Artist inspired to design alternative Christmas cards, year after year

By Carol A. Breitinger, Society of St. Andrew Communications Director

Big Island, VA - Christmas in July? That is when it starts for the Society of St. Andrew every year, for that’s when they commence work on their annual Christmas Card Gift Donation program.

Once the staff composes the poem or inspirational message for that year’s alternative Christmas card, Virginia artist Annis McCabe is engaged in the process to create the art for the card. The unique and exclusive designs she has created for the past thirteen years have been McCabe’s annual artistic donation to the Society of St. Andrew, a national hunger-relief ministry founded and headquartered in Virginia.

The Society of St. Andrew (SoSA) effectively tackles the problem of hunger in America through its grassroots Gleaning Network, Potato & Produce Project and Harvest of Hope programs. With the help of tens of thousands of volunteers each year, SoSA salvages fresh produce that will otherwise be wasted due to various market conditions and donates it to feed the hungry. SoSA is one of the nation's largest nonprofit suppliers of fresh produce to the hungry and is an Advance Special for Christ and His Church (#801600).

“I’ve known the folks that founded the Society of St. Andrew since they first came to Bedford County (VA) some thirty years ago to serve in the pulpit ministry of a local United Methodist four-church charge,” said Annis McCabe. “For a number of years, Ken Horne and Ray Buchanan (founders of the Society of St. Andrew), along with their wives and five small children, lived together in a 175-year-old farm house, where they went about modeling and living a simple, responsible lifestyle in a hungry world. When their ministry focus evolved to saving food to feed the hungry, they turned an old sheep shed on their property into the first office for the Society of St. Andrew.

“Because I knew them to be folks who were ‘walking the talk’, I wanted to help them in any way they needed,” McCabe explained when asked how she got involved in the SoSA Christmas card project. “When Ken and Ray asked me to design their first Christmas card in the early ‘90’s, I was more than happy to do it.”

McCabe, a resident of Bedford, VA, is an accomplished artist working in a variety of media. She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Richmond Professional Institute of the College of William and Mary (now the Virginia Commonwealth University), did post-graduate work at Arrowmont School of Crafts in Tennessee, the Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina, and Hollins College in Virginia. She gained prominence throughout central Virginia teaching in the art departments of Lynchburg College and Randolph-Macon Women’s College (now Randolph College), as well as the Lynchburg Fine Arts Center, the Sedalia Center in Bedford County , and her own Blue Feather Studio. In recent years Mrs. McCabe has been recognized as a liturgical artist: her paintings, drawings, and sculpture, which are imaginative, serious portrayals of the spiritual life, enrich the sanctuaries of a number of central Virginia churches, including Main Street United Methodist Church in Bedford, VA, where she and her husband, Dr. William McCabe, are long-time members.

“I am truly honored that year after year they (SoSA) continue to ask me to help in this way,” said McCabe, reflecting on her years of helping SoSA raise funds. “I very much believe in what the Society of St. Andrew is doing – it is such a practical and honest solution to food waste and feeding the hungry. The fact that they (SoSA) worked to make it possible for participating farmers to get a tax break for their crop donations … the thousands and thousands of volunteers that glean … everything SoSA does is a practical approach to a very serious problem. I think everyone who gets to know about SoSA appreciates the economy and efficiency with which they work and the concepts they have brought to feeding the hungry.

“Another thing that appeals to me about my task is that it becomes an ‘alternative’ Christmas gift,” said McCabe. “I think it’s a wonderful opportunity for people to acknowledge SoSA’s work and feed the hungry in honor of friends and family.”

Asked how she comes up with the Christmas card design each year, McCabe explained, “I like to try and think up new approaches to the subject matter. It’s challenging because it has to conform to about a five inch by seven inch space. I use simple materials – good papers, colored pencils and acrylics.

“SoSA tells me what the written message will be and I take it from there. I ask prayerfully for guidance, and often it’s a good while before a breakthrough occurs. When I’m working on a card it may take three or four serious design attempts before the final one emerges. I listen to books on tape occasionally when I’m working; that’s a way to occupy and entertain my conscious mind while my hands and eyes, working from the creative side of the brain, seem to know just what to do,” she elaborated. “It’s like participating in a small mystery with an ‘aha!’ at the end. I do it all the time.

Since it was introduced in 1993, the Society of St. Andrew’s annual Christmas Card Gift Donation program has generated over half a million dollars in donations that have been used to provide food to the hungry. To date, the direct result of these specific gift donations has been twenty-nine million servings of fresh, nutritious produce saved from going to waste and given to service agencies around the nation to feed hungry Americans.

