The Christ Child Society of Summit

Challenging Poverty: One Child at a Time

The Good News

Newsletter from the Christ Child Society of Summit

May 2011 Newsletter

Dear Christ Child Members,

Who knew how much progress we would make in a couple of years? As a newly chartered chapter of the National Christ Child Society, I look forward to the road ahead of us. We have so much to be thankful for, especially all the members who make the effort to come to our meetings, volunteer on various projects, and donate to our causes. We are part of a wonderful group of women who make things happen. Sit back and enjoy this newsletter, for we are blessed with so many good fortunes. And finally, an Irish Blessing:

May God give you....

For every storm, a rainbow,

For every tear, a smile,

For every care, a promise,

And a blessing in each trial.

For every problem life sends,

A faithful friend to share,

For every sigh, a sweet song,

And an answer for each prayer.

May love and laughter light your days,

And warm your heart and home.

May good and faithful friends be yours,

Wherever you may roam.

May peace and plenty bless your world

With joy that long endures.

May all life’s passing seasons

Bring the best to you and yours!

Lambi Newsham

President

Our Board

President                Lambi Newsham
Vice Presidents       Margaret Whelan
                               Kathryn Colao
Treasurer               Maura Perier
Secretary               Lori White
Spiritual Advisor     Msgr. Guenther

In the “News”

Our Board

Message from Msgr. Guenther

School Supplies Drive

5th Annual Baby Shower

Mary Virginia Merrick Award

Celtic Sisters Baby Shower

Knitting Angel Special Mention

St. Timothy’s Christmas Outreach

Want Ads

Save the Dates

CCS Contact List

Coming Up...

Cocktails with CCS -
May 20th at 7:00 pm

Quick Links

www.NationalChristChildSoc.org
www.stteresachurch.org
ccssummit@gmail.com

Check out our new website at www.christchildsummit.org

A Message from Msgr. Guenther

Greetings from West Orange!

A blessed and happy Easter season to you! Throughout these days when we celebrate the glorious feast of Christ’s resurrection, the Scriptures which are read at daily Mass tell us how he appeared to his friends to assure them of his presence and his love. They were undoubtedly wonderful moments in the lives of Peter and the disciples, Mary Magdelene and others, moments that they would never forget, moments that helped them carry on with his work. The Lord also promised to remain with his disciples through all times, including this year of 2011.

Our celebrations of the Eucharist whenever we participate at Mass, brings Christ’s presence to us in a marvelous and mysterious way. That is why we Catholics value the celebration of Mass as such an important part of our spiritual lives. However, the Lord also told us that he will be with us every time we reach out to others, if only giving a cup of water in his name.

Caryll Houselander, a great spiritual writer of the 20th century tells of an experience she once had in a train station in London. She found herself in the midst of a great crowd of people. As she looked in the many faces surrounding her, she came to a revelation, that she was looking at the face of Jesus in every person she saw. It was a moment that she never forgot.

In each and every act of kindness, in each and every opportunity that you as members of the Christ Child Society reach out to help and support God’s little ones, and those in need of our special consideration, may you see the face of Jesus! Then you will truly come to believe that Christ is risen, and he lives in and among us. Easter then will not only be a one day or one season feast, but a celebration that permeates our lives everyday.

God bless you and may the Risen Lord reveal his presence to you whenever you attend Mass, and whenever you carry on the good work of the Christ Child Society. For sure, it is the work of the Lord himself.

Msgr. Guenther

School Supplies Drive: “Learn to Give ...Give to Learn!”

We are excited to launch our 4th annual School Supplies Drive! We have partnered once again with Bridges and Westy Self Storage. The drive kicks off in all of the Summit public schools during the weeks of May 2nd and May 9th. Flyers and notices have been distributed via email and paper distribution. Last year the drive was a huge success with distribution of school supplies to 350 needy school children in Summit. We expect to exceed that number this year and hope to reach out to even more of the approximately 500 eligible children in the Summit schools.
Please help us achieve our goal by making a donation. Click here for the list of supplies needed. Bins will be located at all the public schools, the YMCA, St. Teresa’s church and Memorial Hall as well as outside Mary Kull‘s house at 109 Maple St.

