THIS IS THE DAY THE ST. VINCENT DEPAUL MINISTRY DISTRIBUTES THEIR CHRISTMAS BASKETS TO NEEDY PARISH FAMILIES..........

At 10 am this morning OLOL's St, Vincent DePaul Society Ministry will be holding their annual Christmas Party / Christmas Baskets distribution for a dozen or more families in the Parish.  SVDP President Delores Rhodes Culpepper and her fellow members have been working for more than two months in arranging and organizing the donations for today's event, to see that families with children, age 13 and under, do not go with Christmas gifts of clothing and toys.  And they are having to go the extra mile trhis year, as a half dozen or more of the family requests they received were not adopted by another parish family, perhaps indicating the continuing affect of the lagging economy.  Therefore, SVDP is providing for those families from their own resources, which come from 5th Sundays of the month second collections during the year. ....In addition to SVDP's Christmas Baskets ministry, OLOL's Knights and Ladies of St. Peter Claver Ministry is also providing a half dozen or more Christmas Baskets to needy familes in the Parish.  These two parish ministries do a yeoman job within the means available in an economically challenged such as Our Lady of Lourdes, in the Del Paso Heights, Rio, Elverta, Robla, neighborhoods of Sacramento.  Doing my best to see that needy families in the three zip codes of OLOL, the Parish will also provide 3-10 more Christmas Baskets, from the ThanksGiving Day collection, which we also shared with Stanford Settlement's, "Operation Crachit".  In the Advent Light of Hope we are following as Diciples of Jesus the Christ, these charitable works of corporal and spiritual care and outreach are an effective sign that Gospel Values are being lived,and the true significance of Advent and Christmas are being honored for God's Greater Glory and the Common Good..........Fr.  Troy