Social Concerns Column, Sunday, 1 July 2012

Be an English Language Tutor!
The next tutor training session is coming soon.  St. Michael Parish partners with the well-established and successful Livermore Public Library’s READ program to bring English skills to our very own parishioners.  The initial training is one day, and then we ask for a 6 month commitment of 2 hours per week.  You and your student can meet in a room at the library at a time that you choose together.  The library provides all the training materials you need, free of charge, and has staff available to answer your questions.  Bilingual parishioners have volunteered to meet with you and your student for the first couple of sessions to help you get started.  You do not need to be bilingual.  If you can read this paragraph out loud, then you are qualified.  Interested?  Want to give a fellow parishioner the gift of English?  Help them obtain job opportunities?  Even help them pass their US Citizenship test?  Please call Joanne, 443-1422.

Livermore Homeless Refuge Collection Coming Soon to St. Michael.
We will soon be collecting for the homeless in our community.  Now is good time to go through your closets for gently used shoes, summer clothing, and underwear.  We will also need simple beverage and food items such as coffee, tea, cup-a-soups.  Thank you for your outstanding generosity!

Dress-a-Girl Sew Fests Send Hundreds of Dresses Overseas. 
For over a year, the creative ladies of the Tri-Valley have been meeting monthly to sew dresses for little girls in developing countries.  These inventive seamstresses transform pillowcases or T-shirts into unique and adorable dresses.  Last month, we sent over 250 T-shirt dresses to the Anazima organization in Uganda (www.amazima.org), 200 to Cambodia with Pastor Phal of the First Covenant Church of Oakland, 62 to Navajo and Hopi Indian reservations in Arizona, 100 to Achungo Children’s Center in Kenya, 30 to an orphanage outside of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, 30 to King Children’s Home in Belize, and 100 to Honduras with www.capecares.org.  If you would like to donate pillowcases, good quality cotton fabrics, or your time, please contact our fearless leader, Suzanne Beck, suzbeck@yahoo.com, 925-352-8447: man's way leads to a hopeless end -- God's way leads to an endless hope!

Everyday Christianity
All human beings have unique talents, gifts from God that we are called to develop and share. ... People who use their skills and expertise for the common good, the service of others, and the protection of creation, are good stewards of the gifts they have been given. 
(From USCCB, Everyday Christianity: To Hunger and Thirst for Justice, 
http://tinyurl.com/HungerThirstJustice)