--Niles Wallace, on a weekly basis, provides incredible soup--enough for 40 people! This is shared at our Loaves and Fishes meal each Thursday afternoon at 2:00. You might want to help with this! We need a casserole each Tuesday for anywhere from 20 - 30 people. Talk to Molly Peacher-Ryan if you could help by emailing her at molly.peacherryan@firstcongo.com.

There is plenty to do, and we could use your help! If you like to help with building repairs, let us know! If you feel called to help with the yards or landscaping, let us know! If you'd like to bring food for Cafe Congo, let us know! There are so many places where your gifts can be used.

We discovered a stash of "Women in Black: Stop the Violence" t-shirts in the Global Goods storeroom, all sizes. (Pastor Sonia is our t-shirt model at left) So we are having a big SALE on them! $8 each - AND in the spirit of Carbon Dieting, we have super-easy instructions for turning (these or any) t-shirts into reusable tote bags! Global Goods Fair Trade Store is open Saturdays 9 to 5 and Sundays pre/post church.

My name is Chad Braddock and I am a member of the Gay-Straight Fellowship at Idlewild Presbyterian Church in Midtown Memphis. I am writing to invite your congregation to the next Interfaith Gathering of GLBTQ and friends at our church from 11am - 1pm on Saturday, June 8th. This event has been an excellent way for our entire community to foster fellowship and share ideas that help create a more inclusive and welcoming faith community in the Metro Memphis Area.

We plan to gather for a time of worship and music and then move to fellowship around a potluck brunch. Our hope is that worship would be loosely structured with a reading of scripture, a time for testimony from each community, and the singing of a song. In the period of testimony, our hope is that someone from your church might give witness to the ways in which your congregation is ministering with the GLBTQ Community.

If you would like to attend or have any questions, please let me know at chadbraddock@gmail.com. We look forward to this event with hope for growing witness to God's love for all.

First Congo's Food Justice Ministries wants you to Pledge-A-Veg! If you are already an avid gardener, or if you've always wanted to hone your green thumb, this is a great opportunity to help out your neighbors in need. Just fill out a pledge card (included in the Sunday bulletin) with how many plants you would like to grow for the Food Justice Ministry. Then when your plant yields, just bring it in any Sunday or anytime it is convenient! Buy any vegetable plant of your choice at a local nursery (a small tomato plant costs about $4), and whenever your plant begins to yield veggies, we will collect them and distribute them at our Loaves and Fishes meals and our Food Pantry. Not only will you be learning a new skill or perfecting an old one, you will also be providing families in our community with much needed fresh produce. For more information, contact Molly Peacher-Ryan at (901) 240-4627 or email her at molly.peacherryan@firstcongo.com.

We typically receive between 250 and 300 households for our grocery distribution known as Food For Families, and there is tons of work involved. So here's our list of ways you can help share the experience:

• The Mid South Food Bank delivers 3-4 tons of food the week before distribution. If you can help us haul it in, please do so. Sometimes our truck runs late, so Molly can text you when it arrives if you'd rather not wait.


• Bring boxes and bags! The size of liquor boxes is best - and your plastic grocery bags work great for sorting produce. You can bring these any time.


• Final Preparation


• Sorting produce, hauling frozen foods from the freezers, and final preparation


• After church we will work as fast as possible to get every family through our shopping lines within 2 hours, and our volunteers make that happen. Just plan to stay after church if you'd like to help with that.


• Many of our families don't have cars, so we help them home with their heavy boxes of groceries by offering carpools. If you can help in this way, just stay after church and check in at the table where Mike Schmidt and Samantha Miles are coordinating rides.


• Clean-up of the sanctuary takes about 15 minutes if we have lots of helping hands!


• ALL of our volunteers are invited to share lunch together after we're done on Sunday afternoon - in the fellowship hall. If you'd like to help with preparations for lunch, reply to this email and we will forward to Hutton Easley, who coordinates this meal.


• Dedications: Through the Food Bank it costs ONLY $400 - $500 per month in food handling expenses to provide groceries valued at more than $100 for more than 250 households! Dedicated gifts make this ministry possible and we still have many months in 2013 that need funding.

We have a wonderful group of dedicated volunteers donating their time and efforts as host for Café Congo each Sunday. What would really help them is knowing how many food donations might be expected to come in. If you would like to bring in a plate of goodies to share, first of all, thank you so much! If you could go to Cafe Congo Sign-Up and list your name and what you'll be bringing beside the appropriate date, that would be great. We need at least 4 donations a week and 6 on Food for Families Sundays, so if you see one name already, add yours to it until all the slots are filled. This is a very easy site to navigate with no password necessary, and this way our lovely hosts and other donors can know how much food to expect.

Beautiful Sung Prayer & Silent Meditation Services are held on Tuesdays throughout the year in the Sanctuary at 6:00 p.m. You don't have to be a "singer" to join us - you might just enjoy sitting and listening.

We have a team of volunteers who share information, give tours and answer questions about the church at the visitors table after worship.

Check out the Global Goods page on Facebook at GGFaceBook and "Like" the page so that we get lots of attention!

1. Click this link to go to our invitation page: VolunteerSpot for Loaves & Fishes