None
None
Blood Drives
Our church partners with the American Red Cross to provide a
blood drive four times a year. Donors are needed for whole blood
of all blood types. Volunteers are needed to welcome blood
donors and to provide and serve refreshments. At each blood
drive we seek at least 40 donors. Contact Karl Thomason to
donate blood or volunteer your time.
Christmas Outreach
Each Advent finds “Angel Trees” located in our worship areas. The trees are decorated with
tags listing requests for Christmas gifts for foster children, residents of Children’s Homes,
and other local children and adults in need. Church members remove a tag, purchase the gift,
and then return it to the church for delivery. We also operate an Alternative Gift Booth,
providing opportunities to purchase a card in lieu of a gift, with funds going to support local
and international mission needs. Contact the mission committee to get involved with either of
these outreach activities.
Good Samaritan Fund
Four times a year, our congregation participates in a special
offering to support funds used for our neighbors in need. Many
people in crisis come to our church asking for help with funds
for rent, utility bills, and medicine. On Tuesdays and Thursdays
from 2-4 pm, committee members interview those in need and
decide how much help can be given. Volunteers commit to one
afternoon per month. To volunteer please contact the church
office.
Nickel A Meal
The Nickel a Meal program is a strategy of our presbytery for
increasing awareness and raising funds in response to hunger. By
contributing 5 cents per person at each meal, we are reminded of
the needs of others. We collect the special offering four times
per year during worship. Take a Nickel a Meal can home for your
table.
Sabbath Soup Kitchen
Every second Sunday our fellowship hall is the location for a hot meal for any hungry person.
Four cooking teams share the responsibilities of preparing, serving and cleaning up after the meal.
We serve between 75-100 each month. “Goodie bags” are also provided to all who attend.
Volunteers are always welcomed. Contact Hank Grant, coordinator, in order to volunteer.
Longview Pen Pals
Church members volunteer to be a pen pal with a Longview Elementary School fourth grader, exchanging
letters once a month during the school year. To be a pen pal for the school year 2011-2012, contact
mail carrier Nancy Driver.
Adult Life Programs
We support the work of Adult Life Programs in a variety of ways: as a part of our mission budget, as the location
for various fundraisers over the years (baking and selling chicken pies and, more recently, a cake walk), as well
as with members of our church serving on their board of directors and as volunteers. The mission of Adult Life
Programs is to provide support, respite and education to caregivers and affordable, quality day and
treatment services enabling adults to remain in their communities. Four day-care centers for the elderly
and people with disabilities are operated throughout Catawba County. The centers provide daily care and
socialization for adults 18 years and older. Activities and exercises are designed to maintain and increase a
person's level of function. The director is
Jane Rollins. For more information go to
www.adultlifeprograms.com.
ALFA
We support ALFA through our mission budget, and have been the location for the annual World AIDS Day remembrance
in the past. ALFA is the only AIDS service organization in our four-county area. ALFA provides case management
and support services to those people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS in the Unifour area. It provides education
to the community about HIV/AIDS. Volunteers are recruited and utilized to assist ALFA in both client and non-client
involved tasks and to provide adequate staffing for the organization. For more information, contact
www.alfainfo.org
Children's Homes
Annually we set aside funds to support several Children’s Homes,
including the Black Mountain Home, Crossnore School, Grandfather
Home and Barium Springs Home. There are various opportunities
for “hands on” involvement at each home, particularly with our
fall Family Mission Trip.
Centro Latino
Centro Latino provides a Christian response to critical needs of Latinos in Catawba Valley and
seeks to bridge the cultural gap between Spanish and non-Spanish speaking members of our community through education,
advocacy and outreach programs. It is located in the “old Grandview Middle School” building off Highway 70.
We support the ministry with financial donations as well as by providing weekly transportation for middle school
students to travel from school to the Abriendo Puertas (Opening Doors) after school program at Centro Latino. Church
members serve on the board of directors and our art class has contributed donated art work for Centro Latino fundraisers.
Volunteers are always welcome in the Abriendo Puertas program. Spanish is not required. The executive director is
Marie Connelly. For more information contact
www.centrolatinohickory.com.
Community Vacation Bible
School
For one week during the summer our church works with other churches to offer a Vacation Bible School for
children in the Kenworth neighborhood. Your talents in the areas of music, Bible
stories, recreation, or crafts will be well used! Contact Janet Brooks to volunteer.
