Food Bank
Needs: Specifically—cold cereal, canned tomatoes, rice or rice helpers, pasta, crackers, dry soup, and canned items, including soups, fruits, beans, baked beans, and tuna.

Heritage and Horizons
The Heritage & Horizons Fall 2016 series – “Taking Care of Yourself…Taking Care of Others Part 2” – will be held on Tuesday mornings from September 27 through October 25. There is a $15 registration fee. The full program can be found at the Welcome Center.

Market Basket and Thanksgiving
Are you doing extra baking and feeding more people in November? Be sure to sign up for grocery cards in the office the first three weeks of October, and maybe even order extra cards. They will be available for you to pick up in early November. Our sales support the Saturday Morning Breakfast!

Parish Life Volunteers
Parish Life is looking for volunteers:

• Would you be willing to make homemade soup for about 14 people for October 16^th.We would like to have this for lunch with the Pastors that day.
• Are you interested in meeting the young families of the church? Many of them meet and eat from 5 pm-6 pm on Wednesdays before their kids have choir practice. They would appreciate some help with the cost of buying pizza for their supper and would enjoy visiting with other church members.

To volunteer, or for more information, please contact Clara Kosmela.

Special Mission Offering — October 2
Neighbors in Need (NIN) is a special mission offering of the UCC that supports ministries of justice and compassion throughout the United States. One-third of NIN funds support the Council for American Indian Ministry (CAIM). Two-thirds of the offering is used by the UCC’s Justice and Witness Ministries (JWM) to support a variety of justice initiatives, advocacy efforts, and direct service projects through grants. NIN grants are awarded to churches and organizations doing justice work in their communities. Funding for these grants is through donations to the Neighbors in Need offering, which will be received on October 2, 2016 by most UCC congregations as part of their World Communion Sunday observance. The 2016 theme for NIN is “This We Believe” and connects the issue of child hunger to the work that the UCC congregations are doing to serve their communities and address this injustice. An excellent example of how COA is supporting the cause is through Outreach to the Power-Packs Project, support of the food bank through monetary, food, and produce donations through our Seeds of Hope Garden! Please consider this special offering on October 2^nd.

Becoming an Apostle
During the months of October, January, and April, we will be hosting informational sessions on Sunday afternoons at 2 pm in the Youth Center. The purpose of these sessions is to reflect on: “Who are we?” “What do we believe?” and “Where and when are we serving?” These sessions are open to both visitors and members seeking answers to these questions.

Attention Music Lovers
On Sunday, October 9^th at 4 pm, international organist and lecturer Gail Archer will present a concert of works by Bach, Bruhns, Hensel, Howe, Reger, Schumann, and Tower at St. Anthony of Padua church (501 East Orange Street, Lancaster.) You are welcome to meet the artist and enjoy refreshments after the concert. There is no admission charge; a free-will donation will be accepted.