Mission at FPCA

417 N. 14th Street Suite 101

Allentown, PA 18102

610-821-1332 0r 610-433-6373

AAEFB1978@gmail.com

The only food bank in Lehigh County serving food insecure families (800+/month) Monday thru Friday, 5 days a week, 52 weeks a year. There is a Client Choice Pantry which enables clients to shop for their family's preferences.

Visit us www.allentownfoodbank.org or visit our Allentown Food Bank Facebook site.

Beverly Levenson, Board Member 610-481-9540

Daybreak, a weekday drop-in center, gives people living with mental illness or physical disabilities and those struggling with addiction or HIV/AIDS, as well as the neighborhood’s elderly, a place to belong. The staff teaches life skills and works with members to provide stability and help them reach their full potential. Daybreak serves two balanced meals a day during the week.

For more information contact Nancy Miller.

Find out more on the Lehigh Conference of Churches website.

CROP Hunger Walks are community-based walk events held in cities and towns across the United States, raising funds to support the global mission of Church World Service, a faith-based organization transforming communities around the globe through just and sustainable responses to hunger, poverty, displacement, and disaster.

Twenty-five percent of the funds raised are returned to the host community to assist local hunger fighting efforts. For the Greater Allentown CROP Hunger Walk (in which FPCA participates), our local allotment supports the Lehigh Conference of Churches Kitchen and the Allentown Area Ecumenical Food Bank.

http://www.crophungerwalk.org/

Contact: Dianne Kareha

© Family Promise of Lehigh Valley

1346 W Hamilton Street

Allentown, PA 18102-4329

610-351-1368

info@fplehighvalley.org

Family Promise helps local families who are temporarily homeless due to a loss of a job or issues with their current housing. Their mission is carried out by a network of churches and other community resources working together to help the families build patterns that will bring long-term stability.

First Presbyterian Church of Allentown works with Family Promise by hosting families.

Our role as a host will include feeding, housing, and supporting 3 or 4 families overnight for one week. FPCA will do this about 4 times a year.

Volunteers are needed to help out! Youth and adults will make and serve dinner each night and interact with guests – maybe play games with the children or do a craft. Two volunteers will also be needed to sleep overnight in case any needs arise. Early each morning the families are picked up and taken to their jobs or school or back to the Family Promise Headquarters.

If interested in learning more, please see the video in this link.

https://fplehighvalley.org/what-we-do

Contact: Christine Connelly

Greater Valley YMCA Warming Station

425 South 15th Street

Allentown, PA 18102

610-351-9622

www.gv-ymca.org

The Allentown Warming Station located on the lower level of the YMCA on 15th Street in Allentown provides overnight shelter, food, showers, and a safe place for those experiencing homelessness in our community.

The warming station is open from November 1 through April 30, each night from 7:00 p.m. - 7:00 a.m. in order to provide this critical service for our homeless neighbors.

FPCA supports the Warming Station financially through the proceeds of our Annual Golf Tournament and members of our congregation volunteer there.

For more information on volunteering at the Warming Station contact Bryan Groff or Kim Eberts.

Lehigh Conference of Churches

457 W Allen Street

Allentown, PA 18102

610-433-5479

www.lehighchurches.org

“Responding to the call of Jesus Christ, the mission of The Lehigh Conference of Churches is to unite communities of faith as ecumenical partners. Putting our faith into action, we minister to and advocate for those in need and encourage all to reach their full potential.”

The Lehigh Conference of Churches offers numerous programs and services for people experiencing poverty, hunger, homelessness, housing instability, racial injustice, and/or who are reentering society after incarceration.

For more information, contact Dennis Gianglulio.

Four Little Free Libraries were built and installed by Jack Brion for his Eagle Scout project. These libraries are located at our church playground, the Sixth Street Shelter Garden, The Allentown Ecumenical Food Bank, and Sheridan Elementary School. The Little Free Libraries are a place where everyone is free to take a book and share a book.

Our Mission Team is the steward of these Little Free Libraries. We collect and deliver books to these libraries when needed.

To learn more about Little Free Libraries check out this website: https://littlefreelibrary.org/

If you are interested in helping with this project, please contact Becky Tacca.

Ripple Church is a community church in Allentown that has services on Sunday afternoon followed by a fellowship meal at St. Stephens Outreach Center at Turner and Franklin Streets.

The First Presbyterian Church of Allentown's Mission Team provides the meal several times a year. Church volunteers are appreciated to assist in preparation and serving of the meal.

Our mission with Sheridan Elementary School in Allentown is focused on children who need extra community support. Each week 40-60 children receive food bags for the weekend, and boxes of food for the longer school breaks. The school also has food bags available for the summer for these children as needed. FPCA church members and friends donate the food, money, and their time to collect, sort, and pack all the food for bags and boxes throughout the year.

FPCA also donates school uniforms, pajamas, and school supplies during focused times each year. If you would like more information or would like to get involved, please contact Erica Simmons or Marijo Taylor.

219 N 6th St #4111, Allentown, PA 18102

Phone: (610) 435-1490

https://sixthstreetshelter.caclv.org/

The Sixth Street Shelter, a program of Community Action of the Lehigh Valley, is located in center city Allentown. The Shelter has 25 furnished apartments allowing them to offer safe secure short term housing to families who are experiencing homelessness. The families receive case management and supportive services in order that they can become self-sufficient, advance academically and find work and affordable housing. The Family Resource Center provides homework help, resume writing and a computer lab for parents to search for jobs and housing.

Special events, parties and cultural holiday celebrations are organized so children experience inclusion and understand they have an important role in the community. For play and nature education on a day-to-day basis the Shelter has a safe playground and community garden. A Little Free Library (containing adult and children’s books) is located in the garden. Our church planted and maintains the garden. If you would like to help in the garden please contact Becky Short.

