Mission Partners
First United Church and its members are involved in the community and the world in many ways. In 2009-2011 we are focusing particularly on two areas of mission, one globally and one locally. In global concerns we are involved in issues in Latin America. We have a special interest in supporting two missionaries, Mamie Broadhurst and Richard Williams, in Colombia, South America. Locally our focus is on short and long term solutions to hunger. Follow the links to Food Pantry and Crop Walk for more information.
Contact the Church for information on volunteering with any of these service opportunities.
LOCAL
Alternative Christmas Store: The Alternative Christmas Store has been a First United tradition for over 20 years. It provides a way to purchase gifts that support Church World Service and other mission partners and creates a different option for giving during the Christmas season. The leadership in this project is changing, so if you would like to lend a hand please contact the Church to join a new team for the future!
Casa Central: Casa Central provides social services for all age groups, focusing on the city’s Hispanic population, including on-site and at-home care and programs for the elderly and for children. First United has involvement with all ages from both communities - providing help in the form of apartment paint & clean up days, donation of household items and clothing, and shared meals. You can find more information at http://www.casacentral.org/.
Cluster Tutoring: Cluster Tutoring assists pairs an adult tutor with a child or young person who is struggling with their studies. Once a week tutoring pairs meet, at Pine Avenue Presbyterian Church on Tuesday nights or First United on Thursday nights. Each year there is a waiting list for children to be accepted in the program as they wait for people to volunteer as tutors. Contact the Church for more information.
CROP Walk: Communities Responding to Poverty (CROP) is sponsored by the Church World Service. On the first Sunday of May, there is a CROP Hunger Walk, a 10K walk, in which walkers ask people to financial support them. The money raised by this walk goes to support the overall ministry of Church World Service, especially the grassroots, hunger-fighting development efforts of partner agencies in some 80 countries. The CROP Walk helps at home by the returning of 25% of what our local CROP walkers raise to hunger-fighting programs in our own community. For more information, please go to http://www.churchworldservice.org/site/PageServer?pagename=crop_main.
Erie House: Erie Neighborhood House is a comprehensive social service agency that aims to empower Latino and diverse low-income communities by offering a range of educational programs, access to critical resources, and advocacy programs to all ages. You can find more information at www.eriehouse.org.
Family Service: Family Service of OP/RF is a non-profit, social service and mental health agency whose goals are to alleviate suffering and empower individuals and families in the local community to live healthier and more hopeful lives by providing a range of professional mental health and community prevention services, including behavioral healthcare services, crisis and emergency services, comprehensive youth services, psychiatric rehabilitation services, specialized support, and prevention and risk reduction services. More information is at http://www.familyserviceoprf.org/.
Food Pantry: The OPRF Food Pantry, located in the basement of First United, serves the needs of men, women, and children in the surrounding area. It is open Saturday mornings, two Wednesday afternoons and one Wednesday evening each month. Those in need are provided bags of food and household items, when available. The Greater Chicago Food Depository and other local organizations support the Pantry. For more information go to http://www.oprffoodpantry.org/.
FUSH/FUJI: First United Senior Highs (FUSH) and First United Junior Highs (FUJI) are an integral part of mission at First United. Each year over 50 FUSH kids participate in a week-long work camp where their efforts help assist those in need from all parts of the country. In addition to this weeklong service trip, they have held concerts to advocate for Kohn Elementary School, Students Against Sweat Shops, and other resident mission in the church and at OPRF. FUJI students have made apple crisp for PADS, painted transitional apartments for Casa Central, and helped with Interfaith House birthday parties among other mission projects.
Hephzibah: Hephzibah is a children’s welfare association whose goal is to provide safety and care to vulnerable children and families in crisis. Hephzibah provides day care; family based services including foster care and adoption; group homes for children who have lost parents through death or abandonment or who are from families overwhelmed by poverty, addiction, illness, or mental instability; educational enrichment programs; and support for families who have children with serious medical conditions. More information is at www.hephzibahhome.org.
Infant Welfare Clinic: Infant Welfare Clinic supports low-income mothers and their children by providing medical, dental and social services. A number of members contribute their fundraising talents as well as medical skills to serve the Infant Welfare Clinic. You can find more information at www.childrenscliniciws.org.
Interfaith Council for the Homeless: Interfaith Council for the Homeless works to pool community assets to assist the area’s homeless population. IFC collaborates with other groups, agencies and churches to help the homeless gain access to food, clothing, housing, furniture, transportation, and other needs. More information about Interfaith Council is at www.ichchicago.org.
Interfaith House: Interfaith House provides medical services and recovery assistance to homeless men and women, in order for them to achieve medical stability, as well as aftercare services. Interfaith House also offers mental health and substance abuse services, nutrition services, housing advocacy, and employment counseling. First United organizes monthly birthday parties which bring smiles and fun to all participants. For more information go to www.interfaithhouse.org.
