Our Festival of Trees is being planted this week and next. And with the trees comes a fun opportunity to support our local food banks. Forest wanderers of all ages are invited to vote for their favorites with shelf-stable food items. The polls open Sunday, Dec 3 after worship. There’s no Voter’s Pamphlet for this election, but proper preparation is needed. Please double-check the list below as you prepare to vote.

DOs & DON’Ts

Do check your pantry. What foods are your family’s favorites? Include some of these.
Do check expiration dates. If a Best Buy date has passed… please don’t donate the item.
Do check for opened, damaged or dented items. These aren’t appropriate for the food banks either.
Do consider healthy options and ones that support a variety of diets.

All types of non-perishable food items are welcome, but there is a special need for healthier options and ones for those with special dietary concerns, for example – low fat, low salt, gluten free, etc.

Do consider food items for those who need or choose to avoid dairy, soy, nuts or meat.
Do think about hungry kiddos after school and put some easy and healthy snacks in your cart the next time you go shopping.
Do consider voting with culturally relevant food items. Both our local food banks serve individuals from diverse backgrounds.
As much as we love them and as healthy as they maybe, please do not donate homemade items. The food banks can’t verify the ingredients or the processes used. Do save these items for your family and friends.

In addition to unstable funding and the growing need for food assistance, another challenge food banks face is WASTE – waste of staff and volunteer time sorting through and disposing of food that is not appropriate to be shared with our neighbors. We can help with this major issue by double-checking our votes before they are placed under the trees. THANKS for your help!

Enjoy the Festival of Trees during coffee hour, after worship, Sundays between 12/3 - 1/7, Wednesday, 12/13 from 7-8pm, and Saturday, 12/16 from 6-7pm, before the Christmas concert. Invite your friends and neighbors to join you too!

One of my favorite times of year at my last church was November -- when tree-by-tree-by-tree, a forest of themed Christmas trees would come alive inside the church building, made possible by the creativity, joy, and wonder (with a smidge of competitiveness) of a congregation that loved to make one another smile. This year, with our approaching Advent theme of "Under the Tree," it felt a wonderful thing to attempt at Fauntleroy Church -- so, we're going for it!

Individuals, church groups, community groups, groups of friends, families, all are invited to make a fun, themed tree come alive inside our church building! What do I mean by "themed?" Well, it could be something as simple as a tree you title "the purple tree," then decorating it with all purple lights and ornaments. Or, you could do something a bit more complicated, such as...
● a superhero tree with Marvel and D.C. Comic ornaments and maybe a cape,
● a hymn pun tree where all the simple handmade ornaments are puns on hymns ● a star tree, with all star ornaments
● a pride flag tree
● a flower tree with nothing but flowers to decorate it
● a "trigonomeTREE" for the math enthusiasts among us

None of those ideas are taken, by the way, but ideas abound on the internet and in your creative minds, I'm sure! To prompt your creative juices flowing, we're making this a competition to benefit our local food banks, as people vote for their favorite trees by placing non-perishable food items "under the tree." With the help of our Parish Life Ministry and others, we'll invite the community to come at specific times, enjoy some cookies, maybe an ornament scavenger hunt for kids, some background Christmas music and vote with their food bank donations too! Your help in spreading the word for both participation and visiting our Festival of Trees in December is appreciated. We'll announce specific times at which the church will be open outside Sunday mornings for December/Advent tree enjoyment, but first things frist: WE NEED TREE SUBMISSIONS. So, if you'd like to participate, here's the form you need to complete with instructions on what you need to do. A big thanks to new member, Shirley Asmussen, who is helping to coordinate! Please note that you do need to have or borrow an artificial tree for this event. If you happen to have an artificial tree not doing anything this year and would be happy for someone else to use it, let us know that too!

Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la,
Pastor Leah