Can’t get to the store? If you would like to make a donation to help us buy needed supplies, you can click here to visit our website and donate on-line. You may also send a check payable to the Christ Child Society of Summit, P.O. Box 125, Summit, NJ 07902-0125.

Please watch for an email in the summer asking for volunteers the week of August 30th. This is when the school supplies will be distributed to the children and we will need approximately 6-10 people, for 2 hour shifts, to help us distribute. Please contact Mary Kull via email at marykull3@gmail.com, if you have any questions.

5th Annual Baby Shower

Our 5th annual baby shower and mass held on April 7th was a success, thanks to our many friends and supporters. We collected enough donations to complete 110 layettes which will be donated to babies in need at Overlook Hospital’s HealthStart clinic. Once again, the day was filled with a lovely sense of community and fellowship. Thank you to our chairs, Linda Massengill and Ann Marvin, and their committee, for pulling it all together so gracefully.

Mary Virginia Merrick Award

This year’s Mary Virginia Merrick Award was given to Gery McKenna for her dedication and sense of volunteerism to the Christ Child Society of Summit and its many ministries. Gery was one of the original founding board members of this newly reinstated chapter and spent many hours with the board in creating the structure for our organization over these last few years.

Three years ago, as the board began to discuss different ways to help the community, Gery identified the need in Summit to help provide school supplies to children in need. The first year of the program, supplies were delivered to the various elementary schools for distribution to those children whose families might have difficulty in getting these things new each year. Since then the program has grown, with the help of our community partners, Bridges Outreach and in 2011, Westy’s Storage, and now reaches over 350 Summit students.

In addition to her wonderful work with Christ Child, Gery is also an emergency room nurse at Morristown Memorial Hospital, volunteers countless hours staffing the Loaves and Fishes Food Pantry, along with her many other volunteer activities. Gery is married to John and they have four children: Jack, a graduate of Villanova; Connor, a senior at Holy Cross; Kylie, a freshman at the University of Richmond; and Terry, who will be attending Holy Cross next year.

Congratulations and many thanks to Gery for all that she does!

Celtic Sisters Baby Shower

The Celtic Sisters have done it again! The Celtic sisters are an organization of women affiliated with the Shillelagh Club in West Orange, NJ. They meet once a month, and get involved in causes which benefit mothers and children. Thanks to CCS member Jackie Browne, they heard about our group last year, and decided to have a baby shower for us. They then proceeded to support our school supplies drive by having a drive of their own for us. This year they had another baby shower for their members. CCS members Margaret Whelan, Kathryn Colao and Jackie Browne attended the evening, which included a stand-up act called Motherhood and Other Desperate Acts by comedienne Deborah Maclean, food, drink, and many, many donations of adorable baby items. We collected over 6 bins of layette items, and once again were amazed by the Celtic Sisters’ heartfelt appreciation for our mission. We look forward to a continuing partnership with these enthusiastic women.

Jackie, Margaret and Kathryn with Celtic Sisters Barbara Hughes (left) and Cathy Grant (center)

The Infant and Toddler Learning Center at Central High School

Lori White during our Mothers’ Day visit

We are slowly but surely making progress in building a relationship with Central High School in Newark. This year, we have met with the program director, and have provided items for the teens and their children to have a Halloween party, a Valentine’s Day party, and most recently, a Mothers’ Day celebration. We brought them hand knit items, books, strollers, bibs, and gifts from the Advent Giving Tree at Christmas. Over spring break, we also held a short workshop with tips for getting a summer job. The teens are receptive to CCS members and appreciative of efforts made on their behalf. For Mothers’ Day, Eileen Rath and new member Terri Schlenger shopped for and put together “spa” care packages for the teen moms. They loved them!

