Social Outreach
Divine Treasures Resale Shop
Divine Treasures is a place for you! Divine Treasures is a non-profit store established to raise funds for Holy Nativity’s outreach partners. Established by the women of Holy Nativity in 1958, Divine Treasures still donates 90 percent of its income to charities. READ MORE…Family Farm Fest
The first Saturday in August, Holy Nativity turns our parking lot into a suburban farm and invites families throughout the Western Suburbs to have a meaningful day of family fun while raising money and awareness for Heifer International. Live farm animals such as llamas, goats, chicks and rabbits are on display. Children and adults are invited to travel to various animal booths to learn about the way each animal can change the life of an impoverished family. Take a break from the animals at a cake walk or a cherry pit spitting contest. And buy fresh produce at an organic farmer’s market. Last year, Holy Nativity and the 400 guests who came to Family Farm Fest raised $21,000 for Heifer International. Mark your calendar for the first Saturday in August from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and help change someone’s life. For those that are unable to attend Church of the Holy Nativity's Family Farm Fest, our CHN 2010 FFF Donation Link is available for donations. For more information, please talk to Mary Lu Connally. †PADS (or “Public Action to Deliver Shelter”)
is a ministry that provides shelter and support services to homeless or at-risk individuals and families in DuPage County. Each summer, Holy Nativity hosts PADS, providing food, hospitality and safe shelter to more than 35 people. Volunteers from Holy Nativity provide the meals and volunteers to cook, serve, setup and close up in the morning, while Redeemer Lutheran Church in Hinsdale provides the space. PADS is a great family ministry. Kids are encouraged to help and are very good with the bed setup and some of the kitchen jobs. For more information, please contact Heidi Loffredo. †Millennium Development Goals
Holy Nativity studied the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) over a five month period and has made the MDGs a mission priority so that we help Make Poverty History. What are the MDGs? At the start of the new millennium, leaders from 191 nations, including the United States, agreed on a plan to cut extreme global poverty in half by 2015. Together, they created the eight Millennium Development Goals. In 2006, the 75th General Convention of the Episcopal Church made the MDGs a top mission priority by devoting a portion of the Episcopal Church's budget to address them. You are invited to browse the resources Holy Nativity has compiled or look at Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation. Take action now to make poverty history.St. Nicolas Day giving to Cathedral Shelter
The second Sunday of Advent, Holy Nativity celebrates St. Nicholas Day by bringing Christmas gifts and food cards to families in need. We partner with Cathedral Shelter by sharing some of the blessings of our lives to make other people’s Christmas celebrations more joyful. In our own way, this is living out the spirit of St. Nicholas, protector of women and children. On St. Nicholas Day, St. Nicholas comes to visit Holy Nativity and tell his story to all the children. Then he invites the children to bring the community’s gifts forward to the altar. All are left with a vision of the abundance of God’s creation and a taste of God’s generosity. This Sunday concludes with a community wide breakfast for all and gingerbread houses for the kids to make! For more information, please talk to Kim Coogan-Rogers. †St. Gregory’s Episcopal School
As school starts up each fall, Holy Nativity gathers school supplies for St. Gregory’s Episcopal School. Other times throughout the year, parishioners volunteer in a variety of ways with St. Gregory’s. St. Gregory is an Episcopal faith-based K through 8 school with the goal of preparing boys from the inner city with an education that will qualify them for main-line high schools in Chicago. The school accepts approximately 80 boys from challenging backgrounds and provides this program for a fraction of the actual cost to their parents. As a result, they require all types of support from the public, including administrative tasks, adjunct teaching, technical support, supplies and tutoring as well as monetary support. For more information, talk to Mary Arnold. †CROP Walk
Each fall, Holy Nativity walks with our neighbors and in solidarity with the world’s hungry to take a stand against hunger in our world. Together, we raise awareness and funds for international relief and development, as well as local hunger-fighting initiatives. CROP Walkers have been walking, with the world, for 34 years to help some 3,200 local food pantries, food banks and meal sites throughout the U.S. provide food to families in need; to help communities drill borehole wells that reach deep into the aquifer and to provide emergency food and drought-resistant seed for replanting in parts of Africa; to help provide shelter and food for refugee and displaced families and rebuilding, replanting and micro-credit assistance when families are able to return to their homes. We walk because they walk — millions of people around the world walk every day for food, for shelter, for water, for survival. Church World Service sponsors the CROP Walk.Companion Relationship with the Anglican Diocese of Renk, Sudan
In 2006 the Church of the Holy Nativity decided to support a priest in this Diocese of Renk, Sudan. This southern Sudanese Diocese is located at the border between the fractious north and south in Africa's largest country, which has been wracked by civil war for nearly 40 of the 51 years of the nation's independence from British rule. A fragile foothold of peace has been established in southern Sudan and we are fortunate to have a direct, personal means of helping strengthen it by investing in Christian leadership development and the rebuilding of social structure in Renk. Each year, Holy Nativity gives 1% of our income to support the ministry of the Diocese of Renk. In addition to this financial support, Holy Nativity prays weekly for the mission and ministry of our partner diocese. We have also welcomed some of the Lost Boys of Sudan to our community to share with us their inspiring stories of survival and faith.† Please call the church office (630-323-6820) for individual ministry contact information.