“I find it amazing when I think about how many people SoSA has been able to feed just from this program alone!,” declared McCabe. “And I feel quite blessed to have a hand in that.”

Honor family and friends at Christmas -- National Advance hunger-relief ministry unveils its 2007 alternative Christmas card

BIG ISLAND, VA – While Christians are celebrating the joyous Christmas season with family and friends, many Americans will be experiencing first-hand the reality of hunger and poverty in our land of abundance. “It’s sad but true that more than 35 million Americans, including 12 million children, regularly live at risk of not having enough nourishing food to eat, let alone having the wherewithal to celebrate the holidays in the elaborate fashion to which we have become accustomed,” said Carol Breitinger, Communications Director for the Society of St. Andrew.

“This year you and your family can change that for many hungry American families,” Breitinger explained. “A gift donation to the Society of St. Andrew in honor of special people in your life will provide hundreds, even thousands, of servings of fresh, nutritious produce to the poor throughout the nation.”

The Society of St. Andrew (SoSA) is a national nonprofit hunger-relief ministry and Advance Special #801600. SoSA saves perfectly good, nutritious, excess fresh produce that will go to waste for various marketing reasons and gets it distributed free to service agencies across the country that feed the hungry.

The Society of St. Andrew has introduced its exclusive 2007 alternative Christmas card. “This full color, 5”x7” card will be used to announce gift donations made in honor of someone and to thank donors for their special Christmas contributions,” Breitinger pointed out.

The Christmas Gift Donation Card features an inspirational message and original art depicting God’s “Light” come to Bethlehem in the form of the Infant Jesus. The one-of-a-kind card art was created expressly for the Society of St. Andrew by Virginia artist Annis McCabe. It is the thirteenth annual Christmas card design she has created and donated to SoSA as a fundraiser to feed the hungry.

The minimum gift donation for each card is $12, which will provide about 800 servings of food to the hungry through SoSA’s fresh food salvage programs: Gleaning Network, Potato & Produce Project, Harvest of Hope, and Hunger Relief Advocate Initiative. “The extraordinary popularity of this program continues to grow, providing more and more servings of fresh food to the hungry each year,” Breitinger said. “Last year over $96,000 was raised, providing 4.8 million servings of food nationwide!”

Each person honored with a gift donation will receive the Society of St. Andrew’s alternative Christmas card announcing the gift in their honor with the name of the giver. The donor will also receive the card acknowledging their tax deductible gifts.

“This is the perfect gift for someone who has everything,” concluded Breitinger. “It’s a super stocking stuffer, too. No other gift can do so much for so many with so little! And you can finish your gift shopping and card lists in just a few minutes.”

Christmas Gift Donation Cards can be ordered by mail, phone, fax, or online: 800-333-4597; fax at 434-299-5949; email to card@endhunger.org; online at www.endhunger.org/card.

For more information about the Society of St. Andrew and its hunger-relief ministry or Christmas Gift Donation Cards call 800-333-4597, email sosausa@endhunger.org or go to SoSA’s website at www.endhunger.org.

UMCOR approves $4 million tsunami project in Indonesia

Men mix concrete for houses being built in Bireuen Province, Indonesia, bythe United Methodist Committee on Relief in 2006. A UMNS file photo byMichelle R. Scott, UMCOR.

By Linda Bloom*
STAMFORD, Conn. (UMNS) - A $4 million project for continued tsunami recovery work in Indonesia has been approved by the United Methodist Committee on Relief.

That and other actions came as UMCOR directors met during the Oct. 8-11 annual meeting of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, its parent agency.

The "Reconstruction and Development for Aceh and Nias Project" is scheduled to begin in October and continue through March 31, 2010, in the Bireuen, Banda Aceh and Aceh Besar districts, Aceh Province and the South Nias district.

UMCOR's $4 million funding, from the $42 million it raised for tsunami relief, will be combined with $1.37 million from the American Red Cross to complete the project.

Aceh was hard-hit by the Dec. 26, 2004, earthquake and tsunami, and Nias Island, also part of North Sumatra, suffered both from those events and a March 28, 2005, earthquake. The project aims to improve community development in both areas through better houses, infrastructure, economic development, health care and community leadership.

Help for Haiti
In other action, two projects were approved for Haiti. Both have aspects related to food security, which is part of UMCOR's overall development strategy, according to the Rev. Sam Dixon, chief executive.

A grant of $172,413 was made to the UMCOR-NGO Haiti office to help implement livelihood and economic development activities for 500 households in the city of Gonaives. Those households had initially received assistance because of damage caused by Jeanne - which was a hurricane and a tropical storm at various times - in 2004.

