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The Sunrise Christian Food Ministry is putting out an urgent call for food donations, as the nonprofit struggles to keep up with a significant increase in families requesting emergency food assistance.
Christmas shoppers in Citrus Heights visiting the Sunrise Mall and Walmart over the weekend were treated to sounds of the season, compliments of a local church choir and marching band.
By Thomas J. Sullivan–
Volunteers at Celtic Cross Presbyterian Church in Citrus Heights welcomed a break from days of heavy rain this week as they closed out a busy seven-day “Winter Sanctuary” event on Saturday, having offered a hot dinner and a warm place to sleep for an average of two-dozen homeless individuals each evening.
“It’s a ministry of presence,” said Jan Souza, church coordinator for the annual volunteer program. “We’re here to help, to listen and to offer spiritual support to them in any way we can.”
The Winter Sanctuary is an annual event for the Celtic Cross Church community, at 5839 Dewey Drive, which began its participation in the program three years ago. Coordinated by the nonprofit Citrus Heights Homeless Assistance Resource Team, area churches take weekly turns over a two-month period to offer a rotating shelter for the homeless during the coldest and wettest months of the year.
Church volunteers received training from Citrus Heights HART staff members and worked four-hour shifts over…
Sentinel staff report–
Local churches in partnership with the Citrus Heights Homeless Assistance Resource Team (HART) are again launching a temporary winter shelter for Citrus Heights homeless during the cold and wet winter months.
The shelter program is scheduled for Dec. 30 through at least Feb. 23, and organizers are hopeful to extend the shelter into March if a few more churches sign on as a host site. As in prior years, the shelter will rotate to a different church each week, where up to 20 homeless guests will be given a hot meal and a warm place to stay overnight.
“This is an opportunity to break the cycle [of homelessness], offer them respite from the cold, some hot meals, and a chance to connect with people who can help them and take advantage of the resources that are already available so they can work their way back into society,” said Irene Hronicek, who chairs HART’s winter sanctuary committee.
Although having an immediate goal to provide temporary shelter for those without homes in the winter, HART’s ultimate mission is to help the homeless find permanent housing…
By Hayden LePore–
Tracing its roots back to the early 1900s, the Friends Church has been an established presence in Citrus Heights — first meeting at the old Sylvan School house on Sylvan Road, before constructing a still-standing historic church building on Old Auburn Road, and later moving to their current church building at the corner of Fair Oaks Boulevard and Woodmore Oaks Drive.
On the weekend of Sept. 29-30, the church will celebrate its 100th anniversary with several events, including a Saturday open house displaying pictures, reading stories, showing videos, and sharing about the history of the church from 1-5 p.m. on the 29th, including a re-dedication service from 2:30-3:30 p.m. with previous pastors, missionaries, and Citrus Heights Vice Mayor Jeannie Bruins, whose son attended the Little Friends Preschool, which the church started in 1974 after moving to its 7070 Woodmore Oaks Drive location.
The anniversary focus will continue through Sunday morning, where the church is planning on coffee and fellowship at 9 a.m. and a worship service at 10 a.m.
“Saturday is looking back, where we’ve been and who we are, and Sunday will be focused on where we are going and what it will be like for the next 100 years,” Pastor Tweed Moore told The Sentinel in an interview…
Hayden Le Pore contributed to this story–
Pioneer Baptist Church currently meets inside one of the oldest buildings in Citrus Heights, a nearly 100-year-old church on Old Auburn Road. But with recent growth in the congregation, plans are in the works to construct a new 30,000-square-feet church building on a currently vacant 3-acre plot of land on Auburn Boulevard, across from Rusch Park…
By Hazel Ford–
A local Citrus Heights church is participating in a fundraiser to “Support Our Sisters.” The church, New Love Ministries, is partnering with the Raising a Nation Foundation, a Bible-based nonprofit, to supply women in South Africa with much-needed bras…
By Nadezhda Otterstad–
Gennadiy Mokhnenko’s unconventional and often-harrowing work in Ukraine was the focus of an R-rated 2016 Hollywood documentary-style film, “Almost Holy,” whose executive producer directed The Thin Red Line. His controversial tactics of exposing alleged government corruption and “abducting” homeless orphans living on the streets of Ukraine earned him the titles of “vigilante” and “superhero.”
