The Collier County Elections Board will be sending a Voter Outreach Team to St. John the Evangelist on July 28 and 29 to facilitate voter registration. The team will be onsite in the narthex on Saturday from 2:15 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. and on Sunday from 7:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. They will bring a laptop with the current registered voter database so that parishioners can verify their status. If you are not registered, a team member will assist you in completing your application. Unfortunately, the registration cutoff for the August primary is July 16. Therefore, if you wish to vote in this election and are not registered, you must visit the Supervisor of Elections website, (www.collliervotes.com) complete the application and return it to the main office by this coming Monday. The deadline to register to vote in the general election in November is not until October 9. If you are not registered to vote or are unsure, this will be a great opportunity to make sure that you are ready to cast your ballot in November.
I received a phone call this week from a manager (and parishioner) of the Wal-Mart at the corner of US-41 and 111th Avenue North. This is the third consecutive year that she has called me to inquire about the dates for Undy Sunday. Undy Sunday will take place this year on August 5 and August 12. The reason for her call was to identify the dates for this year’s drive so that her store could make sure to order extra inventory for the event. I am sure that many of you did not realize that we collected that much in the way of socks and underwear for the drive. So I did a little research and was astounded at what I found.
Did you know that this year, nearly 50 Collier County Churches and Synagogues will participate in Undy Sunday hosted by Catholic Charities of Collier County? This is the 16th annual event. Since the initial Undy Sunday in 1997, the number of participating churches has more than doubled. About 700,000 undergarments have been given to disadvantaged children in Collier County during the past 15 years.
It is hard to imagine these children doing without such basic necessities as clean underwear and socks; however, the fact is that this situation is all too prevalent throughout Collier County. The good news is that this is a program in which everyone can participate. I intend to have my 9 year old daughter (although maybe slightly unwillingly) use her allowance to purchase a package of underwear for the drive. She will learn a very valuable lesson about how blessed she is and how important it is to take care of those in need. I will also petition everyone I know to follow suit and do the same. You can purchase a little girls combo pack (9 pairs of underwear and 6 pairs of socks) for as little as $10.50 at Wal-Mart. So when I say that everyone can participate, this is certainly the case. If you are unable to make it to the store to shop, Catholic Charities will accept monetary contributions as well.
Please look for the Undy Sunday boxes in the narthex of the church on August 5 and August 12. We ask that you bring new socks and new underwear for boys and girls sizes six through 12. Monetary donations are also needed to purchase backpacks and school supplies.
We are no longer accepting donations for Jamaica. This includes used clothing, appliances, toiletries, etc. The agreement that previously existed with Food for the Poor with regards to free shipping of containers to Jamaica is no longer valid. If you have any of the aforementioned items that you wish to donate, please contact the St. Vincent de Paul Society at 775.1667. They can arrange pickup of large items or you may drop off donations directly to their thrift store on Davis Blvd. Please do not bring donations to the parish office. We apologize for the inconvenience and will continue to search for new shipping options.
We have finally agreed on a granite color and fill for the new headstones in the Memorial Garden. Star Granite is sending me a complete sample this coming week. Upon acceptance of the sample, we will begin replacing the headstones in place with the new engraved version. The new headstones will NOT have a bronze plaque. Instead, the granite will be directly engraved with the name, date of birth and date of death. We are extremely optimistic that this will solve our problems with discoloration and oxidation of the bronze plaques currently in use. This will be a very time consuming process and we ask that you be patient while we make these much needed enhancements to the final resting place of your loved ones.
In His work together,
Scott Schlossberg, MBA
General Manager