Maple Street Church in Danvers will be the official home for Santa and his elves on Saturday, Nov. 28, from 2 to 5 p.m. during the Downtown Christmas Walk. Families are invited to bring their children to 90 Maple St. to see Santa and enjoy cocoa, cookies and a craft project. The Danvers High Key club will be on hand to take pictures, and the Girl Scouts will be caroling. For more information, call 978-774-4510.
First Parish Church, to commemorate its 200-year-old building, will present photographs of early New England churches taken by Manchester resident Steve Rosenthal and published in his new book "White on White: Churches of Rural New England," on Sunday, Nov. 29, at the Chapel on Chapel Lane in Manchester from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. The First Parish Church and Meeting House in Manchester are featured in the pictures. A simple lunch will precede the illustrated talk, which will begin at 11:55 a.m. and end at 1 p.m., followed by a book signing.
"Burning the Future: Coal in America," a film about the environmental hazards of coal extraction and its use as an energy source, and on conflict between the coal industry and residents of West Virginia, will be shown at First Baptist Church, 221 Cabot St., Beverly, on Friday, Dec. 4. Dinner will be served at 6:30 p.m., and the screening will begin at 7:30 p.m. Cost is $8. All proceeds will benefit the Mission Group of the church, which will visit West Virginia in summer 2010. For more information, call 978-922-3295.
The Temple Ner Tamid Men's Club will hold its annual auction on Saturday, Dec. 5, at 368 Lowell St. in Peabody. A silent auction will be held from 6:15 to 7:30 p.m., dinner from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., and a live auction at 7:45 p.m., along with dessert and coffee. Admission is $10. This event funds the Men's Club scholarship program for high school seniors applying to college, as well as ongoing temple needs. The public is invited to attend the auction, and tickets may be purchased at the door. Individuals and businesses are invited to submit donations to Harvey Cohen and Scott Feinstein by e-mail at auction@templenertamid.com or by dropping items at the temple office.
An alternative Christmas market will be held at Holy Trinity United Methodist Church, 16 Sylvan St., Danvers, from Nov. 29 until Dec. 20. Gifts will feature work by international artisans, Equal Exchange products, items from A Greater Gift, Heifer International and more. For more information, contact the church office at 978-777-7408.
Approximately 200 Nativity sets from all over the world will be on display Dec. 4, 5 and 6 and Dec. 11, 12 and 13, at St. Thomas the Apostle Church Parish Center, 5 Margin St., Peabody. Display times are Fridays from 6 to 9 p.m., Saturdays from 5 to 9 p.m., and Sundays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Suggested donations of $5 will be accepted. Children under 12 are free and must be accompanied by an adult. Eggnog and light refreshments will be served, a children's activity center will be held, and Christmas carols will be sung.
A Temple Beth Shalom Sisterhood Hanukkah Party will be held Tuesday, Dec. 15, at 15 Greenleaf Drive in Danvers at 5:30 p.m. Cost to attend is $6, which should be mailed, with checks made out to TBS Sisterhood, to Toby Gary, 17 Naumkeag Row, Danvers, 01923, and received by Dec. 5. For a Yiddish Swap, all those attending should bring $10 gift cards (only gift cards should be brought).
St. Nicholas Orthodox Church at 64 Forrester St. in Salem will celebrate its patronal feast day on Saturday, Dec. 5, at 6 p.m., with the service of Great Vespers with Litya. Bishop Nikon (Liolin), administrative head of churches in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont and New Hampshire, will be chief celebrant, and he will be joined by local Orthodox clergy. 978-744-5869.
The First United Methodist Church of Hamilton, 391 Bay Road, will hold its 36th annual Holly Fair on Saturday, Dec. 5, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall. Breakfast will be served from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., and lunch from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. There will be a bake sale, knitted goods, craft tables, wreaths and baskets, a toy table, a white elephant table, and more. For more information, call 978-468-1256 or 978-468-4042.
