Support the OCA 2008 Christmas Stocking Appeal
Reverend Fathers and Dearly Beloved in the Lord:
At the beginning of this new Church Year, as you plan your parish activities for the fall, I recommend to you once again and ask for your support of the OCA Christmas Stocking Project, now in its 15th year.
The Very Rev. Theodore Povny, director of the House of Mercy in Minsk, Belarus, in his thank you letter to us, noted that “the Christmas stockings have already become almost a tradition, and each New Year the children eagerly await them.” Christmas stockings or equivalent gifts will continue to be sent to children in Eastern Europe and Mexico, targeting especially orphans, children of needy and disabled families, children in hospitals and clinics.
Additionally, we will include this year children from families uprooted by the Midwest floods here in the US in early summer who are trying to put their lives back together. As with children who were victims of Hurricane Katrina to whom we sent 1,000 Christmas gifts and chocolates, we want them to know that we of the Orthodox Church in America are especially thinking of them at this time.
I encourage parishes, and especially church schools. FOCA chapters and all youth groups to undertake a fund raising activity for this worthy effort. Individual gifts are also most welcome. Please plan your projects and collections early in the fall. Send your donations to the Chancery Office, OCA Christmas Stocking Project, as close as possible to October 31st, though they will be gratefully received through the end of the year.
With love in Christ,
+DMITRI Archbishop of Dallas and the South
Locum tenens of the Orthodox Church in America