The Good News

Newsletter from the Christ Child Society of Summit

Fall 2014 Newsletter

A Message from our Co-Presidents

Autumn greetings and Happy Halloween to everyone! We're only a couple of months in to the school year and already we have accomplished so much. We were thrilled to see so many of you at our first general meeting last month to hear what we have planned this year!

In August, we partnered with Bridges for our annual school supplies drive. Thanks to all of your efforts, 385 students were on the road to success, starting the new school year with a backpack full of supplies. Our special appreciation to Sally Golding and Jane Murphy for chairing this worthwhile event again this year.

In September, we attended the National Christ Child Convention in Phoenix with Lambi Newsham. It was a wonderful weekend full of energy, ideas and inspiration for our work and mission. While at the convention, Lambi was inducted to the National Board as a member at large. Just as she has done tremendous things for our local Chapter, she will be a great addition at the National level, implementing fresh ideas and leadership that will benefit children in need. The National Board supports our chapters with teleconferences, seminars, written guidelines and lends their expertise on moving our organization forward. Recently, you should have received the National Christ Child Society Annual Appeal; please consider donating to support their work on behalf of children served by all chapters.

October was a busy month. We held another Tiny Toppers knitting event at Wool and Grace. Thank you to all of our crafty friends for knitting adorable hats! Our Annual Rummage sale two weeks ago was hugely successful, raising a little over $6,000. Thank you to the many volunteers that helped us set-up, price items and creatively display merchandise for two solid days before the sale. Special kudos to Lambi Newsham and Bev Luehs for chairing the event and to Marianne DeSantis for managing the logistics of the day!

Lastly, on Oct. 7^th Mary Kull hosted a beautiful Home Mass. If you haven't attended one of these masses, we hope you can join us for our next one on Dec. 2nd, which will be extra special because our National CCS President, Anne Kelley will joining us. She is a dynamic, inspiring leader and is looking forward to meeting all of you!

As we enter into November and head towards Thanksgiving, please know how grateful we are that you share your time and talent with such generosity. We are successful in helping children because of the wonderful work done by our many members, friends and volunteers.

God Bless!

Kathryn Colao and Lori White

Co-Presidents

Our Board

Co-Presidents

Past President

Vice-Presidents

Treasurer

Secretary

Kathryn Colao and Lori White

Lambi Newsham

Margaret Strong (Outreach)

Christina Amundson (Communications)

Terry Andrews (Projects)

Maura Perier

Mary Kull

Spiritual Advisors

Fr. Brian Plate and Msgr. Guenther

Save the Dates

November 20, 2014

General Meeting

9am Memorial Hall

December 2, 2014

Home Mass 8:30am

January 15, 2015

General Meeting 7pm

February 4, 2015

Blankets for Babies

February 10, 2015

Home Mass 8:30am

March 25, 2015

ANNUAL BABY SHOWER

April 23, 2015

General Meeting

9am Memorial Hall

May 5, 2015

Home Mass 8:30am

May 8, 2015

"End of Year" Cocktail
7-9pm

Quick Links

christchildsummit.org

NationalChristChildSoc.org

ccssummit@gmail.com

Check out our blog

on our website

christchildsummit.org

and

don't forget to look for local CCS chapters when you travel!

Annual School Supplies Drive

Imagine this: It's the first day of school and the teacher asks the class to work on their marble composition books. On the first day of school this year, 385 qualifying Summit students in need were able to follow this simple class instruction thanks to the work of the Christ Child Society of Summit.

We kicked off our School Supplies Drive last Spring asking you to bring a binder of your choice to the "Year End Cocktail Party" and followed up with additional collections of school supplies at various places throughout Summit.

As has been our practice, we partnered with Bridges Outreach to collect and distribute the School Supplies. At the distribution in August, we received a wonderful surprise: a student that we had helped in prior School Supplies Drives (and who has now graduated from high school) joined us to help distribute school supplies to current students. She was very grateful for the practical assistance that she had received from the Christ Child Society of Summit and wanted to do her part and pay it forward. Doesn't it warm your heart to know that our efforts have come full circle?

