 Here is an update on some of the highlights and activites of the 2009 Seasons of Service Harvest Walk On October 4th, 1600 volunteers gathered at Franklin Park to join in the annual 5K Walk/Run for HOPE worldwide and the programs it supports—locally, nationally and around the globe. $60,000 was raised through this effort. Thanksgiving Food Drives Throughout the Boston Area, volunteers donated food and turkeys to needy families. On the North Shore and from the Merrimack Valley areas, over 120 families were provided with Thanksgiving meals and $2800 was raised to purchase much needed food through the Merrimack Valley Food Bank. Volunteers South of Boston helped serve 545 people at soup kitchens. The Framingham Food Pantry provided food for Thanksgiving to 320 families and were recently awarded a grant of $20,000 to buy needed food items. Christmas Gifts and Parties For many years the volunteers from the Boston Church of Christ have partnered with the MA Department of Children and Families to provide gifts and parties for children and teens. This year, foster children in the following areas will have a happy holiday because of hundreds of donations by disciples: 75 foster children cared for through DCF Brockton. 110 foster teens from Lowell & Lawrence will be hosted at a holiday party in partnership with the Haverhill & Lowell DCF. 75 children will be sponsored by the South/S. Central Region of the church. The church has given a grant to support a holiday lunch for families who are adopting foster children through DCF. 50 children will be helped during the holidays through Casa Iris and the Spanish Region. 50—100 children connected with the MA Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children in Lowell will receive Christmas gifts. Foster children in the Framingham area will receive gifts through the annual toy drive for DCF. Outrageous Fundraising 24 Adventurous disciples and friends played basketball for 24 continuous hours and raised $24,000 for the Sihanouk Hospital Center of HOPE in Cambodia. This was a new event and we hope to see similar “extreme” fundraising events in 2010. # 1 Partner HOPE worldwide and the volunteers from the Boston Church of Christ have been recognized as the American Red Cross #1 Partner of the Year. During MLK Day weekend in January of this year, disciples took part in distributing fire prevention information to over 26,000 homes in the greater Boston area. Home fires remain the #1 disaster in the US and the ARC has been very thankful for our support each year, which has set the pace for the rest of the nation.  MLK Day Celebration Scholarships for Servants 2009 saw the initiation of a scholarship program to benefit high school seniors in foster care and one senior disciple from the church. Zoe and Mack Strong awarded the 4 scholarships to winners of an essay contest on the topic, “How can I Serve”, based on Dr. King’s statement “Everybody can be great because everybody can serve” and Jesus’ teaching in Mark 10.
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The weekend of November 20-22 was a very busy one for about 100 disciples who traveled from around New England and New York to intersect for two eternity-touching meetings.
It was a cool Fall day in Boston but not near as cold as last year! This year's Fall Festival and Harvest Walk were pushed up a few weeks to hopefully keep us a little warmer and help us to enjoy the day together worshiping God and serving the Poor and Needy. We were honored this year to have Randy and Kay McKean back with us to lead the service. Randy and Kay served for many years in Boston as the Lead Evangelist and Women's Ministry Leader. They currently serve in the same role in the 
The 2009 NECC messages are now online at the New England Christian Conference Website, 
