Chai Pani partnered with the Welcome Table on Wednesday, preparing a delicious meal for lunch! We had butter chicken, stewed chickpeas, and steamed rice. |
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Thank you Hominy Creek Comfort Makers!
Respite received a donation of beautiful butterfly pillows for friends in respite from Hominy Creek Comfort Makers. Thank you for supporting and thinking of our friends!
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Habitat for Humanity Work Day this Thursday | |
Thursday, February 16th
8:00 am-3:00 pm
We'll meet in the HSC parking lot at 7:45 to carpool to the site together. For more information, contact Pastor Seth at
[email protected].
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Are any Handy-persons Available?
Respite has some projects/repairs they're looking for help with. If you or someone you know is handy and willing to offer some time and skill, please reach out to Nicole at [email protected].
| You can read this weeks sermon from Pastor Seth, Love and the Law, and other sermons on the Stories & Sermons page of our website. | |
Downtown Welcome Table
Opportunities to participate at the Welcome Table:
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Have a meal! - Join us on Sunday or Wednesday to enjoy a meal with our community!
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Dining Room Clean Up - As always, clean up is one of the places that we need companion support. We promise to make it fun! On Sundays, we need companions from 10:00-12:00, and on Wednesdays from 12:00-2:00
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Kitchen Clean-Up - On Sundays from 10:00-12:00 and Wednesdays from 12:00-2:00, we would love for a couple of companions to help us clean up the kitchen and help serve the folks who come in during that time for a meal. You can sign up for this role on the sign-up sheet!
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Tuesday prep for the DWT. |
Companion, John, showing the ropes to Companion-in-training, Lillian. | A snapshot of our visiting partner, Buncombe County Public Health, during the vaccine clinic on Wednesday. | Rooms 3 & 4 are being put to good use! The Community Paramedics are utilizing some of the space to offer medical services to our friends who need medical attention. |
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Weekly Ministry Opportunities:
Worship:
Sundays at 11:00 and Wednesdays at 12:30 in the sanctuary
Tuesday Prayer Group:12:00 in the sanctuary. Gather for a time of communal prayer
Thursday Card Making: Group - 10:00 am in Room 1 (off the main lobby) - Gather together to make cards for our community and friends in prison or in the hospital.
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Clothing Resources
Click below to see the list of places in the community to donate clothes and to find free clothes.
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Fresco Viewing Hours:
Sundays 9-12
Monday-Thursday 10-2
By appointment, contact April at [email protected]
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Ways to Give
Your gift ensures that there is always enough, and room for everyone, at the many welcoming tables of Haywood Street.
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Jerry, Jeanette, and Elvia during Wednesday worship. | |
Gardens and Gratitude
by Susan Dobroski
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My sacred encounter with Dayle ~ an elderly lady, frail, frightened yet strong. She showed up one hot June day to donate an expensive pair of Patagonia women's winter pants. I happened to be heading to my car when I saw Dayle looking around seemingly lost. "Wow, has this place changed." I used to visit here, but haven't been here since Covid. In fact, this is my 1st time out of the house. I couldn't stand it any longer. I brought these for the clothes closet. Hard to realize with this heat that winter will be here! I offered to give her a tour, so we started in the garden. Dayle was astonished! And very impressed by the free-standing libraries. "Oh, I have bags of books I've been meaning to donate."
As we sat in the shade taking in the garden's abundance, thanks to Robert and his countless supporters' hard work,
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she began to share bits and pieces, apologizing for her moments of memory lapse... frustrating and embarrassing. Tearing up she said, " I feel sooo lost." My husband sits at home all day and just watches TV - mostly PBS. I used this opportunity to ask if she was familiar with the sanctuary fresco finished in 2019 and a PBS documentary about it. Day said no, then reached into her satchel; retrieved a pencil and paper, and had me write the words “Theirs is the Kingdom,” so as not to be forgotten. She began asking about me– if I work at Haywood, what I do. I told her, “Just a companion.” Dayle tilted her head inquisitively. “A more relationship-rich experience than simply ‘volunteer,’” I added. "I'd like to be involved again, '' Dayle said quietly. "But I have sooo much anxiety about these days." I told her I understood. I have it too. Pretty hard these days to not feel its grip.
With that, we sat in silence before I suggested we continue the tour and whether she wanted to see the fresco. The Wednesday service had already begun, so I checked in with Dayle regarding her comfort in a crowd. "Hmmm, I don't know. I really just came to donate these pants. Oh, can I get a receipt?" "Sure you can, but I'll have to get it from one of the staff." After a few more butterflies fluttered by us, we stood and walked toward our cars. But Dayle had a change of heart. "I'd like to see that fresco. Can you show me the way?" "It would be my pleasure, '' I replied. I took her cue and walked slowly beside her, weaving through the gardens along the sidewalk around the building to the entrance.
We entered and I gestured we take a seat in the back corner. Dayle obliged. Her eyes welled up with tears. I retrieved tissues and water for both of us. She seemed to take it all in - the informalness yet powerful messages of this hour's sharing. While people began to line for communion, Dayle looked at me with thankful eyes, said she had enough, and asked if we could please leave. And that we did. She drove away thanking me over and over with a smile on her face instead of a grimace. My heart was full with gratitude for what I refer to as "holy instances". "THANK YOU, Dayle. It was my absolute pleasure."
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A witness to include the most excluded, Haywood Street not only welcomes every child of God–especially sisters and brothers of every mental illness and physical disability, addiction and diagnosis, living condition and employment status, gender identity and sexual orientation, class, color, and creed–but we celebrate your presence, certain that the kingdom of God is coming closer because you are here.
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