Community Involvement

Community Involvement's long-range goal is to increase congregational awareness of and involvement in local community social ministry activities. We conduct the following activities in the community during the year and are always in need of volunteers to help with coordinating and conducting the projects:

Projects

Community Supper – HSLC is home to the Community Supper every Tuesday which provides a hearty, nutritious meal for needy families in our community. We also take responsibility to provide the meal on the second Tuesday of October, January, April, and July, 5-7pm. Help is needed on those 4 dates to provide food, serve, and clean up. Opportunities are also available every Tuesday through Kirkland Interfaith Transitions in Housing (KITH) to assist with after-school tutoring, cooking classes, and other support for their clientele

Thanksgiving Baskets – HSLC provides baskets with food for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner to families in need in our community. Volunteers are needed to sort, pack, and distribute these holiday dinner baskets for families residing in transitional housing while they get back on their feet.

Alternative Giving – We support the Kirkland Interfaith Network’s (KIN) Alternative Giving Fair and also offer alternative giving for Christmas at HSLC. This involves purchasing a small gift or card that explains to the recipient that you have made a donation to an organization that will use the funds to purchase a flock of chickens for someone in a third world country, a window for a unit of affordable housing, a blanket to warm a refugee, tools for building shelters, etc. Volunteers are needed to staff the booths at the KIN Holiday Fair and to take orders at HSLC.

Giving Trees We host Giving Trees each Advent season to collect Christmas gifts. These gifts are donated to needy children through Hopelink, low-income seniors through the The Gardens of Juanita Bay, families moving out of homelessness into transitional housing provided by Kirkland Interfaith Transitions in Housing (KITH), and the St. Andrews Housing Group

Eastside Baby Shower – Once a year, we collect new and used baby and children’s clothing and supplies as well as cash donations for the Eastside Baby Corner in Issaquah. Eastside Baby Corner provides these items to low-income families with small children. Volunteers are needed to help publicize, collect donations, nd deliver them to the warehouse in Issaquah.

Summer Book Drive – Each June, we collect new and gently used children’s and teen’s books to distribute to low-income families through Hopelink. These books help ensure that the children maintain and build their reading skills over the summer months. Volunteers are needed to help collect donations and deliver them to Hopelink.

Back-to-School –In late summer HSLC participates in a drive by the Kirkland Interfaith Network to collect school supplies for low-income families. Volunteers are needed to help solicit donations, publicize, sort donations, and distribute these to children in need.