Our mission, “Challenging Poverty: One Child at a Time“, challenges us to volunteer on a personal level with children. Mary Virginia Merrick, the founder of CCS is quoted: “....personal contact with the needy for the love of Christ develops true charity and gives it vital force.” It is in this spirit that we ask you all to consider making some time in your life for the children in need at The Infant and Toddler Early Learning Center At Central High School. Our long term goal is to establish a group of dedicated volunteers to visit the center regularly, meeting needs as they arise in child care assistance, reception duties and eventually, mentoring teens. Volunteer hours will be flexible and during the school day, making this service opportunity suitable for people with children of their own.

We have received the forms from the Center’s HR department that are necessary for volunteers to complete before working directly with the children. Although we are currently enjoying visits to the center during which we provide gifts of clothing, baby items and party supplies, we aspire to volunteering on a more personal level. Please contact Michelle Lozina-Cohen at dlcsh@aol.com if you are interested in visiting and volunteering at Central High School.

Membership News

Christ Child Society of Summit is now 77 members strong. We would like to welcome the following members who have joined since last spring:

Annemarie Cahill

Margery Conniff

Marianne Connor

Michele Dahl

Stefanie Faris

Regina Feeney

Sally Golding

Patricia Horton

Sue Hubbard

Patty Huston

Jennifer Rustum

Terri Schlenger

Please welcome them when you see them around town, or at our next CCS function!

Don’t forget to keep membership informed of any changes in your email address, mailing address, etc. Contact Kathryn Colao at kathryncolao@gmail.com with any changes.

News from the Spirituality Committee

This past year since September we have gathered as members of the Christ Child Society on the first Tuesday of each month at the 8:30 am daily mass. We will continue this through June by gathering at Mass on Tuesday, June 6th. We do hope you can join us. This is a great way to start your day and come together as members of Christ Child.

We have started a prayer list that can be added to at any time - if you know someone who has died, is sick, or just needs our prayers, please email your prayer request to tstabler55@verizon.net. This prayer list is shared at our monthly mass and is included in our monthly newsletter. A name is kept on our prayer list for a month.

William Campion Conway

Chrissie Corcoran

Brigid de Lime

Sylvia Kelly

Family of Ruth Lockett

Family of Wendy Olson

Bobby Rodriguez

Hope to see you on June 6th,

Tracy Stabler

Spirituality Chair

Layette Update

What beautiful things we received from the Baby Shower! Lovely outfits, stretchies, onsies...all in bright spring and summer colors. The layette volunteers met at Janet Keller’s home and put together 55 layettes! We delivered 20 of them to the Health Start program at Overlook Hospital. We are so blessed to have had the Celtic Sisters host another baby shower for our layette program this April. We look forward to sorting their wonderful things and making more beautiful spring and summer layettes.

At the beginning of the year, we brought together the layette inventory and delivered 21 winter layettes to the Health Start program...with big warm snowsuits! We also delivered lots of diapers, two bins of homemade knitted sweaters and books to our new endeavor, The Infant and Toddler Learning Center at Central High School in Newark. We continue to support the ABC (Area Baby Center) program here in Summit and have delivered 9 layettes to them already this year.

Our layette program continues to make a difference. We are in need of volunteers to achieve our goal of reaching 150 new babies this year. Contact Margaret Strong at whelanmarg@aol.com if you want to help!

Knitting Angels Update

The Knitting Angels have been hard at work knitting hats and blankets for our layettes. With the help of the St. Teresa’s Prayer Shawl Ministry and teachers from Oak Knoll School we have been able to include either a handmade blanket or hat in each layette. In addition, each layette had a beautiful, warm fleece blanket. This year several Girl Scout troops have donated their time and talent to help make these blankets. As in the past, the teachers and students of Oak Knoll were our true angels! Their donation to this effort makes it possible for us to be so generous. We are currently looking for groups or individuals to make blankets for the layettes to be distributed next fall. If you know of a group that would like to do this easy, fun project please let Janet Keller know. She can provide the instructions (with pictures!) and walk you through this very easy process. Individual donations are great, too! If you want to make a blanket or two over the summer, contact Janet at jgk302@aol.com.

