A Service of Celebration and Thanksgiving for the Life of Joe Kingston will be held on Saturday, September 23 at 11 AM followed by a collation at First Congregational Church of Reading.
If you are unable to attend in person, and would like to receive the Zoom link, please add your email below and click “submit.” We will send an email out with the Zoom link the morning of the service.
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As the excitement for the Olde Redding Faire builds, we ask you to consider donating to this year’s Silent Auction. We hope you will join us in celebrating our faire and auction.
Our silent auction is part of a tradition that goes back to 1957, when the first faire was held. The online Silent Auction has grown to be a significant area of the faire. In fact, the bidding starts the week before the faire!
Last year’s silent auction offerings displayed in the sanctuary on faire day.
Donations to the auction include gift cards, gift baskets, products, and services. Last year, we had donations such as crafts, including hand knitted afghans, quilts, artwork, and pottery; homemade food from soup to dessert, vacation rentals, and unique local daytrip experiences. You might have a different and wonderful idea for a new creative donation. Contact the Silent Auction team if you want to discuss ideas for your contribution.
All donations are greatly appreciated. Click here to donate. If you need help with this online process, please reach out for help.
We can pick up your donation or you can leave your donation in the church office starting on Sunday, September 24. We will coordinate drop off of food baskets and very large items. Please contact us for details.
The Silent Auction will open Saturday, September 23 and close on Saturday, September 30. You can view the donations and make bids in person during the faire on Saturday, September 30, between 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM. Please drop by!
Proceeds from the Silent Auction, which earned roughly $7,000 last year, benefited our church, as well as the Reading Food Pantry and Reading’s Mission of Deeds.
The First Congregational Church of Reading’s Women ‘n Stitches group is kicking off the “Dress a Girl Around the World” sewing project.
Dress a Girl Around the World is a campaign where you sew dresses for young girls in need, following a simple pattern that’s provided for you. For many of the girls, the dress you create may be the ONLY dress they will EVER have. We want it to be a high-quality product in which they feel dignified and beautiful. These girls live in areas where they are easy targets for trafficking; the new dress shows that they are cared for and may discourage would-be predators.
Caption: These dresses were made during the Reading MLK, Jr. Day of Service and we donated to the organization.
You can join us to create dresses as a group or you can pick up a kit with instructions to sew on your own. We will be meeting Tuesday, September 12, from 7:30 – 9pm at the church, 25 Woburn Street, Room 17.
More information about the program can be found here:
While we have plenty of fabric, we are looking for attractive trim: lace, rick rack, eyelet, double fold bias tape (½” or ¾”), any color (minimum 8 ft length), and elastic (½”).
Contact the church office, 781-944-0205 or office@churchofreading.org, regarding donation and any questions about this meaningful project.…
Bring your no longer used electronics and other items listed below to the town hall parking lot this Saturday, August 19th, for recycling by Green Day Recycling. Look for all the details below.
Thank you to all who have donated items for the Church World Service School Kits. We now have supplies for 27 complete kits, and we are close to completing another 12! We can now imagine one full classroom or perhaps even two classes with smiling children receiving our bright bags full of new supplies.
See below for the list of items needed to complete 12 more kits. (If you already purchased other components listed in previous School Kit articles, yes, please donate them as well. Thank you!)
The School Kit collection ends on September 6th, but August is the time to stock up on school items. Staples continued their sale with 50 cent crayons and 35 cent one-subject spiral notebooks. (The inexpensive notebooks are toward the very back of the Reading store.) This pricing lasts until at least 8/19.
One pair of blunt scissors (rounded tip, only) – 4 pairs needed
Six new, unsharpened pencils with erasers – 54 pencils needed
One box of 24 crayons (only 24 count) – 7 boxes needed
The drop-off box is just outside the Music Room.
In addition, we appreciate those who choose to support this project with a cash donation. These donations are needed for the bulk purchase of cloth school bags, the $2 per kit for CWS to process our kits, and the cost to ship the heavy kits to CWS. The total for these expenses is typically over $200. Please send a check to the church with “School Kits” in the memo line or to easily donate online, use the link below and choose “give to CWS School Kits” in the drop down menu.
As the excitement for the Olde Redding Faire builds, we ask you to consider donating to this year’s Silent Auction. We hope you will join us in celebrating our faire and auction.
Our silent auction is part of a tradition that goes back to 1957, when the first faire was held. The online Silent Auction has grown to be a significant area of the faire. In fact, the bidding starts the week before the faire!
Last year’s silent auction offerings displayed in the sanctuary on faire day.
Donations to the auction include gift cards, gift baskets, products, and services. Last year, we had donations such as crafts, including hand knitted afghans, quilts, artwork, and pottery; homemade food from soup to dessert, vacation rentals, and unique local daytrip experiences. You might have a different and wonderful idea for a new creative donation. Contact the Silent Auction team if you want to discuss ideas for your contribution.
All donations are greatly appreciated. You can use this QR code to complete a form describing your donation or use this link https://tinyurl.com/2023FaireDonations. If you need help with this online process, please reach out for help.
We can pick up your donation or you can leave your donation in the church office starting on Sunday, September 24. We will coordinate drop off of food baskets and very large items. Please contact us for details.
To view the auction, go to https://bidbeacon.com and enter HS74M7. The Silent Auction will open Saturday, September 23 and close on Saturday, September 30. You can view the donations and make bids in person during the faire on Saturday, September 30, between 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM. Please drop by!
Proceeds from the Silent Auction, which earned roughly $7,000 last year, benefited our church, as well as the Reading Food Pantry and Reading’s Mission of Deeds.
On Sunday August 27, members of our congregation will again provide lunch for the Common Cathedral, an outdoor congregation of housed and un-housed men and women that shares God’s love through community and pastoral care.
After the easing of Covid restrictions, we are returning to a more social mode of assembling the needed bagged lunches! Parishioners are being asked to make the needed sandwiches ahead of time, and to drop them off at the church kitchen prior to the service that day. Volunteers will meet at 9:30 there to fill lunch bags with a fruit, crackers, and a sweet. The sandwiches will be added last. Then a crew will transport the bagged lunches down to Boston Common after our service.