Outreach
Bolivian Mission: The Eden School
We at FPC have been doing mission work in Bolivia since 1996, when we started offering educational opportunities and medical care to over 200 children there. Today, we actively support a school in Santa Cruz, the Eden School, through scholarships and other financial support, holiday gifts, and yearly trips by skilled professionals to provide medical services.
The Bolivian Mission Team has provided a Vision Clinic report, with additional information and pictures from our most recent mission trip. While in Santa Cruz during the second week of March, 2008, we set up, staffed, and managed a five-day vision clinic, during which the Vision team saw 407 patients and fitted 395 pairs of eyeglasses. Each morning, Eden School students visited the vision clinic, and afternoons were overflowing with members from Rev. Moon’s mission churches.
On Day 5, we extended our services to the community at large, and the crowd began forming at 10:30 p.m. the night before--in the pouring rain. We were humbled by their gratitude.
Even if you can't travel to Bolivia, you can help with the Vision Ministry too! This year, we will focus on collecting children’s eyeglasses for the 2009 Vision Clinic. If you are willing to lead or help with a eyeglasses collection drive as a service project at your school, please contact Charles and Margaret Peacock.
"Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." -- Matthew 25:40
The Friendship Fund
The Friendship Fund provides
financial counseling and aid to those in need in our community. Conceived
and administered solely by First Presbyterian Church, this ministry is funded
primarily through gifts, 100% of which goes directly to people with a demonstrated
need. An example of how the fund might help someone is an individual
whose excessive medical expenses have led to an inability to pay for other
necessities, such as rent, electricity, or water bills.
The Friendship Fund serves about 500 individuals annually. From July 1
to December 16, 2005 we saw 326 clients, helping 217 of them with a financial
gift for a total of $27,614 in paid bills (an average of about $125 per client).
We were behind on donations for 2005 and tapped reserve
funds to cover our commitments.
The Friendship Fund offices are in our Community Outreach Building, 120
West Hargett Street. Call 919–833–4070 for more information.
Prison Ministries/Job Start top >
"’Come, you that
are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you . . . for
I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something
to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave
me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you
visited me.’" — Matthew 25: 34–36.
Job Start, one of our programs designed to serve those serving time
in prison, offers a jump start to female inmates preparing for their release
from the Raleigh Women’s Correctional Center. Inmates are paired with
a mentor, who offers them moral support, advice, and direction as they learn
to set goals and reach—or even exceed—them. Computer skills,
job–interviewing skills, life skills, and social skills . . . these
are just a few of the comprehensive topics offered by Job Start. Job Start
is one of only a handful of programs in North Carolina that allow inmates
to travel off prison grounds for counseling, lectures, and classes.
Alice Noell, Program Coordinator, says that the recidivism rate for Job Start
participants is far below the national average for women inmates.
Classes are held daily at the church. The growing self–awareness,
energy levels, and rising spirits of these women are truly remarkable. Contact
Bob Inskeep
for more information.
Habitat for Humanity top >
Volunteers from First Presbyterian
donate time, talents, and money to this international charity. For more
information about the Habitat for Humanity organization, including its mission
and goals, see their Web
site. Or check the Wake County Habitat local affiliate’s Web
site.
The FPC Habitat team usually meets for a build on Saturdays at 8:30 a.m.
It’s a great opportunity for some very rewarding and often challenging
work, great fellowship, and a chance to learn some valuable things you may
not ever have to do for a living. In the fall of 2005, we built a home with
volunteers from White Memorial and Westminster Presbyterian Churches. Our
financial donations and labor were greatly appreciated.
Call Dave Kesterson or Scott Peek, Habitat Coordinators,
or click here
for more information.
Volunteers from FPC were also responsible for providing lunch for the workers
on eight Saturdays. Various individuals and groups, including a Church School
class and members of FCP youth groups, have graciously participated.
Miriam’s Basket top >
Named for the sister of Moses,
who looked after him as he floated in his basket among the bullrushes, this
fund aids families who are in need of assistance to pay for childcare. The
Miriam’s Basket fund was founded in support of the Halifax Court Daycare
Center, which closed a few years ago. Now all gifts to this fund go to support
children enrolled at the First Presbyterian Church Child
Development Center.
