Outreach Ministries
2010
January
Kimberly Home is a non-profit, non-denominational pregnancy resource center that offers assistance to women in unplanned or troubling pregnancies.
Opened in 1983, they provide a host of services including counseling, material assistance, infant care, housing and referrals to the resources available throughout the community.
For 25 years, they have been assisting women in making healthy and positive choices for themselves and their babies. For more information, please go to
http://kimberlyhome.org/thekimberlyhome/.
February
For Haiti with Love, inc. is a faith mission. No bigger barns, just do next month what the contributions this month provide. Today there is (1) food program providing nutritionally balanced meals to the hungry, (2) formula for babies with no mothers or mothers without breast milk, (3) construction program that has completed churches, schools, marketplaces in 6 villages, over 50 homes for the homeless and (4) medical program providing 24-hour emergency medical care for the poor. As funding permits, there is also funding for tuitions for the school of choice, funerals, x-rays and other medical needs from doctors and hospitals that charge and, of course, the poor box by the door for the elderly. Used clothing in excellent shape is used as packing material and distributed primarily to the burn patients who have lost everything in a home fire. When the budget permits, their home is either repaired or rebuilt and they are put on the food program during their recuperation period. Everything is done as a gift from God through His people, every recipient is very aware that they thank God for their help. For more information, go to
http://www.forhaitiwithlove.org.
March
F.E.A.S.T. is a local, Palm Harbor, food pantry providing food donations to needy families. Food donations are received from churches, civic organizations, local grocery stores, and Boy Scouts' food drive.
April
Farmworkers Self-Help, Inc. facilitates self-development, self-help, grassroots organizing, participation and leadership development, and seeks to bridge the gap between isolation and societal mainstreams, while preserving cultural heritage. It is committed to farmworkers and other poor taking charge of their own lives and destinies. Direct maintenance services such as emergency food and clothing, shelter assistance, medical assistance and immigration assistance are provided because of the tremendous local need, but the majority of our efforts and programs work toward facilitating the self-development of the whole person toward self-reliance and personal independence, through community organizing, education, advocacy, justice and empowerment.
Our constituency is made up primarily of approximately 15,000 farmworkers, the poorest of the poor, who live in Pasco County and parts of surrounding counties. Most are immigrant Mexican and Mexican-American migrant and seasonal farmworkers, and some are immigrant Central American migrant workers. Many are undocumented and cannot access government assistance programs. Most do not speak, read or write English, and many do not read or write their native language. For more information, go to
http://fshflorida.org.
May
Religious Community Services concentrates its efforts on providing the basic needs of food, shelter, safety, clothing and household goods for individual and families in need. RCS Food Bank is the largest distributor of food to those in need in Pinellas County, serving between 4000 and 5000 individuals monthly at their warehouse and through 62 sub-sites. RCS Grace House provides 8 weeks of apartment style shelter to homeless families along with all of life's necessities, maximizing their opportunity to reach self-sufficiency. The Haven of RCS empowers victims of domestic violence to become survivors, offering shelter, legal advocacy, 911 phones, individual and group support, preventative education and more. The RCS Thrift Store offers a dignified shopping experience at no charge to participants in RCS programs while providing revenue to RCS through sales to the public - including household items and furniture too. For more information, please go to
www.rcspinellas.org.
June
Heifer International. Founded in 1944, Heifer is a humanitarian assistance organization that works to end world hunger and protect the earth. Through livestock, training and "passing on the gift," Heifer has helped more than eight and a half million families in more than 125 countries improve their quality of life and move toward greater self-reliance. Heifer helps build strong communities because each project participant agrees to pass on the gift of animal offspring, training, or skills to another family in need. Please use envelopes marked “missions”. All loose change goes to Missions.
July
For over forty years
The Homeless Emergency Project has provided homeless people, homeless children, and low-income individuals and families with housing, food, clothing, and support services necessary to obtain self-sufficiency and improved quality of life. HEP is dedicated year round to "helping people help themselves.
HEP is the oldest and largest provider of emergency housing and support services in Pinellas County. Through the provision of emergency, transitional and permanent supportive housing, HEP provides lasting solutions to ending homelessness in our community.
For more information, go to
http://www.ethep.org.
