Crossroads Notes:

From our monthly Newsletter

Deacons Sponsor Drive for Medical Supplies for Cabanlutan           For several years BPC has maintained a partnership with the Village of Cabanlutan in the Philippines. Our contact has been through Priscilla Kelso of the Cambridge Presbyterian church. Most recently we sent funds to help support a health care center there. Help is still needed -- there is extreme poverty and a very low level of nutrition. The majority of the villagers earn a living through sustenance farming or working in the sugercane fields. The health center continues to provide basic health services through a medical doctor and a nurse from a nearby city, but only the rich have vitamins. Pills, even aspirin, can only be purchased one at a time. Priscilla has written "Villagers take a few tablets from a generic aspirin bottle (two for $1 on sale at CVS) and take their tablets home like precious items because no one can afford to buy a whole container. When I send what you shall have collected by late spring/early summer, it will be the monsoon season in the Philippines and any form of medical assistance will be most appreciated." Through the end of March there will be a box marked "Cabanlutan Project" located in the front hallway at the church. Our goal is to send a big box (It costs $130 to ship a box and takes 2 months to get there), filled with any of the following: Everything must be in pills or tablets -- no liquids or glass containers Aspirin Band-aids Ibuprofen Larger bandages Cold/flu medicine Antibiotic ointments Vitamins -- adult and child (multi and specific, like C or B complex) Sanitizing wipes, sample-size soaps, etc. Any other first-aid supplies you can think of Easter Flower Notice           In response to requests, this year the Board of Deacons is offering an alternative to purchasing flowers at Easter. Instead of purchasing a plant, you may make a donation to the charities or specific funds that the Deacons have designated for the season. You can still make this donation "in memory, in honor, or in celebration of" -- the same as you do for flowers. Also, you can still choose to purchase flowers to take home after the holiday service. If you have any quakiest or concerns, please speak with Millie, Whitey, or any other deacon. Thanks, The Board of Deacons

Coffee and Fair Trade           The session has agreed to become part of the Presbyterian Coffee Project which "bring Presbyterian congregations nation-wide together with small-scale farmers in the developing world."           Our purchases will make a difference in the lives of small farmers in Latin America, Asia and Africa by "ensuring that the people who grow delicious beans used to brew your cup of coffee... receive a fair price for their hard work and care in growing your coffee benefit from being members of a democratic co-operative have access to co-op services such as healthcare, education, and training enjoy the stability of long-term trading partner, Equal Exchange           "Equal Exchange was founded in 1986 to create a new approach to trade, one that includes informed consumers, honest and fair trade relationships and cooperative principles. As a worker-owned co-op, we have accomplished this by offering consumers fairly traded gourmet coffee direct from small-scale farmer co-ops in Latin America, Asia and Africa."           The Equal Exchange coffee costs considerably more than you will buy coffee for in the supermarket, $6.30 a pound. We have ordered and received a case (10-one pound packs) of coffee. This means no one has to buy coffee for coffee hour or church-related gatherings for quite some time (this is a trial period). We are asking that you who prepare the coffee for coffee hour prepare no more than 35 cups for most Sundays; we throw away much too much coffee. You may find that you can use the smaller pot.           The question is how to pay for this? Would you be terribly offended if we put the basket out again for donations to pay for the coffee? Let me or a member of session hear from you. Judy Brunner I&S Chair And a Thank You from Cabanlutan...           The Deacons recently sent a check for $215 for the villagers to use for their basic needs. This was half of the money collected in the December Holiday Gift Offering. The villagers were told to use it for books for the children, for medical supplies, for housing materials, or whatever is most needed at this time. Priscilla Kelso, an elder in the Presbyterian Church in Cambridge and wife of its pastor, Bart Kelso, wrote the following words of thanks to our congregation:           "Thank you so very much once again for the faithful support of your church family for the Philippine project. The assistance is needed more than ever, and the collection of over-the-counter medicine for the village will also be of great help... Trips to the Philippines always leave me in a heightened state of first-world/third-world awareness. What little we can do from our abundance here (despite a recession, we are still way ahead of the rest of the world) goes a long way overseas. I also believe that God is pleased when we can share not only from our abundance, but also from our scarcity. All this to say 'thank you' for what you and the Burlington Presbyterian Church have continually modeled all these years."           Peace and blessings,           Priscilla Lasmarias Kelso