Please click here for how you can help with the Hurricane Disaster Relief.
Please click here for memo from The Disaster Response Committee
OUTREACH OPPORTUNITIES
Volunteer Ministry Center
Volunteer Ministry Center reaches out to many homeless and
impoverished individuals and families in our community. Their
ministry provides food, clothing, counseling, temporary housing,
and emergency funds for utilities and rent assistance. Members of
the Congregation volunteer their time each month to prepare and serve meals to the hungry at the Volunteer Ministry Center. A sign-up sheet is posted in the Narthex for each date. Assistance is also given in the form of clothing, toiletries, and gifts for their Christmas Store.
Lakeshore Mental Health Institute
Lakeshore Mental Health Institute provides mental health education, support, and advocacy for adults and children with mental illness. The Institute provides a wide range of services from crisis care and safe respite, to vocational programs and housing services. Semi-annual donation drives are held to collect warm clothing and shoes, reading materials, stationary, used Bibles and other religious materials, and items for awards on Bingo night!
Sunset Gap Community Center
The Sunset Gap Community Center is the focal point for community outreach in this impoverished community. The Center offers teaching, training, and service programs to the residents. The Community Center also supports a Day Care Center, Thrift Store, and Food Pantry. Farragut Presbyterian’s support of this vital ministry includes financial support in addition to:
·
The Back-to-School Program supports children
with
backpacks, school supplies, clothing, and a winter coat.
· Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners are provided for many
families.
· The Christmas Store is stocked for residents to purchase gifts for their families.
· The Angel Tree is used to fullfill children’s Christmas wishes
· Donations drives are held to collect clothing, furniture and other
household items to support the community Thrift Store
Mobile Meals
Mobile Meals is a voluntary nonprofit organization that provides a
nutritious meal and a wellness check to the frail, homebound
senior citizens living in Knox County. To many of these elderly,
the visit may be the only person that they speak with that day. The
volunteers keep close watch over these seniors and any needs or
emergencies are reported to the Mobile Meals network staff. Farragut
Presbyterian provides two volunteers each Friday for delivering meals in
addition to financial support to this wonderful ministry. Special packages of
fresh fruit are pulled together by the children of our church at Thanksgiving.
Then at Christmas, the children donate, wrap and decorate many special items for
Christmas gifts to be provided with the Christmas meals.
Presbytery Center at UT
The Student Presbytery Center at the
University of Tennessee provides
a Christian atmosphere and a place for refuge and spiritual renewal for
college students. Farragut Presbyterian is proud to have a Lay Pastor who provides a Wednesday night Bible Study and gathering time for these students.
In 2004, Farragut Presbyterian, in partnership with Habitat for
Humanity, Concord A.M.E. Zion church, Concord
Original Church of
God, and Shiloh Presbyterian Church, provided a much-needed home
for a mother and her son. Currently, funding is being accrued to provide another home through Habitat for Humanity in Spring 2006. In the meantime, many members of our congregation remain active in Habitat projects throughout the area.
Interfaith Health Clinic
Interfaith Health Clinic plays a vital role in our local community
providing medical, dental, and mental
health care to the working
uninsured and others in need. Farragut Presbyterian is proud to have
members active in providing medical services at the clinic as well as providing financial support for its mission and much needed supplies.
Camp John Knox Center
Camp John Knox is a Presbyterian Youth Retreat that provides
weekend and summer camps to the youth of our church and the
community as well as training events for
church officers. Our ongoing
support of this ministry includes volunteer workdays as well as financial support.
Court Appointed Special Advocates
“A Child’s Voice in Court, Inc.” helps improve the lives of abused and neglected children through trained volunteers who advocate for a safe, loving, and permanent home. Farragut Presbyterian is proud to have a member who has completed the training and become certified as a certified Court Appointed Specialist with CASA, in addition to providing financial support for this wonderful mission.
My Village Childcare Development Program
My Village is a community Childcare Development Program located in downtown Knoxville that provides day care and after school care to up to 80 school age children. Farragut Presbyterian provides volunteer services and financial support to this vital Childcare Development Program.
Living Waters for the World is the global mission resource of the
Synod of Living Waters (Presbyterian Church USA) that trains and
equips
church mission groups and others to share the gift of clean
water with communities in need, and to empower their partners to
continue purifying their water on an ongoing basis. Although Living
Waters of the World has been around for over 10 years, this is a new mission opportunity for Farragut Presbyterian. A group of volunteers from our church will be pursuing training for this extraordinary outreach program.
Second Harvest
Second Harvest recovers food that is canned, packaged or perishable
to distribute to 350 plus agencies in an
18 county area. These agencies
provide emergency food assistance in the form of bags or boxes of
groceries to take home, or hot meals served in a soup kitchen or group
home. Second Harvest also provides food for The Kids Café and Food for Kids: two programs aimed at ending childhood hunger. In the Food for Kids program, participating students receive a backpack full of food for themselves and, if needed, their younger siblings on a regularly scheduled basis.
Ulster Project International
The Ulster Project is dedicated to promoting a peaceful parity of esteem between Roman Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland by building tolerance, trust, and ongoing positive relationships among potential leaders from these Christian traditions. Under the sponsorship of the various US city Ulster Projects, teens (half Catholic and half Protestant; half girls and half boys) from their paired Northern Irish communities come to the United States to live in private homes for a month. During the month, the entire group of Northern Irish and American teens meet almost daily for activities, including encounter sessions, social activities, community service projects, and worship.
FISH works to reduce hunger in our community by providing small supplies of food at no cost to those needing temporary assistance. People in need contact FISH (865-588-9200) on Monday through Saturday to request food assistance. There is a “no screening, no questions asked” policy for callers. The food provided by FISH is a three-day emergency supply of nonperishable items, such as canned foods, dry cereal, and bread products. FISH began as, and has remained, an all-volunteer organization with no paid staff members.
Each year, members of Farragut Presbyterian Church are given
the opportunity to travel to areas outside of Knoxville to reach
out to others in need. We have mission
trips arranged for our
members, and special mission trips planned for our Senior High Youth and our Middle School Youth.
Mission Bazaar
Farragut Presbyterian hosts an annual Mission Bazaar and invites many area missions to present their mission’s purpose. The missions are invited to bring items to hand out or to sell to raise funds. This is an opportunity for area missions to present their cause to the members of our church community.
Compassion Coalition
The Mission of the Compassion Coalition is to inform, prepare, and unite churches to transform lives and communities through the love of Christ. For current community needs, click here.
In addition to active participation in missions, Farragut Presbyterian continues to provide financial support to such organizations as Coalition for Appalachia, the Presbytery Disaster Fund, Heifer International, and the Youth Connection of the Mental Health Association.