The Social Justice and Charity Committee will be holding their Thanksgiving Gift Card campaign starting on October 27th. Please sign up to purchase gift cards from local grocery stores. The following is a list of dates: Oct. 27 & 28 - Sign up sheets and envelopes for NAC Thanksgiving Outreach Nov. 3, 4, 10, 11 - Gift card returns Nov. 11 - 12-1:30, Mary Chapel - NAC Gift card distribution

Good Shepherd Christmas Float—The Evangelization Team is seeking anyone from the parish who may own a flatbed truck or know of someone who does. Last year was the first year Good Shepherd has entered a float in the Uxbridge First Night Holiday Parade. This years parade will be held on Saturday, December 1 at 4:30 pm. We would need the use of the flatbed truck on that day from 8 am until 8 pm. If you can help please call the rectory. The team would like to thank Al Destrempes for the use of his camper trailer last year. He even spent the day with us and drove his truck in the parade. We would like to go bigger this year with more parishioners able to ride on the float. Last year we were the only church entered in the parade singing Christmas Carols along the parade route giving the message to remember to keep “Christ in Christmas.” We were well received. We will also, once again, have a tent on the common giving away free hot cider and cookies and religious items to all in attendance. We will be looking for volunteers in the near future from the parish to make this a great success!

Our Charity and Social Justice team will meet on Wednesday, October 10 at 6:30 pm in the St. John Paul II room of the Parish Center to begin planning the parish outreach for Thanksgiving and Christmas. We are always happy to welcome new members and the time commitment is minimal. Please come and join us!

On Saturday, November 10th Good Shepherd Parish will once again host its annual Holiday Fair from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM in the Parish Center (behind the church) and Parish Hall (beneath the church).

On the last full weekend of each month, we have an opportunity to respond to Jesus’ call for us to help those in need. Next weekend, September 29 & 30, is our Food Pantry and New Day Outreach weekend.

Congratulations to this year’s recipients of the Mario H. Forget Memorial Scholarship Award: Joseph DuBois and Chloe Gardner. Joey has served as a Jr. & Sr. Lector and Chloe has served as a Greeter/Usher, Cantor & Catechist. We are grateful to these young people for their commitment to serving God and our parish family. Thank you to those whose donations to this fund have made these awards possible.

Sewing and craft items—Do you make, sew, knit or crochet a unique crafty item? Are you making such an item as a gift? Have you come up with a fun craft to make with your kids? Or maybe you have a family member who has such a talent? If so, would you be willing to donate one or more of these items to our craft and sewing tables for our November Holiday Fair? If so, please call the following to let them know what you will have—so they can make room on their tables! For sewing and craft items, contact Florence Desmarais at 508-278-5086. For knitting and crochet items, contact Rachel Bernard at 508-779-7355. Then, when your item is done, leave in the fair baskets at the church entrance! Thank you!

The Good Shepherd team will be serving at Peace of Bread Community Kitchen on August 1st. We are in need of volunteers to fulfill our mission. Preparatory work (making salads, decorating tables) begins at 3:00PM and servers arrive for 5:00 PM. We wrap up around 6:30-7:00 PM. The Peace of Bread Community Kitchen is located at the United Presbyterian Church on Cottage Street in Whitinsville (Behind Uni-Bank). If you would like to volunteer or be added to our email list please contact Jason Patnode at JasonTPatnode@gmail.com. Thank you

Do you make, sew, knit or crochet a unique crafty item? Are you making such an item as a gift? Have you come up with a fun craft to make with your kids? Or maybe you have a family member who has such a talent? If so, would you be willing to donate one or more of these items to our craft and sewing tables for our November Holiday Fair? If so, please call the following to let them know what you will have—so they can make room on their tables! For sewing and craft items, contact Florence Desmarais at 508-278-5086. For knitting and crochet items, contact Rachel Bernard at 508-779-7355. Then, when your item is done, leave in the fair baskets at the church entrance! Thank you!

The Mario Henry Forget Memorial Scholarship is given to those graduates of our parish who have remained in active ministry here at Good Shepherd through their senior year of high school. Mario was an altar server and an active youth leader in our Vacation Bible School. Mario died in 2003 as the result of a tragic accident. This scholarship was established in 2013 to honor his memory and to assist in some small way those graduates who have been faithful to serving our parish community.

Hi, my name is Nathaniel Thompson from Troop 25, Uxbridge, MA. I am working towards my Eagle Scout Achievement. In my Eagle Scout project, I will be repairing the playground area behind the Good Shepherd Parish Center. In its current state, the playground is in disrepair. In repairing the playground, I plan to repair the bent fence, replace the mulch and clean the equipment. In doing this, I hope to make the playground a nicer area for children to congregate. This could also bring more people to the church. In order to obtain the necessary funding for the project, I will be holding a bottle and can drive in the church until June 2, 2018.

As we near the end of another Lenten season, it’s time to take a moment to reflect on our Lenten promises and spend some quality time with the Lord. Holy Week officially kicks off on the weekend of March 24th-25th with Palm Sunday Mass, but before its official start, we welcome all parishioners to attend a Lenten Reconciliation Service on Monday, March 19th at 6:00 pm in the church.

If you would like to sing with the Festival Choir for Easter, the rehearsals are starting this Sunday, March 3 from 5-6:30 PM in the Religious Ed. Office in the Parish Center. Anyone, teenager and up, can sing with us on Holy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil. Please consider coming and praising God with your voice!

Our Giving Tree Program begins this weekend. Please take a tag from the trees and adopt a child whose request is on the tag and make that child’s Christmas wish come true. Only gifts for the blue bells should be wrapped. All gifts should be returned to the church no later than the weekend of December 16 & 17; all gifts will be sorted immediately following the 10am Mass on December 17. Please be sure to attach the tag to your gift and if there is more than one item for your tag, please tie them together securely.

Good Shepherd Parish is entering a float in this years First Holiday Night Parade on Saturday, December 2, 2017. The E-Team is looking for volunteers to help design, build, set up and light up our parish float. The float will include a living nativity with parishioners singing Christmas Carols along the parade route. We will also have a parish booth on the Uxbridge Town Common where we will serve free hot cider and cookies. We will have our parish banner wishing everyone a “Merry Christmas”, our brochure and small give aways (prayer cards, rosaries, Christmas Carol booklets etc). A nativity set will be on display to promote the true meaning of Christmas, the birth of Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Holiday Fair is Tiptoeing near. Here’s what you can do to help us prepare:

The Northbridge Association of Churches will be collecting new backpacks and school supplies for children in need in Northbridge. The items needed include backpacks, pens, pencils, colored pencils, crayons, 3-ring binders and filler paper, notebooks, calculators, rulers, scissors and glue sticks. Please leave your donations on the stairs leading into the sanctuary by August 27.

Last May, long-time Good Shepherd parishioner Don Callen faced a grim reality. His Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) had worsened and he required a double lung transplant, and fast. With his life hanging in the balance, Don found himself at the mercy of others — and the clock was ticking.