Last year, we were able to assist 323 elementary, middle school and high school students with our School Supplies Drive. This year, with your help, we were able to help 385 of the 500 students who qualify for assistance. Clearly, the need has grown in these uncertain economic times. Through our efforts, these children went to school prepared for the business of learning despite the economic challenges that their families are facing. How right our founder was when she said that "Nothing is ever too much to do for a child"!

Sally Golding and Jane Murphy,

School Supplies Drive Co-Chairs

Layette Cards Help us Fund our Work

A Christ Child Layette Card is a thoughtful and meaningful gift that supports our Layette Program. Layette Cards can be given for any special occasion. All proceeds from these cards fund layettes for babies in need served through our Layette Program.

Members and friends can donate in three easy ways:

1. Buy cards on-line at christchildsummit.org with payment by credit card using the PayPal system.

2. Buy cards at the next Christ Child Mass or meeting.

3. Pick up some Layette order envelopes from the back of St. Teresa of Avila Church.

Layette Cards are offered at $10 (partial layette) or $40 or more (full layette). Our Layette Program can make a significant difference to those born without the benefit of essentials we take for granted.

The names of the donors and honorees will be listed on our website at christchildsummit.org.

Look for our cards after our Home Masses and signature events, and at the upcoming Oak Knoll Royal Boutique on November 13, 14 and 15. In addition to helping fund our Layettes, sales of our Layette Cards help us get our Christ Child message out to the broader community. We extend our heartfelt thanks to outgoing chair Angela Schroeder for her leadership and vision and for the wonderful committee that she thoughtfully assembled.

Laura Sullivan,

Chair

Annual Rummage Sale

With nearly half of our membership working at various facets of our Annual Rummage Sale (and some of our children coming to help), it has truly become a "family" event, complete with a family reunion of sorts as our own Lucy Remus came all the way from Richmond, Virginia to help out.

As we prepared to open the doors to the general public on Saturday, October 18th, the line of expectant shoppers extended all the way to Springfield Avenue. Clearly, our Rummage Sale has become a much anticipated event each Fall! Proceeds go to fund our programs for children in need, including our layette program, our School Supplies program and our Christ Child Society Scholarship.

We appreciate the time and talents of all members and friends who donated, received, sorted, staged and priced donations and all of those who helped to run the sale and bake sale. Although it truly was a team effort, we send a special note of thanks to Marianne DeSantis for stepping up to help run the event and to Noah Breen, Justin Cise and Reilly Newsham for their extra helpful efforts. When the dust cleared, we had made just a little over $6,000 to help children in need in our community.

Not only is our Annual Rummage Sale one of our most important sources of funds and a community event, it is a great event to involve our membership because it takes place over three days during day, evening and even weekend hours -- giving everyone the chance to get involved. Did you miss out on the fun this year? This is an annual event; you can join in next year.

We gratefully acknowledge our community partnership with St. Teresa of Avila in Summit and the assistance of their staff who helped us get the word out and make our Annual Rummage Sale a true community event.

Lambi Newsham and Bev Luehs, Co-Chairs

Our News from the Spirituality Committee

Our popular Home Masses are such a meaningful way to gather together, share and recharge for our mission of helping children in need!

We celebrated our October Home Mass at the Home of Mary Kull. Since October is the Month of the Holy Rosary, Monsignor Guenther read us a letter about the beauty and meaning of the rosary and asked us to try to make time to pray the rosary in our lives (and carry it in our purses).

During the Mass, Monsignor also pointed out that when we say "Yes" to take on yet another task in the service of children through our chapter, we are effectively opening up our hears and saying "Yes" to the Lord. He thanked our members for being women who say "Yes" with commitment and creativity despite our busy lives. How inspirational!

