At their May meeting, the District 1 representatives agreed to hold a shower to benefit North Porch Women & Infants’ Centers, on Sunday, August 11 at Church of the Messiah in Chester. District 1 congregations responded with generous donations of diapers, formula, baby wipes, baby food, hand-knitted baby hats and blankets and baby toiletries.
In addition to enjoying social time together, the shower attendees also heard a report by North Porch Board President, the Rev. Margaret Otterburn. North Porch, which serves more than 200 infants and children aged three and under each month, currently maintains three centers: Newark, Paterson (St Paul's Church) and Dover (St. John's Church), as well as satellite centers at Hackettstown (St James' Church) and Newark (Grace Church).
Otterburn announced that although the Newark center at 620 Clinton Avenue had recently closed, as the building was no longer available to them, Grace Church in Newark is allowing North Porch to open extra days during August. In September the Newark center will open at 24 Rector Street, the parish home of Trinity & St. Philip’s Cathedral. She also announced that North Porch will be opening a satellite center at Christ Church in Hackensack in September.
North Porch would welcome new Board members. Interested individuals should the Rev. Margaret Otterburn at margaretotterburn@msn.com.
District 1 is comprised of the ten the western-most congregations in the Diocese of Newark: St. Mary's Church in Belvidere, Christ Church in Budd Lake, Church of the Messiah in Chester, St. Luke's Church in Hope, St. James' Church in Hackettstown, St. Mark's Church in Mendham, St. Peter's Church in Mount Arlington, St. Luke's Church in Phillipsburg, St. Dunstan's Church in Succasunna and St. Peter's Church in Washington.