For over 20 years the Quilting and Craft Group Ministry has nurtured a relationship with the Shelter by giving handmade quilts to the residents. When a family receives a quilt and leaves to move to their new housing they take the quilt with them. If interested in this Ministry please contact Sharon Benson.

PC(USA) mission co-worker in Greece.

https://www.presbyterianmission.org/ministries/missionconnections/nadia-ayoub/

FPCA has been supporting Nadia since 2010 when she went to Ukraine. She was asked to go to Greece in 2017 by the Greek Evangelical Church of Katerini, where she serves with Perichoresis, a refugee center. Born in Egypt, Nadia’s first language was Arabic, and she was called to Greece to support the many Syrians coming as refugees. Recently, she also has given comfort to Ukrainians fleeing war.

PC(USA) mission co-worker in Honduras.

https://www.presbyterianmission.org/ministries/missionconnections/dori-hjalmarson/

FPCA has been supporting Dori since 2017, when she was first called to Honduras. Since arriving, she has led Bible retreats with the Presbytery of Honduras, taught international theological studies via Zoom, brought the partnership of PC(USA) and Honduran Presbyterians closer together through monthly meetings, supported Honduran-led missions, and led a Honduras-focused book group. Both Nadia and Dori are part of the PC(USA) Southern European Partnership Network, a broader migrant-focused international coalition of churches.

PC(USA) mission co-workers in South Sudan.

https://www.presbyterianmission.org/ministries/missionconnections/shelvis-and-nancy-smith-mather/

FPCA has been supporting this dynamic duo since 2010; prior to then, support was for Debbie and Del Braaksma who served the same mission. Shelvis started his work in South Sudan as the Principal of RECONCILE International, a center in Yei for resolving conflicts and recovering from trauma. Nancy has been working as a manager of the South Sudan Education and Peacebuilding Project throughout their time in this ministry. Due to conflict in the newly emerged country of South Sudan, the family had to leave for a time; they ended up in Oxford, England, where Shelvis has been creating a curriculum for several education centers to relate how churches can be a part of peacebuilding in South Sudan. Nancy, Shelvis, and their four children, Jordan, Adalyn, Nicole, and Alice, are currently in Uganda serving South Sudanese refugees, and occasionally visiting South Sudan as they are able.

https://www.presbyterianmission.org/story/forman-christian-college-continues-to-offer-education-in-pakistan-amid-pandemic/

Foreman has been supported in various ways by FPCA for many years. A Presbyterian-administered University, support was rekindled in 2017 by a visit from Sam Schreiner, the Executive Director of Friends of Forman, and James Tebbe, the Rector. Men and women both attend; Christians and Muslims learn together. Support is sent for students in need of financial aid.

www.servingatthecrossroads.org

Serving at the Crossroads, (SATC) is a 501(c)(3) charitable corporation based in the United States. Using an empowering model, SATC leads volunteer medical teams from the United States to Honduras to work with medical personnel at the Manos Amigas (Helping Hands) clinic. The U.S. teams treat patients and share medical knowledge with the Honduran staff. The clinic staff continues to provide care to patients when the volunteers return home. Despite extreme poverty, patients happily show they are able to pay for services and medication with dignity.

First Presbyterian Church of Allentown, PA’s Mission team has coordinated three medical missions to Honduras. Volunteer medical and non-medical personnel from the congregation and the local community traveled to Honduras offering their talents and compassion to show God’s love through the gift of healing.

https://pda.pcusa.org

With the motto, “Out of Chaos, Hope,” Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, an arm of the PCUSA, works to help people in the United States and around the world after devastating disasters such as hurricanes and cyclones, fires, floods, tornadoes and earthquakes. PDA also responds when there is contamination and war, defining a disaster as any “natural or human-caused event that produces human suffering or creates human needs that survivors cannot alleviate without assistance.” FPCA supports PDA through financial donations as part of both International and National mission.

https://water.cc/country/honduras/

Living Water International utilizes an empowering model to provide a clean supply of water to communities. When a community is selected to have a well drilled in their village, they must agree to several requirements. For example, they must acquire the land, invest labor in the well process, and provide meals for the volunteer teams who will drill the well.

Educating the people in the community about personal hygiene is an important component of the Living Water International mission. Another critical element of the mission is sharing “Living Water” and the message of Jesus Christ with the community. Members of Living Water International return to the villages regularly to service the wells and continue to share Christ’s love.

On two different occasions, FPCA has sent teams to Honduras to drill wells. In addition, we regularly support Living Water financially to continue their truly life-saving work.

www.villagesinpartnership.org

Villages in Partnership (VIP) works in one of the world’s poorest countries to help communities escape extreme poverty by focusing on the causes of poverty:

• lack of access to clean water

• food insecurity

• poor health care

• inadequate education

• insufficient infrastructure

• lack of economic opportunities

VIP’s model includes meeting with the people in the villages to understand their needs. An important component of VIP’s mission: the people in the villages help to implement the solutions.

FPCA has sent two mission teams to Malawi and regularly raises awareness and funds in support of VIP’s life-changing work.

In response to tremendous needs in Syria, FPCA seeks to support the humanitarian efforts of the Amar Church. We offer prayers for the Amar Church ministry and the difficulties the community faces due to civil strife and natural disaster. When conditions permit, FPCA sends financial support to the Amar Church to help care for displaced people. The church provides vital basic needs to those fleeing desperate situations.

https://www.bread.org/

Bread for the World is a Christian advocacy organization that has been working for nearly 5 decades urging U.S. decision makers to do all they can to pursue a world without hunger. Bread for the World’s mission is to educate and equip people to advocate for policies and programs that can help end hunger in the U.S. and around the world.