Community connections and service
We are a caretaking community. We take care of our members needs and reach out when we can not be together. It is also important to us to be involved in our community through volunteer work and engagement with non-profits. We all desire to be of service.
John 13:34-35
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.
Jesus didn't say, 'Blessed are those who care for the poor.' He said, 'Blessed are we where we are poor, where we are broken.' It is there that God loves us deeply and pulls us into deeper communion with himself. -Henri Nouwen
Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life
around. -Leo Buscaglia
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.
Jesus didn't say, 'Blessed are those who care for the poor.' He said, 'Blessed are we where we are poor, where we are broken.' It is there that God loves us deeply and pulls us into deeper communion with himself. -Henri Nouwen
Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life
around. -Leo Buscaglia
The Benefit of Remembering Someone with a Call or a Card
Rev. Michelle Webber
My dad was raised not just by his parents, but by his sister Betty. She was 15 years older than him. She provided the at-home presence his two-income parents couldn't. When he was a troubled teen she provided a second home for him, to get him away from the street gangs he associated with. When I was a child and we went for the holidays with my dad's family, we went to Aunt Betty's house. At my wedding, she was seated opposite my maternal grandmother, to honor her role in my dad's life.
When she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's my dad was devastated. The first time he visited her and she did not recognize him was the last time he visited her. It was too hard on him for her not to see him as him, although he sent her something for her birthday and a small living Christmas tree for Christmas. When she died the night nurse from her care facility came to her memorial service. She shared how in the middle of the night Aunt Betty would sometimes have moments of clarity. She would always ask about her brother Jerry. She knew he sent her the Christmas tree. It was healing to my dad to hear this story. A couple of weeks after Betty died my dad received a small living Christmas tree, like the one he had sent his sister. The card read "To my brother Jerry. Love, Betty."
It meant so much to him. It made him feel seen, loved. We don't know how it came to be delivered. Perhaps my aunt had ordered it the year before when she still had enough memory to do things like that. Perhaps the nurses who worked with her sent it. Perhaps it was something else. But it serves to point to how much receiving something in the mail, or a call on the phone, can mean. It highlights the importance of my father's holiday tradition of calling each of his family members on the phone every Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter... I've heard many times from the college-age members we send care packages to each semester how nice it is to feel missed, to know someone is thinking of you in your absence. I have heard how some times the packages arrive at just the right time, when they are in need of a snack, or a pick-me-up, or a little something from home. It is never a waste to call or send a note.
We encourage you to call or send a note to someone you have not seen around church for a while. Your remembrance may just arrive at the perfect time.
Rev. Michelle Webber
My dad was raised not just by his parents, but by his sister Betty. She was 15 years older than him. She provided the at-home presence his two-income parents couldn't. When he was a troubled teen she provided a second home for him, to get him away from the street gangs he associated with. When I was a child and we went for the holidays with my dad's family, we went to Aunt Betty's house. At my wedding, she was seated opposite my maternal grandmother, to honor her role in my dad's life.
When she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's my dad was devastated. The first time he visited her and she did not recognize him was the last time he visited her. It was too hard on him for her not to see him as him, although he sent her something for her birthday and a small living Christmas tree for Christmas. When she died the night nurse from her care facility came to her memorial service. She shared how in the middle of the night Aunt Betty would sometimes have moments of clarity. She would always ask about her brother Jerry. She knew he sent her the Christmas tree. It was healing to my dad to hear this story. A couple of weeks after Betty died my dad received a small living Christmas tree, like the one he had sent his sister. The card read "To my brother Jerry. Love, Betty."
It meant so much to him. It made him feel seen, loved. We don't know how it came to be delivered. Perhaps my aunt had ordered it the year before when she still had enough memory to do things like that. Perhaps the nurses who worked with her sent it. Perhaps it was something else. But it serves to point to how much receiving something in the mail, or a call on the phone, can mean. It highlights the importance of my father's holiday tradition of calling each of his family members on the phone every Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter... I've heard many times from the college-age members we send care packages to each semester how nice it is to feel missed, to know someone is thinking of you in your absence. I have heard how some times the packages arrive at just the right time, when they are in need of a snack, or a pick-me-up, or a little something from home. It is never a waste to call or send a note.
We encourage you to call or send a note to someone you have not seen around church for a while. Your remembrance may just arrive at the perfect time.
Volunteering
Click here for a link to volunteer opportunities geared towards seniors.
Click here to learn about and support Senior New Ways, a group that provides community for local seniors.
Click here to sign up for short volunteer opportunities that you can do from your computer or smart phone.
Click here to learn about and support Senior New Ways, a group that provides community for local seniors.
Click here to sign up for short volunteer opportunities that you can do from your computer or smart phone.
Outreach at Foothills Congregational Church is our way of assisting those who are in need in our community and beyond. The focus of Outreach at Foothills is to support agencies or projects serving families, children and youth with special emphasis on local agencies. We strongly support outreach by gifts of volunteer hours and dollars from individuals and from our Outreach Endowment Fund.
Inspiration: The following passage from Matthew 25:35 has been our guide: "For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me."
Organizations That We Support:
Inspiration: The following passage from Matthew 25:35 has been our guide: "For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me."
Organizations That We Support:
- UCC Share is the name we use to describe the work we do as the United Church of Christ beyond the local church - through our Conferences, national ministries, and UCC-related institutions that provide relief to victims of famine or natural disasters. Click here to find out more about how to UCC uses our contributions
- The Community Services Agency (CSA): This agency works to help support community needs. Foothills members donate food, clothing, Christmas gifts, and volunteer time as well as financial support. We support the CSA Empty Soup Bowls Supper fundraiser in a variety of ways. Find out more
- San Jose Family Shelter: Private room, three meals a day and support services are provided for up to 35 families by the Shelter. Foothills Church members have volunteered time laying linoleum, sprucing up the living quarters, providing crafts for children, and installing a volleyball court at the Shelter. We also provide funds to the Shelter on an annual basis. Find out more
- Alta Vista High School Case Management: Alta Vista is a high school dedicated
to students who are having difficulties in our local high schools. Our church members volunteer as tutors and as mentors for these students. Again, we also provide a donation annually to this school. Find out more - Other programs near and dear to our hearts include the Mayview Community Health Center, a medical clinic serving those without funds; the Support Network for Battered Women; the Correctional Institutions Chaplaincy ministering to those in prison; Child Advocates, a volunteer organization advocating for children caught up in our court system; the Community Health Awareness Council (CHAC); Pathways Hospice, Mar Monte/Teen Success, United Campus Ministries at Stanford University, Silicon Valley Faces, Help One Child, RotaCare Bay Area Clinic, Bill Wilson Center, West Valley Community Services, and many others. Click on the names of any of these programs to learn more.
- In addition to these external funds, we also have a pastor's discretionary fund. Our ministers use these funds to help people in our community who are in need. We call it the Birthday Fund. The idea is that someone would donate to this fund on their own birthday.
- Click here to learn about our annual Mission trips