The “Mission Ministry Bunnies” are hopping around the community this week delivering Easter Baskets to SPC’s adopted families whose children attend Southport Elementary School . The baskets are filled with outdoor/indoor fun things together with a Walmart gift card to help families with their Easter dinners.
Category Archives: Missions
One Great Hour of Sharing
During Easter, we are invited to give to this special offering to help with disaster relief. The funds are used locally, nationally, and all over the world. When the tornado hit in Brunswick County last month, PDA (Presbyterian Disaster Assistance) was there. When hurricanes destroyed our homes and beaches, assistance was immediate and long-term. The impact of your gift is also felt on all continents and many countries. To contribute, send or drop off a check to the church (make it to Southport Presbyterian Church, with the notation “OGHS”), or use the convenient and safe on-line giving tab on our website: www.southportpresbyterian.com
Meal Ministry Resumes
During much of 2020, our meal ministry was suspended because of COVID. Now with access to vaccines, we feel the time is right to safely resume the ministry. Meals prepared by members are kept in our freezer for anyone to take. Please think of this ministry when preparing soups, casseroles or main dishes. The freezer and containers are in the workroom. You can ask for help in the church office, Mon – Thurs, 9-2. If you know of someone who needs a meal, complete the form noting how many meals you have taken. No permission needed! We serve others with joy!
Mission Ministry Assists Cupid with Valentine Deliveries
SPC Ministry Team members, Julia Hill and Sue Meyer, helped Cupid last week with deliveries of cards, cookies and hot chocolate for SPC’s adopted Southport Elementary School families. In addition to Christmas and Valentine’s day, throughout year the Mission Ministry will also be remembering family birthdays with cards, and the children will receive a gift card to “shop” for their birthday gift from SPC. The committee also will be delivering Easter Baskets and flowers and will be doing something fun during the summer months. For the beginning of the new school year the committee will provide school supplies and/or a gift card to help purchase what they will need. At Thanksgiving the families will be provided a gift card to help purchase their holiday dinner along with a card letting them know that the SPC adoption year has ended with the hope that SPC’s support has helped them throughout the year along with our caring, prayers and blessings.
Food Gift Cards Requested for Winter Sheltering Mission
SPC has been involved in a collaborative community outreach for the homeless for the past several years. The Mission Committee still wants to help but we must change the way we participate due to COVID. We have mission money already budgeted to pay for the rooms at a local motel. This year we are asking for donations of food gift cards from the congregation.
Here is a list of places: Food Lion and Publix (on the island), Dominoes, Oak Island Restaurant, BBQ House, Oak Island Sub Shop, and Pizza Shack. These places either deliver or are within reasonable walking distance of the motel, so clients won’t need to worry about transportation. We are suggesting $20 per card and will collect cards at three locations: the church, (offering plate in the narthex), Julia Hill’s in St. James and Laura Cacchione’s on Oak Island. Collections will end Sunday, January 24,2021. SPC will still make a difference in the Winter Sheltering Program!
Angel Tree – Sharing God’s Love & Blessings at Christmas
SPC members’ generosity was abundant this Christmas Season, making wishes come true for six families, including six adults and 10 children.
The project co-chairs, Julia Hill and Sue Meyer, work closely with Southport Elementary to identify and adopt these families. Each year they are given names of families that are in need. The concept is unique in two very special ways. First, SPC adopts the entire family, not just the children at the school. All members of the family are included. Secondly, these families are adopted for an entire year, including remembering them with gifts on birthdays, holidays and back to school time. Many thanks to the committee and all those who helped make our Angel Tree wishes come true this Christmas!
Christmas at the Food Pantry
Mission Outreach is participating in the seventh annual “Christmas at the Food Pantry….A Wonderful Wal-Mart Christmas!” Each food pantry client will receive a gift card when they come in for their food during the month of December. The requested donation is a $15 Wal-Mart gift card with the receipt included. Gift cards can be dropped off at the following members’ homes: Julia Hill (St. James), Sue Meyer (Bolivia area), Bob Lambert( Southport ) and Laura Cacchione (Oak Island). November 30, 2020 is the final day for this collection. Gift cards can also be dropped off or mailed to the Church Office.
