Harvest 2010

In recent years, Harvest Collections have enabled us at St. Mary’s to support a variety of local people with produce and goodies, as well as people further afield – through projects such as Watford New Hope Trust and Three Rivers Refugee – with tinned foods as well as toiletries and the like.

At Harvest this year, we will be concentrating with our Harvest Gifts on celebrating the fruits and gifts of the earth – so food and produce. As usual, these things will be given away – locally and to charities that will undertake their dispersal to those in need: Watford New Hope Trust, Herts Young Homeless, and Three Rivers Refugee Project.

In addition, we will hold Special Collections at all our Services that day to raise money for the Bishop of St Albans' Harvest for the Hungry Appeal which this year focuses on the Teso area of Uganda and seeks to raise funds to support a project which is helping communities to develop crops which are adapted to the changing climate.

The appeal is called Fruits of Justice. Further details may be found in the literature that will soon be available in Church, as well as on the website.

In the New Year, on 30th January, which is Homelessness Sunday – part of Poverty and Homelessness Action Week – we shall collect the other goods that we are invited to donate to charities who support with people who are in poverty or homeless. These will be things like toiletries, washing powder, some clothing and other goods.

Further details will be available nearer the time. For more information about the week visit the website for Homelessness Sunday.

Harvest supper will be at 7.00pm on Saturday 2nd October.

We will celebrate our Harvest Festival at services on Sunday 3rd October.

An additional part of our Harvest celebrations will be the display of gifts and skills. Please feel able to contribute to this with, for example, paintings and drawings,embroidery, wood-turning etc. Please bring items for display from 10.00am on Saturday 2nd October.