December: Year’s End 2007

We are very busy at Samaritan House! Volunteers are needed!!
We sent out 21,415 # of clothes to St. Pauly Textiles this year. (that’s almost 11 TONS! And by the end of December it will be 11 TONS!!) These clothes are being shipped around the USA and around the World! We have been very busy sorting clothes and household goods that have been donated. We also received donations from several household sales this year. Many thanks, to Elaine Palmer-Titus, and many other individuals who have donated in this way.
Many families have been assisted this year with clothing and household goods. Some have moved into our area needing to start over, some are from our area needing a helping hand. The needs vary, but are constant.
There have been a lot of elderly folks in need of help with healthcare equipment that we’ve been able to provide for them to use, such as walkers, potty chairs, canes, shower chairs and wheelchairs.
Networking with the Faith Based Initiative has expanded our tent-stakes tremendously! We are able to help people in need throughout the County via the DSS Caseworkers, and Visiting Nurses, as well as other Churches when a need arises.
8 weeks of Life -Skills Classes have been provided by Cooperative Extension. We look forward to the next session of classes in 2008.
GED classes began in August provided by BOCES. Classes are on Wednesdays at 12:30. Classes are free to anyone 17 and older who lacks a high school diploma.
Chautauqua County Intercessors have begun meeting together in the Upper Room to pray.
In July we set up a booth at the Praise Festival in Westfield. Many connections were made with churches around the county. Bibles and Christian literature were also given out.
23 Book-bags were given to children of all ages for this school year. The response was great, so we will plan on doing that outreach again next year.
We donated several bags of stuffed animals towards the Christmas gift program at Park and giveaways for AD Free, as well as several bags of Bears for the Teddy Bears for Soldiers program in Salamanca. We also send age appropriate craft items to the After School Program at Park. Many things go to the Chautauqua County Nursing Home ministry. We are preparing a load to go to Vive La Casa in Buffalo, an organization for World Refugees (small toiletry items are needed).
We welcome new opportunities to broaden our territory in lending a helping hand to other ministries and outreach programs.
We had a new hot water tank installed, when the old one gave out. Many thanks, to Tom MacKinder.
We are looking for opportunities to sell the stained glass windows and replace them with energy efficient ones. We need enough money from the sale of the windows to pay for new ones and closing in the openings. (Please pray about this!)
A Maintenance man is needed! We have windows that need replacing, and several small carpentry & painting projects. Please call if you can help with these indoor projects.
We welcome volunteers donating time to sort clothing and keep our facility clean and orderly. If you have time to lend a helping hand, please call and let us know. Volunteer time can be done anytime of the week. If your organization is looking for community service projects, we welcome your assistance. (Senior Groups, Youth Groups, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, School groups, etc.)
We are looking forward to getting the word out about Samaritan House via the World Wide Web! Many thanks to Uta Milewski!
Please consider adding Samaritan House to your monthly missions giving program it would be greatly appreciated, and is greatly needed to keep up with maintenance, and helping the poor.
We look forward to our journey of helps in the community.
Thank You for being a part of this ministry.

God Bless you!
Maureen Schafer & Volunteers
716-962-2246 office