Temple Beth Shalom is collecting Hanukkah gifts for the New American Center, a Lynn branch of the Jewish Family and Children's Service of Greater Boston. Each gift should be wrapped, with a tag that indicates the appropriate age range and gender of the gift. Including dreidels and/or Hanukkah gelt is desirable. New items only should be donated. Participation is strictly voluntary. Gifts should be brought to the temple, 489 Lowell St., by the end of religious school on Monday, Dec. 7. For more information, call 978-535-2100 or 978-998-4445.
Congregation Sons of Israel at Park and Spring streets in Peabody is celebrating its 100th anniversary with a Proclamation Day on Sunday, Dec. 13, at 1 p.m. A number of government officials will speak and honor the shul. Irving Sacks, a Life Member will also speak about the highlights and milestones in the shul's history. A brief, symbolic torah ceremony will conclude the program. Refreshments will be served. Contact the shul at www.peabodyshul.com for more information.
Temple Beth Shalom is looking for one or more volunteers to coordinate Christmas meal delivery and transportation of Salem and Peabody residents to Unitarian Universalist Church in Danvers. Roza Budilovksy chairs this program and has all the information. To help, contact the office at 978-535-2100, 489 Lowell St. Peabody.
The Clifton Lutheran Church, in partnership with Got Books, has a drop-off location where town residents can donate books, videos, CDs and DVDs. Money raised from the purple container with yellow signs at the church, at 105 Humphrey St. in Marblehead, will be used for community charities, including youth scholarships for summer camps. The drop-off site is open to everyone, at any time.
The North Shore Teen Initiative has launched a Web site, www.nsteeninitiative.org, as a resource for Jewish teens to learn about social action and community service opportunities, trips, and other sponsored programs. NSTI has also created a calendar on its Web site to post events of interest to Jewish teens. Community organizations that have events targeted to Jewish teens are encouraged to send them to Adam Smith at adam@nsteeninitiative.org. For more information, call Smith at 781-244-5544.
Alternative Church Service, open to all intellectual abilities, will be held on the third Sunday of every month at 5:30 p.m. at North Shore Community Baptist Church, 9 Hart St., Beverly. For more information, call 978-927-2014.
Collections for the Ipswich Food Pantry will be accepted at Our Lady of Hope Parish, 1 Pineswamp Road, Ipswich, in baskets placed near church entrances. Only nonperishable donations will be accepted. The church can be reached at 978-356-3944 or www.ipswichcatholics.org.
All-you-can-eat dinners are held every Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. for $6 at the First Congregational Church in Boxford. Dinner is followed by classes, prayer and "Hour of Power" for youth. The church also offers the "Friday Night Hang" for young people in middle school and high school every Friday from 7:30 to 10:45 p.m.
First Parish Church in Beverly, Unitarian Universalist, serves a meal to the needy at 5:30 p.m. every Tuesday that is provided by Beverly Hospital. A Yahoo group site has been established, for volunteers who work or would like to work at these dinners, at TuesdayNightDinners@yahoogroups.com. The church is at 225 Cabot St. For more information, call Diane Bianchetta at 978-921-0895 or e-mail auraleeddb@aol.com.
Dinner is served every Sunday at 6 p.m. at St. Peter Episcopal Church, 4 Ocean St., Beverly, for those in need. For more information, to volunteer or to make a donation, call Dena Lisle at 978-922-3291.
The Our Space group at Ascension Memorial Church meets the second Sunday of each month for grades six and seven and the fourth Sunday of each month for grades eight and nine, at 6 p.m. The church is at 31 County St., Ipswich. For more information, call 978-356-2560 or visit www.amcipswich.org.
A sermon series on activist and controversial figures and issues in Unitarian Universalist history is being presented by the Rev. Frieda Gillespie and Fred Mills on Sundays at the Northshore Unitarian Universalist Church, 323 Locust St. (Route 35), Danvers. Upcoming sermons will address the history of UU multiracial, multicultural awareness, Jan. 17; Northshore UU Church history, March 7; and the Prophetic Sisterhood, April 18. For more information, contact the church at 978-774-7582 or visit www.nsuu.org.
