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Outreach 
Linus Blankets We meet on the first monday of the month at 1PM to sew Linus blankets. Church members take them home, quilt them and return them. We deliver the completed blankets to various organizations who then distribute them to children and youth in crisis situations. ACCESS (AIDS Care Center for Education & Support Services) Once monthly, on the third Saturday at a sleepy 8 AM, we meet to cook 100 meals. We currently cook a breakfast meal consisting of pancakes, sausage, and apple slices. The meals are frozen at church and delivered to ACCESS in Norfolk. They are in turn, delivered by Meals On Wheels volunteers to AIDS patients throughout the Hampton Roads area. In October 2006 Full Circle renewed their commitment to the community and their clients under a new name, but with the same core values. They are now serving their clients under the name, ACCESS (AIDS Care Center for Education & Support Services). For Kids The Golden Treasures sponsor ongoing support for this worthy organization that provides housing and training for families in need. Food Pantry Our food pantry, maintained at church, is a vital source of food for those in need. We try to stock a variety of food items that can be used to provide individuals and families with good nutrition. We accept food and monetary gifts to keep this ministry vital. List of Recommended Items for Food Pantry. Food Baskets Each year during the holidays we provide food baskets for around 25 families in the Chesapeake area. For Thanksgiving we provide a complete turkey meal, with all the fixin's for each family. At Christmas time we provide a complete ham meal. We take donations from the congregation and buy what isn't donated, pack the meals in a group "pack-a-thon" and either deliver or make them available for pick-up just before the holiday. Angel Tree The perfect follow up to a Christmas food basket is an angel tree gift for a child in the same family. Our angel tree is decorated with angels representing the children of our food basket families. The angels are chosen, presents bought, wrapped and delivered with the meals at Christmas time. For some children these are the only gifts they see. This year we also provided items to For Kids. Nickel A Meal Nickel a Meal is a monthly offering, taken the last Sunday of each month, to support two programs within the Presbytery and our own food pantry. It is our way of giving year round to those who need food, clothing, shelter and God's love. The monies to the Presbytery are divided to support the Community Resource Network of Chesapeake and Southeastern Food bank of Virginia, other food banks and homeless shelters. Other Volunteer Opportunities Our church participates regularly with the American Red Cross Blood Drive. During the year members work with Habitat for Humanity and in the spring a team participates with Paint Your Heart Out. The Rotary Club of Chesapeake originated Paint Your Heart Out. The Rotary Club of Chesapeake has lined up donations of paint, lumber, plants and other supplies and pest-control and fire-safety services along with hundreds of civilian and military volunteers. These volunteers will paint, make modest repairs, landscape yards and provide protection against insects and fire for carefully selected elderly and/or handicapped low-income homeowners. The church also makes monthly donations to help provide missionary support to the Presbyterian Church in Kinshasa-Congo (CPK) and the Presbyterian Church in Congo (CPC). We also collect used glasses and stamps to help support this mission. We are looking at the N.E.S.T. program in hopes of providing a new location for them at our church. The Outreach endeavors for 2007 included $1,369.70 to Nickel A Meal, $2992.39 handed out from the Pastor's Benevelence Fund, over $500 from the Pastor's Good Samaritan Fund, 6 Blood Drives, $1000 and school supplies to a school principal to support needy children, over 1000 meals to Full Circle, Youth Mission Trip to provide service to a family in Tennessee, provided meals for a week to World Changers Mission participants, 15 Thanksgiving baskets to For Kids, 10 to local families, $200 to Marine Relief Fund, 15 Christmas Baskets to Full Circle ministry, 11 to local families, 50 Christmas presents to For Kids through Angel Tree, other gifts for 13 local families, 113 shoe boxes full of gifts to Operation Christmas Child, over 50 Linus Blankets cut, sewn and quilted. Most were given to For Kids, remainder to other needy children, a family's home painted and repaired through Paint Your Heart Out, food handed out to 126 families from our church food pantry, and miscellaneous health and comfort items donated to For Kids ministry. As you can see, we are a busy group - doing God's work in our local community. We are open to new ideas and if you have a good one, we'll offer you the opportunity to run with it. Join us and experience the opportunity! |
