Enjoy the photos, which can be found in the below albums...
Between the train passengers, the float riders, and the walkers, we had 15 people representing our collaborative at the 52nd Chelmsford Fourth of July Parade! Thanks to the donations from our parishioners, we had four large Easter baskets full of candy that were distributed to the sizeable crowd of parade onlookers. The theme of our float was “Building a Community in Christ.” Everyone wore construction hats and Home Depot vests, and the float carried a church that appeared to be made out of LEGOs. Music from the LEGO movies accompanied our journey down North Road! Special thanks to Tim Fitzgerald, Dolan Funeral Home and the Martignetti Family. Their donations of time, materials and labor resulted in our float being awarded the Committee’s Choice Award! Congratulations to all! And a SPECIAL, SPECIAL thanks to Julie and Tom Souza, without whom NONE of this would have come to fruition!
The Chelmsford Catholic Collaborative shouted out God’s love along the Chelmsford Fourth of July parade route and gave witness to our Catholic faith at our booth as part of the July 4th Annual County Fair on the town common. We are extremely grateful for the faithful and dedicated support received by MANY in our collaborative. There were those who offered their gift of crafting, those who marched in the parade, and those who worked the fair booth… ALL of whom gave great and bold witness to our faith. Due to the generosity of various parishioners, we were even able to offer free give-aways at our booth, including a free raffle for a gift certificate! Thank you again to all who contributed to the Chelmsford Catholic Collaborative July 4th Parade Event, especially to our Master Carpenter, Tim Fitzgerald, who spent countless hours in the intense summer heat and humidity to make our “Answer His Call, Make the Connection and Change Your Life” parade float. The pictures tell the rest of the story!
We are extremely grateful to everyone who participated in all or some of our various tasks related to the 4th of July booth and float. Some of the tasks were: sale of t-shirts, purchase of booth supplies, minding the booth, decorating the float, painting our logo for the train, decorating the train, giving us ideas for the float, prepping the decorating pieces, crocheting the globe “hat”, making the Rosary sign for the float, making the rosaries to donate to our booth, marching or riding the train, plus many more. Special hanks to Jerry Cowgill and his wife Judith for making their tow truck available to us, as well as for their time driving it at the parade; and thank you to Champions Sporting Goods in Belmont for giving us a generous deal on the shirts. In keeping ‘true’ to our 2017 message, Marching with Faith, He worked our hands to give witness of His perfect plan to others; not only to those in our larger Chelmsford community, but more importantly, we came together as a collaborative team to bring forth the Word and Work of God to each other, regardless of where we worship each week. As we traveled the parade route, all our hard work reaped its rewards as we saw the smiling faces of fellow parishioners in the crowd appreciating what we were bringing to the community.