EISCC members are allowed to share announcements pertaining to their congregations/agencies at each EISCC meeting.  If you wish these announcements to appear in the minutes, please remember to make them well in advance of any event that you are publicizing and, to help insure accuracy, please provide them in writing to the recording secretary. Pre approval required for inclusion on the web site.
To submit announcements, click . Announcements made at the July 8, 2008 meeting include the following.

Hopelink launches campaign to outfit kids with tools for school. pproximately 1,700 low-income schoolchildren in north and east King County will get the supplies they need to start the school year prepared and ready to learn in September. Click Here

REDMOND, WA- Hopelink, the largest social services agency serving East and North King County, is collecting school supplies to distribute to low-income schoolchildren, as part of its annual Kids Need School Supplies drive from July 14 to August 18.

Call (425) 869-6000 or go to www.hope-link.org. Donations may be made in person at any of Hopelink’s centers in Shoreline, Northshore (Bothell), Kirkland, Bellevue, Redmond or Sno-Valley (Carnation). Location addresses can be found on Hopelink’s website.

The yearly observance of the International Day of Peace will take place on September 21, 2008 at Bellevue Community College. The event is still in the planning stages, but will be moving indoors this year. Stay tuned for further updates.

We welcome referrals from your clients. We provide free legal advice to low income residents of East King County in family law, general law, and immigration law clinics. We also provide legal assistance to domestic violence survivors who live anywhere in King County. Clients may call (425) 747-7274 for appointments.

In addition volunteer attorneys, we rely on intake volunteers to help run the legal clinics, help clients with the paperwork, and assist the attorneys. Help us recruit volunteers. Days and times vary; clinics meet weekly, twice a month, or once a month, in the afternoons and the evenings. The need for intake volunteers is urgent.

Please call Charlotte Cline (Administrative Assistant) or Jennie Bigley (Program Director) at (425) 747-7274 to inquire about volunteer opportunities. We provide training, flyers, brochures, applications, and other information.

Congregations for Kids (now operating as a constituent agency of EISCC) is gearing up for its 13th year of providing backpacks, school supplies, and warm coats to needy Eastside kids. Over 2,000 backpacks will be assembled for distribution in the Bellevue School District. Watch this space for more information about how you and your congregation can be part of this ministry.

is encouraging congregations to take action to end hunger by participating in the 2008 Offering of Letters. Congregation members write letters to Congress in support of hunger-fighting legislation during their service and place them in the offering plate, dedicating the letters to God and saying special prayers for hungry and poor people. The Offering of Letters can be simple or as elaborate as a congregation wishes-from setting up a table in the entry hall to a full worship devoted to hunger concerns. Letter-writing can also take place as part of adult or youth education classes, youth groups, or women"s organizations. More information, including resources to help compose and direct the letters is available at www.bread.org.

Host Churches needed for July Once a month Bridge partners with a local church to host a Sunday Evening Celebration from 4:00 - 6:00 p.m.. The Celebrations are gatherings of persons with disabilities, their family, caregivers, and members of host churches and other individuals from the community. The purpose is to be together and to enjoy each other!

Celebrations are:

• A place where strangers become friends
• A place of warmth and respect, where gifts and abilities of all are affirmed
• A place to connect with each other and to celebrate God together

Participants enjoy a superb meal, good conversation with old and new friends, music, laughter, and the affirmation of God's love in action and in word. The church leads in a short program and persons with disabilities are given opportunities to share their gifts as well. The Celebrations strengthen life-long friendships.

Churches should be accessible and willing to provide a dinner for about 100 people. If you or your congregation is interested in learning more about this opportunity, please contact Rev. Donna Whitmore, Chaplin of Church Development at 425-885-1006, ext.108.

Joy Pocasangre of Temple DeHirsch Sinai reported on her work with the nonprofit NESES (or Niños Estudiando El Salvador) which seeks to enrich the lives of orphaned and underprivileged Salvadoran children and to expand their knowledge of educational and occupational opportunities in their home county. For more information and to find out how you can be a part of this important outreach visit their website at www.neses.org.

The YWCA Eastside Women’s Center needs your help providing lunches to the community’s homeless women.  Each weekday lunch is served to approximately 12 people.  You are welcome to sign up for a day, a week, or a month!  The center is located at the First Congregational Church of Bellevue on the corner of 8th and 108th in downtown Bellevue.  For more information, please contact Jan Swanson at center lunches@fccbellevue.org. Thank you!

Life Coaches Needed: Congregations for the Homeless is available to talk to congregations about how they can partner to end homelessness on the Eastside and make a dramatic, life-changing difference in the lives of our marginalized neighbors. CFH continues to need additional life coaches to work one-on-one with CFH clients. CFH will provide the necessary training. (Note: because CFH offers services exclusively to homeless men, most life coaches are also men.)