Mission Ministry Assembles COVID Kits for Food Pantry Clients
The Mission Ministry put together 23 Covid -19 Kits for clients of the Food Pantry who are receiving home delivery of the bi-weekly groceries. The bags were decorated by several of our children from church, and each bag contains Clorox Wipes, paper towels, hand sanitizer, face mask and Life Savors. A sticker with the words “With love from Southport Presbyterian Church” was placed on each bag. As we collect more Clorox Wipes the committee will make more kits for distribution.
The Mission Ministry is so grateful to have the opportunity to reach out to our community during this time of need.
Lunch Bag Mission Project Recruiting Volunteers for August
The Mission Committee invites volunteers to make sandwiches in their own home for distribution the week of August 3. Volunteers completed two weeks of our “Lunch Bag Mission” at the Food Pantry. For three days in June and three days in July volunteers made 320 bag lunches that were distributed to the clients of the Food Pantry. They were surprised and delighted by this special treat. If you would like to volunteer to make sandwiches in your own home for this mission, please contact Laura Cacchione at cacchionelr@gmail.com or (910) 685-4861.
One Great Hour of Sharing Providing Urgent Aid in Wake of COVID-19
A letter from The Rev. Dr. Diane Givens Moffett, President and Executive Director
Presbyterian Mission Agency
Dear Friends in Christ,
You are in my prayers as we navigate the disaster of this unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic. I know most people are feeling the impact — health-wise, financially, emotionally. Our lives have been turned upside down in the span of just a few short weeks. Please know that the PC(USA) is with you in spirit. With God’s help, we will get through this together.
Every day, I hear stories from around the Church of how people are suffering and how their lives have been devastated. Unemployment, sickness, parents who are thrust into the role of teacher or caregiver, the rise in racism against the Asian community, the amount of deaths, including the disproportionate death rates experienced by people of color and those already living on the margins — all have been catastrophic.
In some communities, churches are barely making ends meet. They’re facing the reality of running out of money. They worry about how they’re going to pay their bills — much less support a pastor or provide critical services in their neighborhoods.
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) is here to help — again
In the PC(USA), we are blessed that Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, our disaster response ministry, is already at work with presbyteries and its network of partners to rush critical aid to those who are suffering as a result of COVID-19. Thanks to the longstanding generosity of the whole Church, through gifts to One Great Hour of Sharing and other gifts from generous Presbyterians and congregations, PDA is providing vital provisions where needed — food and water, hygiene and sanitation supplies, training and more.
The unprecedented nature of COVID-19 draws into focus the core commitments of our General Assembly’s Matthew 25 foci — to eradicate systemic poverty, end structural racism and support congregational vitality. Therefore, PDA is also providing ministry continuation funding through our Matthew 25 commitment to support congregations who work with and draw from communities of people already experiencing the impact of poverty, racism or other forms of oppression.
If you are able, please help us Give, Act and Pray now.
GIVE:
•Support Presbyterian Disaster Assistance’s emergency response and long-term recovery work as well as ministry continuation funding for congregations experiencing great needs during COVID-19 by making a gift today. Designate gifts to E052197 – Matthew 25.
• You can also give by phone at (800) 872-3283.
ACT:
• Wash your hands and stay at home. While we value the ministry of presence, currently the best way to care for others is to observe good hygiene and physical distancing.
• Celebrate the life-sustaining, generous engagement of congregations across the nation who are serving communities made more vulnerable by COVID-19’s impact on their lives.
• Repudiate the hateful, racist actions and expressions that have targeted siblings of Asian descent during this pandemic.
PRAY:
• Seek comfort and hope in the Risen Lord who is always with us, sustaining and supporting us through every season of life.
Thanks in advance for your generosity.