Exodus Homes
Exodus Homes is a faith-based United Way agency, offering transitional and permanent supportive housing for
homeless recovering addicts, alcoholics, and formerly incarcerated people returning to our community from
treatment programs and prison. Exodus Homes has a comprehensive array of services to meet the physical, emotional,
and spiritual needs of our residents. Exodus Homes provides supportive housing, support groups, and job placement.
A successful program has been Exodus Works!, a local moving, cleaning, landscaping, painting, etc. service which
puts residents to work in our community. This program seeks to reunite families who have been separated by addiction
and to provide spiritual and physical support for recovery. Executive Director is Rev. Reggie Longcrier.
Our congregation supports Exodus Homes through our mission budget, through gift baskets for residents at Christmas,
as well as with church members who serve on the board or as volunteers. For more information, contact
www.exodushomes.org
Family Care Center
The Family Care Center serves homeless families with dependent children and teaches them to become self-supporting, responsible
citizens. The agency provides those accepted into the program a place to live, food, job referrals and teaches the family such
basics as how to shop wisely and budget responsibly. Adults in the family are expected to work and/or return to school. Our
congregation supports the Family Care Center through our mission budget, during the Days of Caring (yardwork and lots of mulch!),
as well as with church members who serve on the board of directors. The executive director is
Camille Grumman.
For more details, contact
www.familycare-center.com
The Flynn Home
The Flynn Home serves as a half-way house dedicated to men with substance abuse problems. It is a place
where men who are recovering from substance abuse live in a home-like atmosphere where they can continue
their rehabilitation and prepare for a productive future free of alcohol and other drugs. Residents
are accepted after completion of a rehabilitation program elsewhere. The Home is located at 708 Main Ave.
SE, Hickory, NC 28602. Telephone: 828-6629. Our congregation supports the Flynn Home with our mission
budget, with volunteers on the board of directors, and with gift boxes at Christmas for the residents.
The executive director is
Marvin Hewitt. For more information, contact
www.flynnhickory.org.
Greater Hickory Cooperative
Christian Ministry
GHCCM provides assistance for the needs of people living in poverty in the Greater Hickory area.
GHCCM currently has five programs to serve persons in crisis: Food Pantry, Financial Assistance,
Healthcare Center, Pharmacy, and a Thrift Store. Volunteers are needed in all areas: interviewers,
pharmacy assistants, food pantry workers, nurses, doctors, and thrift store or warehouse workers.
Our congregation supports the work of GHCCM through our mission budget, by collecting canned food
during the months of January, June and October, by supporting their annual fundraisers (Take a Bite
Out of Hunger in the spring and Harvest of Hope Walk in the fall). Members of our church assisted
in painting at GHCCM during the Days of Caring in 2010.
The executive director is
Dr. Roger Baker. For details, contact
www.ccmhickory.com.
Hickory Soup Kitchen
The Hickory Soup Kitchen provides a hot mid-day meal Monday through Friday and a bag lunch on Saturday
for those in the community who are hungry. Sunday meals are hosted by local churches. Our church hosts
a meal on the second Sunday of the month. Any adults and children in need of a meal are welcome. We
support the Soup Kitchen through our mission budget, with funds from the Souper Bowl Offering on Super
Bowl Sunday each year, with volunteers on the board of directors, and by serving food. To volunteer,
contact director
Austin Pearce or go to
www.hickorysoupkitchen.org
for more information.
Habitat For Humanity
Habitat for Humanity is an international program that builds
housing in partnership with eligible families. Houses are sold
to families at no profit to the organization with a no-interest
mortgage. Operating expenses of our local Habitat chapter are
covered by proceeds from the Habitat Home Store, donations from
churches, and individual gifts. Together with other Presbyterian
churches in our area, we sponsor one house every other year.
Volunteers are needed to work on construction crews, to provide
food to workers, and to share brief devotions with work crews.
In 2011 we are working on the home of Shaimaica Ferguson and her
family. Shaimaica currently works at Southwest Elementary in the
Preschool Program as a teacher assistant. She has two girls,
Shashana and Zariah. Shashana is 5 years old and Zariah is 3 1/2
years old. They enjoy singing gospel music. They love to draw,
pretend that they're princesses and read books. Shashana and
Zariah also love the comfort of their "meme", Shaimaica's mom,
Sandra Foote. Sandra helps take care of these 2 wonderful kids
and enjoys going to church. Contact
www.hickoryhabitat.org
to volunteer.