The area is still recovering from Jeanne. "The interventions must address the medium to long-term needs and livelihoods of the local population and the activities may minimize the impact of a similar disaster in the future," the project recommendation said.

The other Haiti project, with a grant of $388,894, is designed to improve the livelihoods of storm survivors in Dondon, Haiti. The intensive yearlong program will combine food security and small-enterprise development through the distribution of improved seeds and tools, introduction of new crops, rehabilitation of existing coffee plantations, and provision of technical assistance and training.

Funding for the Haiti work comes from money originally designated for Grenada from UMCOR's Hurricanes 2004 account but not needed there, Dixon said.

Grants to Afghanistan, Mississippi
A $100,000 grant was approved for the UMCOR-NGO Afghanistan office to support operational costs over a three-month period. For the past five years, the office has worked in various provinces on re-integration programs for underserved and vulnerable populations and currently is developing new project proposals for outside donors.

To assist the denomination's Mississippi Annual (regional) Conference with continuing Hurricane Katrina recovery work, a $150,000 grant was approved toward the construction of two or three buildings that will serve as housing for volunteer teams and as storage facilities for relief materials.

A significant partner for UMCOR is Church World Service, the independent relief arm of the National Council of Churches, and directors approved a special $200,000 grant to the agency in addition to its annual support. The grant was sought because CWS funding for core programs and related services did not meet expected levels for the 2007 fiscal year.

"This is a way for us to provide some additional support for them," Dixon said.

*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York.

United Methodist Agency Increases Support for Zimbabweans Fleeing into South Africa

by Elliott Wright*

STAMFORD, CT., October 9, 2007—The United Methodist Church is increasing its support for a ministry that assists people from Zimbabwe who are fleeing into South Africa to escape food shortages and economic chaos at home.

Directors of the denomination’s General Board of Global Ministries, meeting in Stamford, launched an appeal for funds by contributing $2,388 at the conclusion of a “poverty banquet.” Those contributions and a new grant by the denomination’s relief unit will assist the Ray of Hope program at Central Methodist Church and Mission in Johannesburg.

Central Church cares for more than 700 homeless persons at any given time. It provides temporary shelter, food, health services, child care, and a job bank to displaced persons, most of whom at present are leaving the economic and political chaos in Zimbabwe.

The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) announced an allocation of $50,000 to Central Church. It earlier sent $25,000. UMCOR is the humanitarian aid arm of the global ministries board, which is the international mission agency of the denomination.

The new grant will help Central Church increase it services to the homeless, pay utility bills, and improve sanitation facilities. Hundreds of homeless people crowd the church building every night. Come evening, the church literally overflows with people sleeping on every available space.

“I can think of no group of people today who are poorer, hungrier, or more in need of help than the unofficial refugees finding their way from Zimbabwe to Central Church,” said the Rev. Sam Dixon, a deputy general secretary of the Global Ministries board assigned to lead UMCOR. “We cannot sit back and do nothing as this situation continues to grow worse.”

Mary Gates of Minneapolis presented the Central Church ministry to her colleague global ministries’ directors. She called the offering a concrete recognition of the responsibility United Methodists have to address the acute issue of poverty.

UMCOR is launching a general appeal among congregations and members for additional funds for Central Mission’s work with Zimbabweans. A new Sunday bulletin insert on the South African ministry was introduced at the “poverty banquet” and will be available online at http://www.umcor.org/ within the week.

Central Methodist Church is a large facility in downtown Johannesburg. Once a bastion of affluence and privilege, it is today one of the major Christian social service provides in the South African city, claiming international respect. It is led by Bishop Paul Verryn.

The Ray of Hope approach is carefully organized. All people seeking accommodations or assistance are interviewed and an evaluation is made of their particular needs, such as a meal, clothing, medical attention, or a job—or all of those.

Systematic efforts are made to find off-site temporary housing and employment for the transients. Over the last 15 months, some 3,000 people have passed through the program.
Ray of Hope predates the Zimbabwean refugee problems. It also serves homeless and refugees from Kenya, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

A meager meal was served at the “poverty banquet” of the mission board. Directors spent time around table discussing ways to effectively engage in ministry with the poor. Creative response to poverty is a United Methodist mission priority for the immediate and long-range future.

Contributions to the Central Methodist ministries can be made through the Advance for Christ and His Church, the designated mission giving channel of The United Methodist Church. Checks should be made out to UMCOR and mailed to PO Box 9068, New York, NY 10087. Please include the Advance number, 199456, in the memo line. Checks may also be placed in the offering plate of any United Methodist Church. Credit card contributions can be made by telephone, 800-554-8583.

*Elliott Wright is the information officer of the General Board of Global Ministries.