wfn.org | GOAA Happy 15th Anniversary OCMC's Agape Canister Program

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SCOBA
The Standing Conference of the Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas
8 East 79th Street, New York, NY 10021

October 6, 2003

For information on OCMC's Agape Canister program,
please contact: Amy Barrett, Program Coordinator
at (904) 829-5132 or at: Agape@ocmc.org.

  Happy 15th Anniversary OCMC's Agape Canister Program

St. Augustine, FL -- The Mission Center (OCMC), this year marks the
fifteen-year anniversary of the Orthodox Christian Mission Center's Agape
Canister program. The Agape program, designed to help ease the pain of
poverty, disease and hunger around the world, has been making a difference
for the last 15 years. Thanks to the dedication and hard work of Agape
Canister Partners, the program has been able to offer more than $1.5
million for development and philanthropic projects operated by the Church
in over 20 countries.

In 1988, the first Agape Canister Partners began their work collecting
coins and the Agape program has grown significantly in 15 years. It started
with only a handful of Partners and today there are nearly 250 from all
across the United States. Our Partners include: priests, retired people,
homemakers, business people, college students, teenagers, ladies societies,
Sunday School classes, professionals and men's groups.

In order for the Agape Canister program to continue to grow, we are looking
for more people willing to volunteer and become Agape Canister Partners. Do
you have compassion, commitment and a few minutes of time, then you have
what it takes to join the Agape Canister Partnership.

One of our long time Partners, Steve Demoleas from New York, explains how
it is an easy way to help many people, "I started realizing what a chain
reaction this whole thing is and how many countless souls are blessed, both
those who give and those who receive."

All a Partner must agree to do is to take a few canisters and place them in
local businesses, restaurants, their church hall or narthex or any other
high traffic area. People place their spare change into the canisters.
Then, once or twice a month, the Partner collects the money, counts it and
sends a check to the Orthodox Christian Mission Center.

Father Ted Trifon and his Church community at SS. Constantine and Helen
Church in Wisconsin raised over $10,000 last year, He is blessed to have
many parishioners who own restaurants and businesses who are willing to
have an Agape Canister in their place of business.

Even though having a canister requires no effort for the business owners,
it can be intimidating for Partners to approach businesses. Steve Demoleas,
offers some advice on how to look at it to help
with the approach, "When I set up the canister in a business I think how
blessed the owner is for allowing me to set it up, how each customer who
contributes is also blessed and how many poor around the world are helped."
Remember that you are inviting others to share in the blessed act of giving
and to support those who are desperately in need.

In 2003, the program is lending aid to the following projects:
Substance abuse training in Alaska and Romania, educational scholarships
for children in Indonesia and the Philippines, financial support for the
Chavogere Medical Clinic in Kenya and the St. Pantilemon Free Clinic in
Romania, partial funding for the purchase of a vehicle for the Protection
of the Theotokos Center in Romania, feeding programs in India, local
training programs in Uganda, and orphanage ministry in Madagascar.

The OCMC's Agape Canister program is dedicated to meeting the needs of
children, families, and communities throughout the world, regardless of
race, color, or creed.

All funds collected by the Agape Canister program are earmarked for medical
care and clinics, agricultural development, food and clothing, support
personnel (e.g. doctors, nurses, teachers, etc), the construction of
schools, and the education of indigenous people in their own communities.

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