Ridgeview Breakfast
Six churches in our community rotate the responsibilities of
preparing and serving a hot breakfast every Saturday morning at
the Sunny Valley Community Center in the Ridgeview neighborhood
in SE Hickory. Breakfast is cooked at First United Methodist
Church. Volunteers are needed for each of the Saturdays during
two months out of the year. Contact Linda Grant if you can
volunteer one Saturday in April or October.
Salvation Army
The Salvation Army offers areas of service consisting of Boys and Girls Clubs for school-aged children (after
school and summer time programming), a shelter for homeless persons which includes breakfast and evening meals,
financial assistance, and help with food and clothing. The agency is the provider of toys and clothing and
Christmas stockings for our community’s annual Christmas Bureau program for families in need. Volunteers
are needed in the Boys and Girls Clubs, or to assist with serving the evening meals at the shelter. Our
congregation supports the Salvation Army programs with our mission budget, by ringing the bell for several
days during the pre-Christmas season, with church members on the board of directors, and with volunteers during
the Days of Caring. Residents of the Salvation Army often attend our evening worship service, The Journey.
For information on the Boys and Girls Clubs, see
www.salvationarmycarolinas.org.
School Backpack Program
To ensure adequate nutrition at home, backpacks filled with nutritious food are sent home with school
children on Fridays each week during the school year. Our congregation assisted in donating the backpacks
and in collecting food items. Through our mission budget, we support the purchase of food through
the Second Harvest Food Bank. Vacation Bible School students have helped to fill backpacks as well.
Volunteers continue to be needed to pack and/or deliver backpacks. To donate funds or find a way to
volunteer, contact
Amanda Freeland (AFreeland@catawbacountync.gov)
at DSS.
Project Potential
During the eighth grade year, students who have the potential to succeed in college but are at risk
due to family history, economic hardship, etc., are identified by their teachers as scholarship recipients.
Project Potential matches an adult mentor with each student and promises the equivalent of one year’s tuition
at Catawba Valley Community College. (Funds can be applied to other institutions as well.) Our congregation
funds one scholarship per year through our mission budget, and several church members serve as Project Potential
mentors.
Contact
JoAnn Spees at Hickory High School
(
Speesjo@hickoryshcools.net)
in order to volunteer.
Iglesia Presbiteriana Immanuel
In 2002 a Hispanic/Latino new church development opened up in our neighborhood! Members of this small
congregation come from Mexico, Honduras, Columbia, Venezuela, Cuba and more. Our congregation joins five
other Presbyterian churches in Catawba County and the Presbytery of Western North Carolina to financially
support the pastor in that church. Annually we renew our covenant of support which includes prayer and
fellowship as well as financial support. Members of the church participate in some activities at First
Presbyterian throughout the year. The congregation worships at 12:30 pm each Sunday and always welcomes
visitors. The worship service is in Spanish. It is located at 613 3rd Ave. NE, Hickory, NC 28601
Safe Harbor Rescue Mission
Safe Harbor Rescue Mission provides shelter for women who fall between the cracks in several ways. A day
shelter is open during the week on the ground floor of their facility with positive programming and support
for women who are homeless. A residential facility is operated on the upper floor, with space for 6-8
women for several months at a time. The mission of Safe Harbor is: “To provide a Christ-centered community
where women can work to rebuild their lives through immediate and long-term programs.” The executive director
is Debbie Haynes.
Our congregation supports Safe Harbor through our mission budget, volunteers and Christmas gift bags.
During 2009, our youth center housed the day shelter while the program was “in between” permanent locations.
Volunteers from FPC worked in the yard at Safe Harbor during Days of Caring in 2010.
For more information, contact
www.safeharborrescuemission.org.
Guatemala Partnership
As a part of the Presbytery of Western North Carolina’s Guatemalan Partnership, we have been a partner church with Iglesia
Monte Hebron in Santo Domingo, Guatemala (and their mission congregation in La Selva, Arca de Salvacion) since the late
1990’s. Our direct financial support is minimal, as the partnership focuses more on sharing our faith with one another.
We commit to pray for one another and have exchanged visitors on several occasions. Since 2007, we have collaborated with
the Long Creek Presbyterian Church in Gaston County to provide scholarship assistance for elementary and secondary school
students in both of our partner communities. Additional scholarship assistance is always welcome. Contact Cathy Rubel
for more information.
