either Waldo or Knox County, please email the Director Community Justice Robyn Goff [email protected].
Donation items may include hats, mittens, hygiene products, pocket planners, pens and more!

Volunteers of America, in collaboration with Helping Incarcerated Individuals Transition (HIIT) an offshoot of Artivism in Maine (AIMe) is working towards duplicating these efforts for those leaving incarceration from any of Maine’s Department of Corrections Facilities. If you are interested in making an item donation please contact HIIT founder, Norman Kehlnig Email [email protected] Or call 207.323.6260.

The Outreach Committee proposes that the Fifth Sunday Plate Offering for January 30th be given to the Waldo County Diaper Closet founded in 2017. According to the Maine Children’s Alliance most recent data, there are 1,767 children under the age of 5 living in Waldo County and 20% of our children ages 0-18 are living in poverty. Families trying to cover the costs of housing, heating, food, childcare, transportation and much more are often put in the position of purchasing diapers or paying bills. Typical infants require up to 12 diapers per day and a toddler about 8. Disposable diapers can cost more than $80 per month per baby and without transportation to a big box store to buy diapers, the cost increases. There are currently no federal or state programs that provide money specifically for diapers.

Please make checks payable to St Margaret’s and marked for the 5th Sunday Offering Waldo County Diaper Closet. Thank you.

St Margaret’s is joining with other parishes in GBAM to provide take-home comfort food for Tall PinesStaff. We have committed to one day per week, Monday May 4 to start, and we are looking for people who will shop and who will cook. Here’s how it is going to work:
Five cooks will prepare a dish with 12 servings at home each week. Kristen Burkholder will pick up the food from your home and deliver it to the parish refrigerator on Sunday late afternoon. On Monday AM John Nieman will repackage the food into 2-serving containers provided by hospice. He will then clean and return your labelled containers to you, and Kristen will deliver the servings to a refrigerator located just outside of Tall Pines for staff to grab and go home.
 
This week we have offered meatloaf and mac & cheese, so you may pick which dish you prepare. You will also need to prepare 6 labels listing the ingredients for John to attach to the 2-serving containers.
 
We need as many volunteers as we can get so no one has to do it every week! 
You may
1. volunteer to cook 
2. volunteer to shop for those want to cook but do not want to shop
3. contribute money for those who want to cook but can’t manage the cost
 
We expect to be doing this once a week for several weeks so please let Bonnie know what you would like to volunteer for and when you are available.
The cooking should be done on Saturday at the earliest, so the food is not held too long in refrigerators. 
 
This is a plane we are building as it is flying, so we will let everyone know as we gain experience and might need  modifications!

March 29 is the first fifth Sunday of the year and the Outreach Committee has asked that the collection be used 1) to beef up Women of St. Margaret’s Medical Fund – a fund used to assist those in need to help cover medical, prescription and other related expenses. 2) To help people coping with the impact of COVID 19 possibly through Belfast General Assistance or by purchasing Hannaford cards for those in need.

Because we won’t be able to pass the plate during worship, we ask that you send a check to St. Margarets Church, 95 Court Street, Belfast with “Fifth Sunday” in memo line.

Thank you!

As part of a new initiative in Belfast called “From Above” — a coalition of civic and church people to address homelessness in Waldo County — Kristen Burkholder is collecting comforters, warm blankets, thermal socks and any free-standing sources of heat (small space heaters etc) to donate. Please place your items in the great big blue bin in the Parish Hall. She will hand them over to David Smith and Matt Bolduc (who had an article written about him in the Bangor Daily News Nov. 25th), coordinators for From Above, and they will get them to homeless in the area who need them most.

In addition, tHohe December Fifth Sunday Plate will provide funds to respond to homeless crisis situations and related issues in Waldo County through the Priest’s Discretionary Fund.

Get Super Bowl Sunday off to flying start by dropping some G. Washingtons or A. Hamiltons into the soup pot at the back of church.  The Belfast Soup Kitchen is the guaranteed winner.  If you’re feeling lucky, you might put in 12 greenbacks to honor TB12.  But 87 for Gronk?  A bit of a stretch.  Rams’ supporters should expect to pay BIG.  That’s only right. 

Please join us! The Outreach Committee will meet on Monday, January 14 at 1 p.m.

We will be hearing from Dr. Carol Kuhn about the work of Konbit Sante, an organization based in Portland, whose mission is  to support the development of a sustainable health care system to meet the needs of the Cap-Haitien community with maximum local direction and support.

Everyone is invited and we encourage you to come and hear about this program.