Christian Services Commission

Evelyn House Party

For more information, check our CSC Brochure

When a parish family requires outside help due to illness or a death, we try to do whatever is necessary to relieve some of their burden; i.e., transport a child to/from school, shop, prepare and deliver a meal, stay with young children while parents visit a hospitalized child or other parent. We ask parishioners for help when the tasks are beyond our resources.

Beyond that we also provide meals in other situations where a family cannot prepare a meal. We also t ransport family members for hospital or nursing home visits. With the help of volunteers, we are able to transport family members to visit their local relatives when other transportation is not available.

In December, the CSC invites the parish to participate in a Christmas Party at the Evelyn House in Stoughton. Evelyn House is a residence for 16 homeless families, each family sharing one bedroom and using one of two communal kitchens, playrooms, and dormitory type bathrooms. Parishioners volunteer to purchase gifts for each family member or to donate non-perishable food items for a shopping bag of special treats for each family; i.e., a box of candy canes, a tin of sugar cookies, a family game (Uno), juice boxes, and a dozen pony size bottles of water. We add fresh fruit into the shopping bag. We then take the materials to the home to host a “party” with food and beverages and various activities keyed to the children’s ages. Santa comes with his helpers and gives each family their gifts individually. In 2010, there were 24 children and 18 adults living in the home at Christmas, and every one of them received a gift package.

At Easter, we ask parishioners to provide a basket for each child at the Evelyn House and suggest appropriate items to be included based on the child’s gender and age. Twenty beautiful baskets are delivered to the home on Thursday before Easter and held in a special closet until Easter morning when the director delivers them to each child. We are told that everyone is extremely happy to receive these gifts.

We provide 65 appropriate greeting cards for the residents at the Epoch Center in Sharon at Thanksgiving, Christmas/Chanukah, Valentine’s Day, Easter/Passover, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and on each resident’s birthday. Frequently students in the religious education program and other parishioners volunteer to hand-make some of these greeting cards, providing a personal touch.

In the Autumn, CSC will collect gently-used children and teen books in multiple languages for the Reach Out and Read Program associated with Brigham & Womens’ Family Care Associates.

On the 3rd Thursday of each month at 11am, two or three members of the CSC go to the Epoch Center and recite the rosary with the Catholic residents. We usually have a group of 12-16 residents praying with us.

Parishioners donate non-perishable food items during each week, and on Tuesday morning a member of the CSC loads them into her car and delivers them to the pantry in Stoughton. Normally the donations fill her trunk and back seat. During Super Bowl weekend, parishioners are asked to bring cans of soup. This "Souper" bowl drive is very successful. In the spring, parishioners are asked to donate household cleaning items -- another huge success.