Amigos de Guatemala (Friends of Guatemala) meets on the fourth Wednesday of each month to hear updates from our Guatemalan
brothers and sisters and to lift their needs to God in prayer. Any church member can apply to represent our church on
one of the annual visits to Guatemala. Spanish not required.
Dr. Barbara Nagy (Malawi)
We have supported Dr. Barbary Nagy (originally from Morganton,
NC) since 2004 in her ministry in Malawi. She has visited our
church on several occasions, even holding Happy on her hip as
she preached a sermon! For contact information, updates from
Barbara or to donate, go to Dr. Nagy’s
mission website.
Barbara was appointed in January 2004 to serve in Malawi. A
specialist in internal medicine and pediatrics, Barbara is
assigned to serve as a physician at Nkhoma Hospital, an
institution of the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian, Nkhoma
Synod.
This isn’t Barbara’s first appointment to serve as a physician
in Africa. She was a mission co-worker in the Democratic
Republic of Congo (then known as Zaire) from 1989 to 1993. “Soon
after becoming a Christian,” Barbara writes, “I felt God calling
me to mission. It’s both an expression of my faith in Christ’s
salvation and an expression of God’s love for all. I feel
privileged to be a Presbyterian because of the church’s rich
heritage of mission and also because of the many missionaries I
have known who have nurtured and inspired me in my faith.”
Barbara holds an M.D. from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia,
and a Bachelor of Science from Oral Roberts University in Tulsa,
Oklahoma. She also has a degree in tropical medicine from the
Prince Leopold School of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium.
Prior to her appointment to Malawi, Barbara worked in family
practice in Glen Alpine, North Carolina (1995 to 2003), and at
Cannon Memorial Hospital in Banner Elk, North Carolina. She
served in Tuba City, Arizona, and Rosebud, South Dakota, from
1986 to 1989 as a physician with the Indian Health Service.
Barbara is a member of First Presbyterian Church, Morganton,
North Carolina, where she is active in the children’s choir. She
serves as a volunteer physician at the Good Samaritan Clinic in
Morganton. She was ordained to the office of elder in 1994 by
Arbor Dale Presbyterian Church in Banner Elk, North Carolina.
Barbara is accompanied in Malawi by her three daughters, Melia,
Anna, and Happiness.
Dr. Becca Young (Indonesia)
Since 2007 we have supported the ministry of Dr. Rebecca Young,
a professor at the Jakarta Theological Seminary in Jakarta,
Indonesia. She has visited our church and shared about her
experiences. For contact information, updates from Rebecca or to
donate to her work, go to her
mission website.
Rebecca Young was appointed in July 2007 to serve as instructor
of Systematic Theology at the Jakarta Theological Seminary in
Jakarta, Indonesia. In addition, Rebecca has a part-time
assignment with Presbyterian Disaster Assistance as a consultant
for PDA’s ongoing recovery work for the tsunami in Aceh Province
of December 26, 2004.
Prior to her appointment, Rebecca worked for Presbyterian
Disaster Assistance in Indonesia.
She has also worked as an adjunct professor at Piedmont College
in Demorest, Georgia, teaching world religions, philosophical
ethics, and women in world religions (2000-2003).
Rebecca was director of alumni/alumnae relations and church
relations for Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia
(1998-1999). She was interim pastor of Nacoochee Presbyterian
Church in Sautee-Nacoochee, Georgia (1997-1998).
In health and development work, Rebecca worked with Church World
Service from 1989 to 1993 in Jayapura, Irian Jaya, Indonesia,
where she served as a nutritional consultant, trained village
health workers, and did health and nutrition surveys in the
interior of West Papua. She was a nutritionist in Johnson City,
Tennessee, employed by the Upper East Tennessee Regional health
Office to evaluate and monitor the nutritional status of
children under 2 and pregnant and breastfeeding women.
Rebecca has a bachelor’s degree, three master’s degrees, and a
doctorate. Her bachelor’s degree is in psychology and
international development from the College of William and Mary
in Williamsburg, Virginia. She has a master of divinity degree
from Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia; a
master’s degree in public health and nutrition from the
University of North Carolina Public Health in Chapel Hill, North
Carolina; and both a master’s of philosophy and a doctorate from
Fordham University in New York, New York. Her dissertation
subject was the Holy Spirit from a woman’s perspective, with
emphasis on environmental and women’s issues.