Tribute Cards

A tribute card is a wonderful way to remember family and friends...or honor a birthday, anniversary or special occasion. All donations will provide layette items for needy children in the Summit area. Please contact Theresa Sweeney at sweeneyct@comcast.net or 908-522-1997 to order cards.

2010 Donations

In Honor of Angela Intili Stokes

Christ Child Society

In Honor of Angela Schroeder

Christ Child Society

In Memory of Richard Haarman

Angela Schroeder

In Memory of Mary P. Perier

Margaret Clarke

Jane & David Grewcock

Elaine & Arie Hochberg

Susan & Eric Hubbard

Patricia Lydon

Kathleen & Robert Lynch

Marie & Joseph Markowski

Jack Monett

Marjorie & Peter Newell

Cynthia & John Sullivan

Mary Warren

Donna & Matt Warren

Pauline & Robert Wimmer

In Memory of Donald Savage

Christ Child Society

Donations

Marilyn Chambeau

Michelle Cohen

Mary Kull

Lisa Osbourne

2011 Donations

In Memory of William Campion Conway

In Memory of Sylvia Kelly

In Memory of Bobby Rodriguez

In Memory of Kelly Watson

The Schroeder Family

In Memory of Katherine Ann Klesius White

The Schroeder Family

Donations

Angeli Breen

Marie Martine

Linda Massengill

Special Mention

Thank you to Christ Child member and Knitting Angel Lucy Remus, for making beautiful knitted clothing and blanket sets and donating them to the Christ Child Society of Summit in honor of someone special. She recently donated a gorgeous knit layette to the spring Oak Knoll fundraiser, which was bid on, and donated to the Christ Child Society in the name of our president, Lambi Newsham, by CCS member Linda Massengill.

St. Timothy’s Christmas Outreach

Thanks to co-chairs Tracy Forsyth and Gina Owens, Christ Child members were able to provide some support to the boys at St. Timothy’s, a long-term residential facility for boys ages 13-18, during the Christmas season. The facility’s funding was suspended, causing the boys to be displaced, yet again. We were able to provide some much-needed essentials and a bit of holiday cheer in packages including gift cards, long underwear, socks and hats, gloves and scarves. Thank you to all who donated items to the boys of St. Tim’s.

Looking for a Few Good Women...

The Christ Child Society of Summit wants YOU! We are looking for a few good women to fill the following positions :

Membership Chair
Rummage Sale co-chairs (October 2011)
Website design and maintenance
Grant writing/corporate solicitation

Please consider donating a bit more of your time and talents to the Christ Child Society to help us succeed in our mission to make a difference in the lives of children in need. Contact Lambi at lambinewsham@msn.com if you are interested.

Save the Dates....

Please save the following dates:

May 10 - New Member Coffee

May 20 - Cocktails with the Christ Child Society 7:30 pm at 113 Whittredge Rd., Summit

August 30, 31 - School Supplies Distribution

Christ Child Society Contact List

To learn more about our activities and opportunities:

Central High School Infant and Toddler Learning Center -
                                           Michelle Cohen at dlsch@comcast.net
Layettes                             Theresa Sweeney at sweeneyct@comcast.net
                                           Joan Kelly at jckelly3619@yahoo.com
                                           Margaret Strong at whelanmarg@aol.com
                                           Janet Keller at jgk302@aol.com Tribute/Memorial Cards     Theresa Sweeney at sweeneyct@comcast.net
Knitting Angels                   Janet Keller at jgk302@aol.com
School Supplies Drive         Beth Tully at bkt234@aol.com
                                           Mary Kull at marykull@att.net
Rummage Sale                     Marilyn Chambeau at b.chambeau@comcast.net                                               Lisa McDonald at lisabrett@mac.com
Prayer Intentions               Tracy Stabler at stabler55@comcast.net
Membership/email Blasts   Kathryn Colao at kathryncolao@gmail.com
Website                              Marybeth Robb at marybethrobb@gmail.com
                                           Kathryn Colao at kathryncolao@gmail.com

“Let not a day pass without having learned something, without having overcome yourself in something, without having performed a kind act, without having accomplished something.”
- Mary Virginia Merrick