Dear Members and Friends of St. Mark's,

I am grateful to so many of you who have contributed to the Community Christian Service Agency in memory of Merrie.  Total gifts so far: $5,030, and they continue to come in.  This is really wonderful!  These gifts are immediately being put to work at CCSA to buy low-cost food from the San Diego Food Bank, to maintain modest facilities in Pacific Beach and south Clairemont, and to pay the salary of the incredibly hard-working director (yay, Connie!)

CCSA operates with very low "overhead," with just one full-time employee and two small, crowded facilities assisting 28,000 people in need each year.  This year we are serving even more people, while spending less money to do it.  Dozens of volunteers are daily doing things like packing food and distributing it to clients, organizing clothing, screening clients and providing referrals, updating records in the office, cleaning and repair, and promotion and fundraising.

Some specific needs at CCSA right now are:

backpacks filled with school supplies, for their back-to-school program (information at http://www.ccsasandiego.org/);
men's trousers and jeans, sizes 30 to 36;
a good, used truck to pick up quantities of donated food from generous retailers.
Financial contributions to CCSA are always welcome--you can always write a check to St. Mark's and write "CCSA" on the memo line.  Thanks!

See you in church!

Craig

(below: A summer moment at Camp Cedar Glen.)