Residents of Community Welcome House, a women’s shelter in Newnan, will have a little more to smile about this Mother’s Day when they receive ‘Blessing Baskets’ prepared by the congregation of Cokes Chapel United Methodist Church.
“We wanted to help make Mother’s Day special for those who might find it hard to celebrate this year,” said event coordinator, Kathy Schumacher. “Many women arrive at Welcome House with nothing but the clothes they are wearing. We, who have so much, wanted to show them that we care about them and for them to have a little joy on Mother’s Day.” Schumacher heads Cokes Chapel’s mission team and recommended the church’s involvement in the project.
Welcome House was founded in 1990 to provide emergency transitional housing for women who are victims of domestic violence. Annually, Welcome House fields hundreds of calls from women needing help.
“Sadly, domestic violence continues to be extremely pervasive today and it affects people at all levels of society, said Cokes Chapel’s pastor, Mark Jordan. “I was shocked when I read the statistics about the number of women and children who are seriously injured or killed every year. We wanted to offer simple blessings that many not in crisis might take for granted. These simple things become luxuries and we wanted to let these families know that they are not forgotten this Mother’s Day.”
The congregation was asked to support Welcome House families by contributing towels, toiletries, gift cards and various other items in an effort to make their stay at Welcome House more comfortable. The collected items were sorted and then placed into plastic laundry baskets for delivery.
“I am humbled by the outpouring of support we’ve received for this project,” said Jordan, “the Bible tells us to be the church in the world, and at Cokes Chapel, we take this charge seriously.”
For more information on assistance to Welcome House, call 770-304-0966 or visit www.communitywelcomehouse.org.
For more information on Cokes Chapel’s projects, call the church office, 770-253-6052 or visit www.cokeschapel.org. Cokes Chapel is located in East Coweta County at 4096 Lower Fayetteville Road.