August
Marion Medical Mission is a Christian organization founded in 1985 in Marion, IL. Marion’s goal is to provide 100% funding to mission fields in Africa. UNICEF reports 4,000 children worldwide die each day because of unsafe drinking water. The Shallow Well Program provides safe drinking water for $350 each to remote African villages. The village makes the brick from stone and sand that the villagers bring to the well site. Marion Medical Mission provides the cement, the pipe, the pump, and the skilled labor and training. An established maintenance system provides replacement parts at prices the village can afford. Since 1991 Marion Medical Mission has built over 5600 shallow wells providing over 1,400,000 people with safe drinking water. Other projects include schools, hospitals, and agriculture. All building projects follow the shallow-well model: communities provide what they can; Marion Medical Mission provides what they cannot. 100% of all donations go directly to the mission field, with not even the cost of the stamp deducted. For more information, please go to www.marionmedical.org.
September
Treasures of Africa Children's Home is a ministry to AIDS orphans and vulnerable children in East Africa. Located in Moshi, Tanzania at the foot of beautiful Mt. Kilimanjaro, this home provides loving care, nutritious food, and education in a Christian family environment for orphaned and abandoned children. A project of Hidden With Christ Ministries, (www.hiddenwithchrist.com) a registered non-profit organization based in California, this home is supported solely by the donations of compassionate people who have a heart to help change the world...one precious life at a time! For more information, please go to
www.treasuresofafrica.org.
October
The Shepherd Center is a local, Tarpon Springs, interfaith outreach of compassion, education, assistance,
and support for all in our community. Through our faith conviction, we equip the least among us by:
* Feeding the hungry
* Clothing the Poor
* Providing a place for all to give and receive hope.
* Creating opportunities for personal empowerment
Our desire and goal is to provide, with the help of the community,
* Free, hot meals everyday of the week as well as basic clothing
* Grocery and hygiene supplements
* Personal case management assistance
* Planning for success via education, vocational training, and employment opportunities that enable clients to break the poverty cycle.
November
Habitat for Humanity International is a nonprofit, nondenominational Christian housing ministry. Habitat welcomes all people--regardless of race, religion, ethnicity or any other difference--to build simple, decent, affordable houses with those who lack adequate shelter. Habitat affiliates work locally in communities around the world to select and support homeowners, organize volunteers and coordinate house building. Homeowners are selected based on their need for housing, their ability to repay a mortgage and their willingness to work in partnership with Habitat. Habitat does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion or national origin. For more information, go to
http://www.habitat.org.
December
Founded in 1946, Church World Service is a cooperative ministry of 35 Protestant, Orthodox, and Anglican denominations, providing sustainable self-help and development, disaster relief, and refugee assistance in some 80 countries. In the past 30 years alone, as neighbors have reached out to neighbors around the world, the percentage of people living in absolute poverty in the developing world has been cut in half, and the literacy rate has more than doubled, from 35 percent to 77 percent. Church World Service has helped make this possible. Within the U.S., Church World Service assists communities in responding to disasters, resettles refugees, promotes fair national and international policies, provides educational resources, nurtures ecumenical relationships, and offers opportunities for people to join a network of local and global caring. For additional information, please go to:
www.churchworldservice.org
Religious Community Services concentrates its efforts on providing the basic needs of food, shelter, safety, clothing and household goods for individual and families in need. RCS Food Bank is the largest distributor of food to those in need in Pinellas County, serving between 4000 and 5000 individuals monthly at their warehouse and through 62 sub-sites. RCS Grace House provides 8 weeks of apartment style shelter to homeless families along with all of life's necessities, maximizing their opportunity to reach self-sufficiency. The Haven of RCS empowers victims of domestic violence to become survivors, offering shelter, legal advocacy, 911 phones, individual and group support, preventative education and more. The RCS Thrift Store offers a dignified shopping experience at no charge to participants in RCS programs while providing revenue to RCS through sales to the public - including household items and furniture too. For more information, please go to
www.rcspinellas.org.
And then, there's our
Peanut Butter and Jelly mission. This is a part of the dedicated group that meets every Wednesday at 10:00am. Church members and friends make approximately 350 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches each week which are donated to The Shepherd Center in Tarpon Springs and to Religious Community Services in Clearwater. They distribute to local homeless shelters, food banks, and families in need. Additional donations of smooth peanut butter and grape jelly are appreciated and can be dropped off in the church office between 9:00 am and 1:00 pm Monday through Friday - or join us at 10:00 am on Wednesdays if you'd like to help make sandwiches!