Rebecca was ordained to the ministry of Word and Sacrament in
1998 by the Presbytery of Western North Carolina, of which she
is still a minister member.
Harry & Debbie Horne (Peru)
We have supported the ministry of the Hornes for many years. For
contact information, to find out more about the Hornes'
activities or to donate to their mission, please visit their
mission website.
Harry and Debbie Horne were first appointed workers with the
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in 1983. Their most recent
appointment, which began in July 2004, is in Lima, Perú,
where Harry is assigned to the Recinto Universitario Teológico
(RUT), a theological education institution related to the
Universidad Bíblica
Latinoamericana in Costa Rica, and Debbie is assigned to Joining
Hands against Hunger, Perú.
Harry teaches Bible and biblical language courses at the RUT and
Debbie is also the site coordinator for the Young Adult
Volunteer Program. Joining Hands is the receiving network for
the YAVs in Peru.
About the Recinto Teológico,
Harry writes: “The story of the Recinto is the story of the
ministries of our students. We have no resident students. They
come from all around Lima. They come from busy lives, some as
pastors and some as lay leaders with secular occupations, but
all deeply involved in the church. We exist to give them a
chance to reflect on and inform their ministries with a deepened
understanding of God’s Word for us.”
Debbie says: "Some things one cannot prepare for, even after 15
years in the mission field. I wasn’t totally prepared for all
the blessings God would pour out on me through my connections
and relationships with young adults. Nor was I prepared for all
the love and pride that would well up in me when sharing about
what these young adults are doing in their communities,
churches, and within their Peruvian host families. I was not
prepared to witness the growth and transformation of these young
adults.”
Prior to their assignment in Lima, the Hornes served from 1994
to 2003 in Guatemala with the Seminario Evangélico
Presbiteriano (SEP) and the Central American Evangelical Center
for Pastoral Studies (CEDEPCA). While at SEP Harry taught a
variety of Bible and theology courses and developed curriculum
resources for the seminary and outlying centers. Debbie was the
director and teacher at La Escuelita at SEP, a preschool and
kindergarten program that the Hornes started.
The Hornes’ first appointment as PC(USA) mission workers was
from 1983 to 1987, when Harry served as a youth minister and
Christian educator in Grand Cayman in the Caribbean. After that
term of service, the Hornes returned to the United States, where
Harry accepted a call to be the pastor of First Presbyterian
Church in Darien, Georgia. While there Debbie obtained a
bachelor’s degree in early childhood education and taught first
grade.
Born in Denver, Colorado, Harry graduated from Eckerd College in
St. Petersburg, Florida, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in
sociology. He later earned his Master of Divinity degree from
Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Texas and his Master
of Theology and Doctor of Ministry degrees from Columbia
Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia.
Harry has been pastor of Parkway Presbyterian Church in Panama
City, Florida, and Trinity Presbyterian Church in Jacksonville,
Florida, and associate pastor of First Presbyterian Church, also
in Jacksonville.
A native of Jacksonville, Debbie worked for Stockton, Whatley,
Davin and Company and the Duval Federal Savings and Loan
Association. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in
elementary education from Armstrong State College in Savannah,
Georgia.
Harry is a clergy member of Savannah Presbytery, and Debbie is a
member of First Presbyterian Church in Darien, Georgia. Harry
and Debbie are the parents of four adult children: Amy, Eddie,
Stephen, and Sarah.
Domestic Mission Trips
Members of First Presbyterian Church have the opportunity each
year to serve others through domestic mission trips. We offer
trips for adults (one week or weekend), senior high youth,
junior high youth, and families.
Adult and Senior High Trips usually focus on
construction projects and disaster relief. Recent trips have
been to the Gulfcoast and Nashville, Tennessee.
.
Adult Mini Mission Trips to Camp Grier allow
people with stricter work schedules to experience a one night
and one day mission trip.
.
Junior High Youth usually take shorter trips to
either an urban (Jacksonville, FL; Washington, DC; Atlanta, GA)
or rural (WV) setting.
.
Weekend Family Trips are planned for on-site
work at locations such as Black Mountain Home for Children,
Crossnore Home and School, or Camp Grier.
International mission trips
Adults and senior high students of First Presbyterian Church have the opportunity every other year to serve
others through international mission trips. These trips usually focus on construction projects, often to areas
where natural disasters have caused significant damage. Medical mission trips are planned as the interest and
needs arise. To serve on a mission trip, contact Ken Bates.