Doing Good Feels Good
First Parish of Norwell Service Projects - Open to all!
Serving the community is part of our mission and identity at First Parish.
Once a month, we come together on a Saturday or after Sunday Worship Service to do something good for the community. From making art kits for Boston Children’s Hospital to singing carols with seniors at the Norwell Housing Authority to collecting socks for Carolina Hill Shelter, these projects are designed to be fun, energizing, and accessible for all ages. Even our annual Easter Egg Hunt is service-oriented - the eggs contain donation tokens that children can use to support charities of their choosing.
We want to build the habits of stewardship and connection in our community, and we extend the offer to everyone - ALL ARE WELCOME to join us for these service opportunities!
In the past year, we have:
Planted seedlings for those in recovery at AA meetings.
Shared a pizza and caroling party with the residents of the Norwell Housing Authority
Created cheery cards for local nursing homes and the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute
Made cards and holiday decorations for residents of a local memory care facility.
Collected toiletries for Father Bill’s Shelter and loaded them into brand new backpacks.
Weeded and planted at the YMCA Family Farm.
Painted valentines with seniors at the Norwell Housing Authority.
Created no-sew fleece blankets for Project Linus.
Collected and sorted books for the Prison Book Program and More Than Words.
Collected clothes for Cradles to Crayons.
Created 200 art kits for patients at Boston Children’s Hospital.
Planted a rain garden to filter impurities and protect our local watershed.
Collected and sorted donated clothing for a community clothing swap.
Cut recycled denim to make shoes for Sole Hope.
Donated $600 distributed among South Shore Habitat for Humanity, Kaboom, Friends of Animals, and Watsi during our Charitable Easter Egg Hunt.
Have ideas for other projects you’d like to see us do - or want to get involved? Contact community@firstparishnorwell.org and check our calendar for upcoming events.
Upcoming service opportunities:
February 11th from 1-2: Meal packing with EndHunger NE
February 25th at 11:30: Creating “Welcome to Your Apartment” boxes for South Shore Friends of the Homeless
March 31st at 10: Charitable Easter Egg Hunt with donation tokens in each egg. All are welcome to join us as we learn about four charities that matter to kids. Then, kids can search for eggs filled with candy and donation tokens. At the end of the hunt, they can use their tokens to donate to the four charities - they have a great time choosing where to put their tokens. Each token represents $1 donated by our Fogg Service Committee - at the end of the hunt, we will have donated $600 to these charities!
April 21st at noon: Collecting and sorting books for the Prison Book Program and South Shore Friends of the Homeless
May 19th at 11:30: School supply drive for the Interfaith Backpack Program
“We were once called a “checkbook” church, but no one would call us that today. We have evolved into a “hands on church,” and it feels SO good!
Community Dinners have been embraced by so many of us – planning, cooking, setting up, greeting, serving, cleaning up – and are now a beloved church-wide activity!
First Parish provides so many opportunities for us to get out there and do good things: volunteering at Cradles to Crayons, putting together meal ingredients in Pembroke, helping out at dinners for immigrants, etc. These activities are for ALL of us of ALL ages, and we are responding and helping!
And look at the hands-on projects we do at church which benefit people all over the world: bagging lunches for Father Bill’s, making shoes for kids in Uganda to prevent mud-born parasites, making fleece blankets for kids in hospitals and art kits for kids at Children’s Hospital, creating Care Kits for us to keep in our cars for homeless people, and the list continues.
Look at our recent church-wide overarching themes, Climate Justice and Mental Health. Each has an on-going steering committee which does research and provides educational programs, movies, activities, etc. The first year we gave a huge grant to the North and South Rivers Waters Association and consequently gained a relationship which provided us with lots of education and projects, like our rain garden! We have provided informative lectures on mental health given by experts and which pulled in people from all around the area! Alzheimer’s Support Group, Yoga classes and a financial aid assistance fund to aid parishioners of First Parish of Norwell with high deductibles or large co-pays for mental health services. These continue this year!
We are doing hands-on Outreach projects which benefit us, our community and the world. Money is certainly involved, from the Helen Fogg Outreach Committee’s budget from the church and from you, but it is the hands-on aspects which involve so many of us of which I am so proud!
Also, look at our children-what good lessons and life-long practices for our “littles”!
Way to go, First Parish of Norwell! We got generosity! ”