Christmas gift giving opportunities

By Ada Nickerson

Kraainem (13 December 2007).- Hello and blessed greetings on the upcoming Christmas season. As you know there are a number of organizations in the area who provide for those who have much less than we do. These organizations assist individuals, many times through your kindness and support, throughout the year. During the holidays there are some special activities which I would encourage you to support if you are so 
inclined.

Here are some of them:

1. L'Olivier is hosting its annual Christmas children's party on the 22 of December from 1-4. The children invited to this special day from families that are assisted by the L'Olivier refugee Center. As the funds are limited, the children invited are those whose families have the greatest needs. They are families that face not only economic hardships, but also at times psychological as well as other medical problems.

The children will be treated to a magic show by Simon, whom some of you know from CYS activities. Many of you have already donated gifts that will be handed out by Santa Claus. The children and their parents also enjoy tasty treats such as fruit torts, and cream filled pastries from the Grain de Vie. All in all it is a nice change for the children to be the focus of the fun. A total of about 250 children and their parents will attend this year.

We are looking for several things for this party. Sponsorship of the pastries and drinks that will be offered to the children. The Grain de Vie, a non for profit social bakery, is able to provide these pastries, and torts for 250 Euros for the party. We would like collect some funds to help with this cost. If you are able, please consider donating whatever amount you can towards this. If many of us donate 5 to 10 Euros we could quickly cover the cost.

We also need assistance at the L'Olivier party in picking up pastries, taking the gifts tot he party, and helping to distribute the gifts. Several of our kids had a good time forming a line and passing the gifts to Santa for distribution. If you are interested in helping, please let me know.

3. On a similar note, The Little Sisters of the Poor is a nursing home that is run by nuns near Porte de Hallet. They take in older people who have little or no income. Most receive some sort of pension. Some receive as little as 300 Euros a month, others as much as 700. As you can probably tell, not enough to cover rent, food, electricity, etc. The home takes 3/4 of the pension and the rest is left to the resident for spending money. They have approximately 96 residents. By God's grace, most of the food they need is donated. Sr. Genma does her daily begging at various stores, churches, homes. I have spoken of volunteering there and would strongly encourage you and any groups you may belong to, to contact Sr. Genma, she speaks English, and go in and spend some time there and help out. The place is immaculate. I was very impressed with the cleanliness and the peacefulness of the place. We went with Thomas and Teresa, 11, and 7, and helped make sandwiches to distribute to the poor, helped put away donated items in the kitchen and then helped serve lunch. Thomas was reluctant to go at first, but once we got there and started working, he really enjoyed it and thanked us for going. The residents also were very kind and seemed very pleased to see us. 

Thomas and I helped serve the residents their lunch and Teresa went upstairs with Dan and helped her dad feed a Dominican priest who was unable to so for himself. She peeled an orange for him, and was happy that she was able to do something for this gentleman. I'm describing the experience so those of you who have younger children understand that it is something for the whole family. It was a simple act, but Teresa remembers the gentleman and continues to pray for him. Although the Little Sisters of the Poor is a Catholic order, the residents come from various religious backgrounds.

There is another way to help if you would like. I mentioned that the Sisters make sandwiches every morning to distribute to the homeless the next morning. Until recently, they bought the bread and most of the meat was donated by local deli shops. However, she noted that the deli shop either closed or was unable to continue providing the meat, so she would need to find another way. I mentioned the Grain de Vie as a possible source of fresh bread. Later I spoke to VIttorio and he is, as always, very happy about helping to serve the poor through another source. As with the Russian bread donation, a sponsor is needed for the monthly delivery of bread. The cost for providing bread daily would be 300 Euros a month. If 15 individuals are willing to establish a monthly allotment of 20 Euros to the Grain de Vie, the Sisters could use the freed up funds to cover the cost of heating, electrical bills, etc. If more are willing to assist, then the cost could be less. Please consider this request prayerfully. I know that the dollar to Euro exchange rate is bad, but I hope that you still consider helping in whatever amount you can. Again, although money is always helpful, offering your time is always just as welcomed. Oh yeah, we could aslo use another driver to make the bread run there.

If you would like to contact Sr. Genma her email address is, PSDP.bxl.ms@skynet.be. It may take a couple of days for her to respond, as only one computer has internet service and it is not her computer. To contact Vittorio at Grain de Vie send email to raindevie@skynet.be. Thank you all for all the past support you have always lent to requests to assist individuals whose lives are so difficult. 

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