Page 35 - First Churches 2019-20Annual Report.docx

workers to ensure a smooth transition to new neighborhoods, provide transportation and facilitate medical services; doing everything they can to help folks feel at home. Here in Northampton we have welcomed the Jumapilli family through First Churches’ Circle of Care.
· The Survival Center in Northampton has undergone some design changes to give clients a more efficient and enjoyable experience. Clients are now able to push their own carts and make their own food choices, empowering them and enhancing the Center’s way of helping clients. Notable, too, is the marked increase in the availability of fresh produce, from a weekly average of 385 pounds five years ago to 2,600 pounds this past year! Our congregation continues weekly support of the Survival Center through weekly donations of non-perishable items.
· Support for additional local organizations serving poor, hungry and homeless people among us continues through Cathedral in the Night, Decisional Training, Friends of Hampshire County Homeless, Habitat for Humanity of Pioneer Valley, Safe Passage, the Cot Shelter, Neighbors in Need, the Interfaith Help Fund, the Food Bank of Western MA,
· Advocacy for a peaceful and just world, education, environmental concerns, and support for refugees and persons in sanctuary are promoted through Catholic Charities, Church World Service, Immigrant Sanctuary Fund, Sojourner Truth and The Resistance Center for Peace and Justice as well as our sponsorship of 7 year old Dhondup Ghisling in Kalimpong, India through UCC Global Missions.
· International disaster relief and educational support is provided through CONESPEH in Haiti, Church World Service and One Great Hour of Sharing, the Syrian American Medical Society along with UCC Global Missions and ABC Division of Overseas Ministries.
Members of our congregations are active in our communities and generous with their time. •
· Our members provide a meal on the first Monday of each month to upwards of 16 men and 8 women residing at The Cot Shelter
· Children and young people at the Treehouse Community in Easthampton received Christmas presents or gift certificates from our congregants. Thanks to all who went out of their way to bring happiness to these children.
· Your generosity this year funded scholarships for Haitian children through CONESPEH, the National Council of Spiritual Churches of Haiti. This organization also operates nursing
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