Oak Arbor Church Outreach

All the elements of wisdom and love dwell in service. All the elements of thought and desire dwell within act. All the elements of faith and charity dwell within deeds.
- Emmanuel Swedenborg, Divine Love and Wisdom 214

Since charity consists in having an affection for what is good, it also consists in feelings of mercy for those in distress. The good of charity holds such feelings within it because it comes down from the Lord’s love towards the whole human race, a love which is ‘mercy’ because the whole human race is in distress.
- Emmanuel Swedenborg, Arcana Coelestia 5132:2

Memorial Day Weekend Family Canoe Trip

This weekend trip to Baldwin, Michigan features two days of canoeing, kayaking or rafting down the Pere Marquette River, considered to be Michigan's clearest and cleanest free flowing river. The journey offers you new opportunities around each bend to enjoy the wildlife and peaceful beauty of Northern Michigan. A great canoeing river for the beginner to intermediate paddler, Pere Marquette follows a winding course through a mixture of National, State, and private forests. Before and after canoeing, families enjoy meals, activities and fellowship around a campfire. Many good memories have been made on this trip over the years.    more >>>

Soles4Souls Shoe Drive

Did you know over 300 million children around the world are without shoes?
Footwear is a first step in helping people in impoverished areas live healthy , productive lives. Footwear can help eliminate the spreading of diseases through the foot as well as help children obtain an education - as many schools  have footwear requirements to attend.

Soles4souls is a charity that collects shoes from warehouses and people like you. They then distribute them to people in need around the world. When disasters strike like the recent earthquake in Japan basic needs like shoes need to be replaced. Soles4souls is currently making a plan to get shoes to these victims.

They will take almost any condition shoes, sandals, flip flops, boots etc, even your evening pumps as they are used to help locals start a shoe business.  Torn, poor condition shoes are used for repairing other shoes or recycled and they are paid for the scraps.

For the next month there will be a collection box in our lobby. If you’d like to donate please tie shoe laces together and put them in a bag before placing them in the box. A suggested $1-$2 donation per pair of shoes is asked to help with the cost of shipping and distributing. There will be an envelope on the side of the box for $ donations.

For more information contact Rachel Mahrle rachie121@wowway.com  or check out the website www.soles4souls.org

Easter Flowers

Mitten Tree

The Oak Arbor School’s mitten tree will be going up this weekend! Each year we collect warm clothing items to donate to Rochester Neighborhood House. The collection dates this year are Nov.19th to Dec. 9th. It gets earlier every year! Everyone, whether you’re in the school or not, is welcome to donate and decorate the tree with mittens, hats, or scarves for needy children in the area. The tree will be located in the school lounge, right outside the library. Thanks!

Rochester Neighborhood House Christmas Gift Program

For the past several years we've been collecting for the RANH Christmas gifts for the needy children throughout the area. This Sunday you'll see the Christmas Giving Tree for the Neighborhood House set up in the foyer. On the tree are tags that have the age and gender of a child or teen, requesting a specific gift. Please help yourself to one of the tags and bring back the gift unwrapped then put it in the gift box container. There'll be a separate container for gift cards.

There's another way to select gifts as well and that is through the Neighborhood House's Online Giving Tree. You go to this site, www.rochesterneighborhoodhouse.org, then click on "ranhsite2", lastly click on the picture of the Christmas Tree to see a list of requested gifts from a child or teenager. In order to check off a gift that you'd like to purchase, you have to log into the site and "sign-up" with your name, zip code, email address, and a password. However, you're not actually buying anything from the site, only committing to getting a specific gift for a child. NOTE: Once you log in and select a gift, and then you go back and look at the list, you will see your name by the gift selected. Your name disappears once you log off...no one will see your name.

Directions are explicit and easy to follow when you go to the site. The one thing that is important to remember is to write down the "code number" that is with each requested gift and tape it to the gift before putting it in the gift box at church.

Give Thanks – and Food – this Thanksgiving

This November we are collecting non-perishable food items for Grace Centers of Hope, located in Pontiac, MI. From now through our Thanksgiving Day church service, you can place items in the collection box located at the church. During the Thanksgiving Day Service, there will be a time to participate in offering your gifts to the Lord. After the service, we will deliver all of the donations to Grace Centers.

Thanksgiving Day Service – Thursday, November 24, 10:30am

Working together
Oak Arbor and God's Helping Hands

Sat. Sept.17 - Starts at 1:30PM. Ends no later than 5:00. You can stay for all or part of the time.

Outreach Opportunity – for youth group and anyone age 10 and up
Oak Arbor has an opportunity to serve families in need Sat. Sept.17 at God’s Helping Hands in Rochester. God's Helping Hands is a Christian community outreach assisting families in Oakland, Macomb, and Lapeer counties, along with other counties in Southeast Michigan with clothing and food. We will be helping to distribute food on that day. This job would be for ages 10 and up. The members of Youth Group are asked to attend as this will be the official kick-off of their new season. If you are interested or have any questions contact Rachel Mahrle 248 659 8141 rachie121@wowway.com

Relay for Life:

June 25-26, Hart Middle School
Sign Up or Donate

This event calls to attention the on-going need for funding research and assistance for cancer of all varieties and its victims and survivors. The Oak Arbor Church congregation alone has a number of cancer survivors. Add to that the names of relatives, other loved ones, neighbors, co-workers, acquaintances, etc. … the list goes on! You can get involved by walking with a team, creating a new team, or making a donation.

Please contact Marcia Bradin for more information on getting involved, Marcia.b@comcast.net

Gleaner’s Food Bank Collection and Service

Tues. June 14, 9:30 – 11:00
This is a great opportunity to help our neighbors by working a few hours at Gleaners Food Bank in Pontiac. It is a rewarding experience for the entire family.

(May 1- May 22) Oak Arbor will be doing a food drive for Gleaners Food Bank. There will be 2 collection boxes in the lobby. One for food and the other for personal items. There will also be a service opportunity in June to help sort food at Gleaners in Pontiac. So let's keep that spirit of generosity and usefulness going and see how many pounds of food we can collect to help our neighbors in need!

For more than 33 years, Gleaners Community Food Bank has been "nourishing communities by feeding hungry people.” Last year, Gleaners distributed more than 36 million pounds of emergency food to over 484 partner soup kitchens, shelters and pantries in Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Livingston and Monroe counties. The poverty level increased in every county of Southeast MI last year. There are at least 116,934 people living below poverty level in Oakland county alone.Contact

Rachel Mahrle for more information (rachie121@wowway.com).

Rochester Area Neighborhood House

Oak Arbor Church is a member church of RANH.  If you would like to find out more about Neighborhood House, or would like to help, contact Pastor Derek Elphick or Brad McCardell.

Rochester Road Clean-up