Our next Home Mass will take place on Tuesday, December 2nd at 8:30am. You will find the dates of remaining Home Masses in the "Save the Dates" section of this newsletter to help you plan ahead. Hope that you can make one!

We urge you to continue to pray for the canonization of our founder with the following prayer that Msgr. Guenther shared with us:

Listen to our prayer sweet Jesus

You're the one we dearly love

Grant that soon our Mary Virginia

May be made with Saints above.

Please contact Elaine Phipps at phipps.family@comcast.net if you have a special loved one you would like us to keep in our prayers. We will add their name to our prayer list, which is brought to our Mass gatherings. Prayer requests can be made at any time.

Elaine Phipps,

Spirituality Chair

Annual Baby Shower

Save the Date!

Our 9th Annual Baby Shower will take place on

Thursday, March 25, 2015

Julie Vlass and Sheila Schlageter, Co-Chairs

Layette Update

The layette assembly process continues to evolve and improve. Our layettes include 5 onesies, 2 pajamas, 1 outfit, 1 hat, 2 receiving blankets, 1 miscellaneous item, one handmade fleece blanket and a knitted sweater and/or hat. In the winter months, we also provide a warm snowsuit to babies who need them.

We begin another year of providing practical layettes to babies in need at Overlook and Morristown hospitals. We assembled 48

layettes on September 26th for a total of 169 layettes year to date! Our next layette assembly will take place on Friday, November 14 at 8:30am at Lower Memorial Hall. We regularly contact those members who have expressed an interest in working various facets of layette assembly, from shopping for needed baby clothes to delivering the finished layettes. If you are interested in helping with layettes, contact Margaret Strong at Margaret@stteresachurch.org.

We have committed to include one adorable, handmade fleece blanket and a hand-knit item in each layette we donate. Last year, our signature program expanded to include two additional sets of events: Blankets for Babies Days (to make the fleece blankets) and Tiny Toppers (to knit the baby hats). We are planning to host these successful events again this year so that our members and friends can come together to make the fleece blankets and knitted hats to honor our commitment and include them in the layettes we donate.

Save the Date!

Our next Blankets for Babies Day will take place on

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

We are grateful for the many members, friends and parishioners who make these days such a success, and to all who answer the calls to assemble our layettes. Thanks to everyone...we are making a difference!

Cheryl Mullery, Margaret Strong and Theresa Sweeney,

Layette Committee

Knitting Angels/Tiny Toppers Update

We are always looking for individuals or groups to make handmade baby hats to bring that special personalized touch to our layettes. Fast on the heels of the success of our newly introduced "Tiny Toppers" events, we held our first event of the year in October at Wool and Grace in Summit to make the adorable knit hats that we include in our layettes to add that personal touch to our layettes.

We are planning additional Tiny Toppers events at Wool and Grace and we will try to schedule them in the morning and in the evening to accommodate our members who work during the day. These events are intimate and well-attended by women at all levels of knitting experience -- from newbies to experts. If you are interested in knitting, or learning to knit, one of our adorable baby hats, please contact Lori White at thewhitefamily6@yahoo.com.

We gratefully acknowledge the generosity of Patty Perry, owner of Wool and Grace, who has been so willing to open the store for our members and to provide knitting expertise as needed. We currently are looking for a chair or co-chairs to serve as a resource for members interested in knitting.

Membership News

	The strength of the Christ Child Society of Summit is its active membership and we welcome members throughout the year. Since our Spring Newsletter, our chapter welcomed the following new members: Mary Beth Cahill Maria Ciaravalli William Gorski Please welcome them when you see then around town or at our next event.

Our membership continues to grow and we want to be responsive. To address the needs of our growing membership and to keep a good pulse in our greater community, we have split the committee into two distinct functions: the traditional function that maintains membership records and a recruiting function. Kathi Franolich (who has been improving our membership recording process) will step in as Membership Chair, while Betty Ann Lecky (who has been helping our membership grow) will chair the newly-created Membership Recruiting function.

