Mission and Service Opportunities

Upcoming service opportunities are listed below:

Serving Lunch at the Downtown Walk-In Ministry

Making sandwiches and serving up lunch every other month—that is what volunteers from our congregation are doing downtown.  First Presbyterian is just one of many local churches participating in the Walk-In Ministry to assist the homeless at Second Presbyterian at 5 North Fifth Street.

We arrive on our appointed Mondays to make sandwiches, prepare trays and help serve homeless people who walk in from the streets.

Five to seven people are needed each month.  Every volunteer does not have to come on every date.  Volunteer opportunities include the following:

            Lunch preparers                    10:15-11:45 a.m.

            Shopper                                   Buys bread and milk, reimbursed by the church

            Lunch servers                         11:40 a.m.-12:45 p.m.

            Volunteer coordinator            Sets up schedule and reminds volunteers

Dates for the rest of 2008 are June 16, August 18, October 20, and December 15.

For more information about this easy, but important, service, please contact Rosalind Banbury at  358-2383 or rbanbury@fpcrichmond.org.

 

Habitat for Humanity House To Be Built in April-May 2008

First Presbyterian is gearing up to build our seventh Habitat House! 

Habitat for Humanity is a Christian ministry that builds decent houses for low-income families.  We began construction on April 9, 2008, and hope to complete the house in May.  We are signing up volunteers to help with construction.  Great progress has been made! But sign-up has been light.  We need 5 additional volunteers each Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. You may also come for a morning. Tools, instructions and lunch are provided.

Information and sign-up sheets will be located at the Habitat table in the Commons in March and April.

LOCATION:            The Habitat House is located at 3320 Maybrook Lane. 

You can find directions and maps on the Internet by typing in 4321 Angus Road, since Maybrook is a new road.   The MapQuest directions direct you to Powhite South, to Chippenham South, to Belmont Road to Walmsley Blvd, to Angus Road.  Leigh Perry, Joel Watson and Rosalind Banbury at the church all have copies of the MapQuest directions if you need them.

Another way to go is the following: drive South on 95 to the Bells Road exit.  Exit and turn right at the stoplight. Go a block, and turn left on Bells Road. Follow this road until you hit Jefferson Davis Turnpike.  Turn left, and continue until you reach Walmsley Blvd. where you turn right.  You cross the railroad tracks and go to the fourth right turn (Angus Road).  Turn right, and follow Angus until you see Maybrook Ln. and the Habitat sign on your right.  Turn right, and our house is on the left side just past the large drainage ditch.  Maps can be picked up at church.

Join the Nicaragua Medical Mission Trip June 2008
To see an additional article and photos, click here.
Click here for Nicaragua mission trips.

Join us on the shores of the Caribbean from June 20-June 27.  You won’t have to worry about a sunburn, because we’ll be working inside – serving those who most need medical care.  Yes, it’s our fourth FPC medical mission trip, and we would love to have you sign up to go with us. 

The medical team has be formed, and now we are looking for caring, compassionate folks who are interested in being “gophers” for the doctors and nurses.  Can you smile and greet people? Can you keep a list of who has been treated and what medications have been suggested? Can you demonstrate your faith?

2002 was the year of our first medical mission trip.  Here is a remembrance from Marsha Summers:

  “My job was to help with giving numbers and keeping the line moving toward triage.  Kind of like an airline attendant, helping find seats, giving cups of water to the hot and thirsty, admiring pretty babies, teasing little boys. Near the end of one very hot and humid day, when many in line had been waiting in the sun for over 5 hours, I had a good time getting children to hold their hands out to catch a little ice-water.  "Scrub those hands! Now your face. Here it comes, down your neck" – all with hand signals, since no one at that point spoke English, and my Spanish is only competent for singing. There were lots of squeals and laughter from children, smiles from mothers and fathers.”

For additional commentaries, click here.

Are you interested?  Contact Cynthia Shelhorse (clshelhorse@henrico.k12.va.us) or Mert Fowlkes (Fmfowlkes@aol.com) for more information."