St. Matthew's Parish Annual Christmas Faire November 21st

The Parish of St. Matthew, 1031 Bienveneda Avenue in Pacific Palisades, will host its annual Christmas Faire on Friday, November 21st 6pm-9pm at the church’s Sprague Auditorium.

The theme of this year’s Faire is Joy because, as we learn in Matthew 2:30, “When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.” The annual Faire truly is a joyful occasion as all proceeds from the event are donated to the church’s outreach partners; a full list of the religious and non-religious organizations are listed below. The last three Faires have raised in excess of $90,000 each for these agencies.

The four Christmas Faire co-chairs are Pacific Palisades residents: Kirby Williamson and Christel Durkin who are serving as auction co-chairs with Mary Vig and Lyndsie Cardito serving as the event co-chairs.

“We look forward to making this year’s festivities even more welcoming,” says Vig of her second year as co-chair. “It’s a truly joyous way to start off the holiday season; and we hope that friends both old and new will stop by.”

Williamson, Durkin and Cardito are co-chairing for the first time and, “look forward to making our Outreach partners’ holidays more joyous with the funds raised.”

For more information on the St. Matthew’s Christmas Faire see: http://www.stmatthews.com/church/christmasfaire.php

The organizations listed below will benefit from the Christmas Faire:

Angel Interfaith Network (Project Angel) – Provide funds for housing, food, transportation and supplies for low-income families with babies born at County+ USC Medical Center

Chrysalis - Fund job training and placement for homeless/low-income individuals

CLARE Foundation - Support teens at risk for substance abuse through Clarity for Youth program

Common Ground - Provide funding for meals and activities for homeless clients with HIV/Aids so they can meet staff and access services including education, prevention, testing and counseling

PRISM /Restorative Justice - Support pastoral care for prison inmates at the Twin Towers and youth at Juvenile Hall, and host a picnic for families of the incarcerated

Episcopal Urban Intern Program - Provide funds to continue development of recruitment and marketing materials for interns to develop a strong pool of candidates

GAIA (Global Aid Interfaith Alliance) - Provide funds to sponsor a village in order to employ and train community care givers, provide malaria nets, home-based medical supplies, school fees, orphan care supplies, transportation, training and support groups in impoverished African villages of rural Malawi

Hollygrove - Fund the Family Search and Engagement Program for abused and neglected children

Jubilee Consortium - Support the Jubilee Health Justice Project for inner city youth through a Social Investment program

NYA (Neighborhood Youth Association) - Provide funding for the Personal Best Program to help at- risk children in West Los Angeles

OPCC (formerly Ocean Park Community Center) - Provide funds for food and shelter for people who are homeless, living with mental illness, suffering from substance addiction or are survivors of domestic violence as part of the “Here for Good” Capital Campaign

Safe Place for Youth (SPY) – Fund the expansion of the case management program to provide support and services for homeless youth in Los Angeles

St. Joseph Center - Pay the stipend for the Episcopal Urban Intern who helps locate housing for the homeless

St. Joseph’s Center’s Bread & Roses Café - Fund partial salary for the chef that serves meals to low income and homeless families and individuals, including veterans and seniors

Westside Food Bank - Provide funds for purchase and distribution of essential nutrition for ultra low-income individuals and families (One dollar provides four meals to someone in need)

The Parish of St. Matthew welcomes Palisidians of all faiths to join us at the Annual Christmas Faire and at Sunday services.

For more information on The Parish of St. Matthew, The Episcopal Parish of Pacific Palisades: http://www.stmatthews.com/