Catherine brought coffee and saw Roger and Eunice off to Staten Island from Fredericksburg just after 9am Aug 12. Roger’s Mom had taken them to the station. They looked eager to get the coffee for the 5 hour ride ahead. Here is a small photo gallery of the send off.
For the fourth year, they are going to assist with the Staten Island Moravian Clothing distribution. The process of the clothing distribution is divided into collection, sorting and distribution and takes place over several months. Catherine’s sister is a Moravian Minister and originated the event over a decade ago.
There are 4 Moravian churches on Staten Island that collect clothing from late March through May. They ask the clothing is separated into male and female. Then, for a week in May (1oam-8pm) they work to sort all the clothing by gender and size and box it up until the clothing distribution in August. The distribution beginning Thursday Aug 13 takes place over 3 days this year at Brighton Heights Reformed Church. Here’s how the distribution unfolds:
Boy Scout Troop 26 helps them move tables, supplies, and our boxes and boxes of clothing from Castleton Hill Moravian over to Brighton Heights Reformed Church. Thursday is setup day – tables, boxes, clothes on the racks. On Friday, they are open to the families from the local shelter and to clients of Arbor, a near-by back to work program. Clients gather in the Fellowship Hall of the church .A volunteer “personal shopper” takes each person into the gym to pick out clothing. With the clothes organized on the tables and racks and volunteers to assist, things move along fairly quickly. On Saturday they are open to the public all day and serve families from all over Staten Island. The need is great. At the end of the day they pack up the remaining clothing which typically will go to various agencies
They have different churches come to to volunteer as a mission project. This year a group is coming from North Carolina. There is a "day off" for visiting the sites in NY. On Sunday, at Castleton Hill Moravian where Catherine’s sister is a minister, there is a "thank you" portion of their service which provides a wonderful conclusion and reflection of the work over the previous days.