We offer financial assistance to those seeking quality, Christian care for
their children and need a little help paying for it. We encourage all the
children of First Presbyterian Church to consider making a small contribution
each year on their birthday, such as 50 cents for each year of age.
With the help of God (and a boost from his older sister), Moses grew to
be a great and faithful leader of a nation. With your assistance, children
in our community will have the same opportunity to grow in faith and wisdom.
Alcoholics and Narcotics Anonymous top >
We provide meeting space for two Wake County twelve–step programs, Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. Contact the church office for meeting dates, locations, and times.
High School Equivalency Classes top >
We provide facilities for a series
of Graduate Equivalency Degree (GED) classes run by Wake Technical Community
College. We also provide childcare while classes meet.
A typical class schedule for GED classes at the FPC Wake Tech site might resemble the
following:
- Tuesday and Thursday, 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. for enrolled or returning students
- Wednesday, 9:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. for new student registration and placement testing.
For more information about GED classes, check the Wake Technical Community College Web site, or call 919-715-3451.
The Linen Closet top >
First Presbyterian Church provides
space for the Linen Closet Program, which is sponsored by Tabernacle Baptist
Church.
In 2001, when Tabernacle relocated from the corner of Person and Hargett
Streets to a new building on Leesville Road, they wanted to continue their
"Love ’Em Through Linens" Ministry in Downtown Raleigh.
Now, they use the room next to the newly–renovated nursery in our
old Education Building.
Since it began in 1979 as a service to people in need of household linens,
the Linen Closet has been open twice a month on Thursday mornings, from
October through March. If you have any linens to donate, you can drop them
off at the church office or at the Outreach Office. Currently, they have
a particular need for crib sheets. Peggy Gooch of Tabernacle Baptist is
the program coordinator.
Wake Interfaith Hospitality Network top >
First Presbyterian Church is
proud to participate in the Wake County Interfaith Hospitality Network (WIHN),
a service to the homeless in our community.
Responding to a documented need for particular assistance to homeless families,
the Interfaith Hospitality Network provides a temporary, safe, friendly,
comfortable space where families experiencing various types of housing and
personal crises can remain together instead of being spread out among various
men’s and women’s homeless shelters and foster care. FPC participates
in this ministry by serving as the host church for 3 weeks each year.
For those accepted into the program, temporary housing, meals, toiletries,
telephone service, diapers, etc. are provided free of charge for a period
of 6–8 weeks until the family can get back on its feet. Various congregations
of different faiths in Wake County provide overnight housing, while families
are given space at a "Day Center" during the day.
For more information about WIHN, call (919) 832–6024, see the http://www.nihn.org
for the national organization, or visit their office in Raleigh at 903 Method
Road.
To help out with First Presbyterian’s WIHN commitments, contact Betty Ann Dorman,
Don Becom, Wayne Campbell or Mickey Brock, or send email to
.
Pennies for Hunger top >
Pennies for Hunger is a simple
and effective way to remember those who are less fortunate than we, and
it’s also a great way to introduce your children to the Presbyterian
spirit of generosity. With minimal direction, your children can become actively
involved in a worthy ministry that feeds the hungry.
The basic idea behind Pennies for Hunger is to collect and donate the spare
change you can find around your house. A goal you could aim for might be
to donate 2 cents for each meal you eat, or 6 cents each day. The second
Sunday of each month, brass buckets are set out in the Sanctuary to receive
your donations before or after worship. Bills and checks made out to "Pennies
for Hunger" are also gladly accepted.
Food for those in Need top >
In the fall of 2005, we began
a new ministry to help our neighbors in downtown Raleigh. On Sunday mornings,
we distribute small bags containing basic food to anyone who asks for money
to buy food.
If you are ever approached by a person in downtown Raleigh asking for money
on a Sunday, you should direct the person with the request to the parking
lot attendant, to the deacon on duty in the Stock Building, or to any deacon
or staff member.
This new program is in response to the Downtown Raleigh Alliance (DRA) "Real
Change—Not Spare Change" campaign, which asserts that giving
money to panhandlers may merely feed drug and alcohol addiction and may
not actually be helpful. By providing some immediate food, we hope
to ensure that people who are truly hungry will be fed.
Bolivian Mission