Thank you to all of the members who are spreading the word about Christ Child and bringing so many people to our organization! We plan some of our activities during the day, in the evenings and even on weekends so that our members can make at least one despite their busy schedules. Please feel free to talk to your friends about the good work that we do at the Christ Child Society of Summit and to invite them to our meetings and events.

To join our Summit chapter, simply visit our website at christchildsummit.org, or contact either the Membership Chair or the Membership Recruiting Chair at ccsmembership1@gmail.com.

If you are an existing member, please remember that dues are payable each January. You can pay your dues on line at our website at christchildsummit.org. Don't forget to keep us informed of any changes in your email address, mailing address, or phone number. Contact Kathi Franolich at ccsmembership1@gmail.com with any changes, or if you have a friend who is interested in joining.

Support the Christ Child Society While Shopping at Amazon!

Did you know that you could raise needed funds for our Summit Chapter while shopping at Amazon?

Amazon's Smile Foundation donates 0.5% of your eligible purchase to the charity of your choice. In fact, AmazonSmile is a simple and automatic way for you to support the Christ Child Society of Summit every time you shop, at no cost to you (same products and prices).

Here's how: Just click smile.amazon.com. On your first visit to the site, type in "Christ Child Society of Summit" in the search line at the bottom of the page to go to the list of charities. Then, select the Christ Child Society of Summit Nj. That's it! You can use your existing Amazon account or set one up. From then on, each time you sign in, you will see a small legend at the top that says "Supporting the Christ Child Society of Summit Nj" at the top of the page. SUPER EASY -- and just in time for Christmas Shopping!!!

Please take a moment and sign up for AmazonSmile and help us create another source of funding for our many projects that touch the lives of so many children in need in our community. Kudos to Mary Beth Robb for bringing this to our attention!

Chapter News Corner

Here's some news about our chapter that made us especially proud:

Lambi Newsham is on National Christ Child Board!

At the recent Convention in September, our Lambi (founding member, Past President and current Board Member) was appointed to the National Christ Child Board as a Member at Large. We know that she will bring the same awesome compassion and energy to her work with the National Board that she has been sharing with us and we are very proud of her accomplishment.

Don't forget to support the annual appeal of National Christ Child Board -- women with amazing organizational skills all focused on helping us help children in need!

If you would like to donate to the annual appeal online, CLICK HERE.

Grant News: We're excited to report that our request for a grant from the Summit Luminary Fund has been approved! The Luminary Fund needs more street captains to expand coverage in Summit to ensure the success of their fundraising on which the amount of our grant ultimately will depend; if you are interested in serving as a street captain, please contact Lori White at thewhitefamily6@yahoo.com.

You can find us on Facebook. It's true, our page is live. Look for "Christ Child Society of Summit" Please visit, friend us and, of course, like us!

Looking for a Few Good Women...

The Christ Child Society of Summit wants YOU!

Would you like to "shadow" our experienced chairs as they manage their programs, and perhaps take on a leadership role in the future? If you enjoyed one of our events, consider lending another hand at the helm for next year. Or interested in doing some grant writing or helping run our website? You don't have to be experienced -- just willing! Please consider donating a bit more of your time and talents to the Christ Child Society and help us succeed in our mission to make a difference in the lives of children in need. Contact Lori White at thewhitefamily6@yahoo.com if you are interested.

To learn more about our activities and opportunities visit our website or contact the following:

Baby Shower

Julie Vlass at jvlass@verizon.net

Sheila Schlageter at schlageter@me.com

Blankets for Babies

Central High School

Early Learning Center

Theresa Sweeney at sweeneyct@comcast.net

Kathryn Colao at kathryncolao@gmail.com

Layettes

Cheryl Mullery at cherylmullery@comcast.net
Margaret Strong at whelanmarg@aol.com

Knitting Angels/Tiny Toppers

Maria Ciaravalli at fvalli@verizon.net