Into The Community
2022
After the epidemic eased a little in 2022, Arise church began to re-engage in community service. On May 21, 80 church members participated in the Kids Against Hunger food packaging operation. We worked together to prepare 12,096 meals to help Ukrainian refugees.
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2019
2019 was a fruitful year when we had the most impact on our community. To celebrate Arise Church’s 25th anniversary, we set a goal of serving our community for 2,500 hours from October 2018 through December 2019. During these 14 months, we served among the homeless and the elderly, cooked dinner, built house, packed food boxes and Christmas gift boxes, planted trees and picked up trash in regional parks, and worked in local food banks. In total, we served 3,393 hours which exceeded our expectations! Over 70% of our congregation (young and old) participated.
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2018
1. Arise on the Move – Santa Rosa: Arise team of 22 people helped Habitat For Humanity rebuild houses in Santa Rosa on July 6, 2018.
2. Emergency Privacy Tents: Arise Church donated 16 tents to MacGregor High School in April 2018.
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Regular Community Services
1. Tri-City Food Bank: Youth groups served in Tri-City Food Bank in Fall 2017 and Spring 2018. Small group B4C also served twice in 2018. We put a food barrel in the church cafe so our congregation can donate food whenever they want.
2. Alameda County Community Food Bank: In Dec, 2016, 26 Arise Church volunteers served in the Food Bank. Again in March, 2017, 21 people went. In Aug, 2018, Acts2 small group also served there.
3. Christmas Shoebox: Every year, Arise congregation actively participated in preparing gift boxes to be distributed to children in needy countries. In 2015, we collected 96 boxes; 106 in 2016, 155 in 2017; 142 in 2018; 115 in 2019; 99 in 2021, 181 in 2022.
4. Blessing Bags: During 2016 Chinese New Year, youth groups put together 100 blessing bags containing snacks and a Gospel tract. Congregants picked up a few and left them in cars. When we saw someone on an off-ramp asking or waiting outside of a store asking for help, we handed them one of the bags. In Sept 2016, youth groups again put together 150 blessing bags. In April 2018, they packed 150 bags. In June 2022, English congregation packed 100 bags.
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