Inspiration Corporation: Inspiration Corporation helps people who are affected by homelessness and poverty to improve their lives and increase self-sufficiency. They have grown to serve 2,500 individuals a year by providing meals, supportive services, housing, employment preparation and vocational training, and free voice mail — serving as a catalyst for self-reliance. Their service area is primarily the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago. For more information go to http://www.inspirationcorp.org/.
Lifelink: Lifelink is a non-profit, Christian-based organization which assists people of all ages in building and maintaining individual well-being by providing spiritual, physical, social, and emotional health services. Lifelink operates out of a facility located in Bensenville, IL. Information about Lifelink can be found at www.lifelink.org.
Oak Park PFLAG: Oak Park PFLAG ( Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) is a local chapter of a national non¬denominational group that meets monthly at our church and provides opportunity for dialogue about sexual orientation and gender identity as well as acts to create a society that is healthy and respectful of human diversity. More information can be found at www.pflag.org.
Proviso Habitat: Proviso Habitat for Humanity is a local arm of Habitat for Humanity whose goal is to provide new homes for low-income families. Members of the community work together to raise funds and build homes. The most recent building project was completed in Maywood. More information about Habitat nationally is at <a href=http://www.habitat.org”>www.habitat.org.
Sister House: Sister House provides assistance for women recovering from addiction, including housing, addiction recovery programs, and educational and job training assistance. Sister House runs a small, but powerful program that helps women work through their challenges to gain independence.
Volunteer Center: The Volunteer Center pools volunteer opportunities in the community, focusing on at-risk youth, senior citizens, and the mentally disabled. First United has a longstanding relationship with Oak Park’s Volunteer Center. Each month the Volunteer Center provides a listing of short-term and longer commitment opportunities for volunteering locally. For more information go to www.oprfvolunteercenter.org.
West Suburban PADS: “PADS” stands for Public Action to Deliver Shelter. Programs include Emergency Overnight Shelter during cold weather months, Transitional Housing, Permanent Supportive Housing, Homeless Prevention, a Support Center, Medical and Mental Health Services, and more. Since 1992 over 4,000 men, women and families have been assisted. First United has been a site for Monday night emergency shelter since the start of the program in 1992. We provide the crew of volunteers to staff the shelter on the third and fifth Mondays with dinners and bag lunches for all guests. Go to www.westsuburbanpads.org for additional information.
Walk-In Ministry: The OPRF Area Walk-In Ministry is a collaboration by many faith organizations in the area to satisfy needs of people who need immediate assistance. By centralizing and pooling the resources of several faith communities as well as individual donors, WIM works with clients on an ongoing basis, assisting those seeking help by listening compassionately to issues, identifying underlying problems and/or providing immediate assistance or referring them to appropriate service organizations. The WIM program succeeds because clients are required to be accountable and actively involved in this process.
GLOBAL
Agape House Campus Ministry: Agape House is an ecumenical campus ministry at the University of Illinois at Chicago. It focuses program priorities on worship, education, and service. It has a long history of social justice work, and seeks to live out a progressive Christian witness on campus. It is a place where many of the faiths on campus (and there are many) can find dialogue and common ground. It is also an open and affirming ministry, offering a specific welcome and support to members of the GLBTQ community. More information can be found at www.agape-uic.org.
Colombia: At the request of the Presbyterian Church of Colombia (IPC), Mamie Broadhurst (former First United Associate Pastor) and Richard William serve as pastoral accompaniers. After 40 years of war, Colombia has the second largest number of displaced people in the world. Church and human rights workers who work with the displaced have been killed and threatened. In an attempt to minimize the threat to these church- and human-rights workers, the IPC and the PC(USA) have developed a program in which Presbyterians from the United States (in teams of two, serving for one or two months) volunteer to accompany the church workers in their service. Mamie and Richard will work with this program. In addition, they also nurture presbytery partnerships, advocacy, and cooperation. Subscribe to their blog and obtain more information at http://calledtocolombia.org/.
Community Renewal Society: CRS is an community organizing agency formed out of the Congregational Church (now the United Church of Christ). CRS empowers people to build just communities by working to eradicate racism and poverty. It does so by informing, organizing, training, and encouraging individuals and communities in sustained and strategic efforts to engender systemic change. Current initiatives include work with children of the incarcerated and Faith Leaders for Fiscal Integrity. For more information go to www.communityrenewalsociety.org.
Kenya, Africa: Several of our members brought their talents to Kenya and shared in art projects for residents of a Nairobi refugee camp. Working with local artists, they presented workshops for children and youth during the summer of 2005. Other support has gone through the Sanja Women’s Group which is located in western Kenya. This group of widows cares for children orphaned by HIV/AIDS. They have built wells, learned and taught public health to the community, and now are engaged in educating the children. The Ember Kenya Project offers similar support by purchasing goats for widows who are raising orphaned children to provide milk, meat, and income. All of these projects have the potential to grow with our support.
Latin America: Our work in Latin American is primarily through the Chicago Religious Leadership Network for Latin America (CRLN) and consists of support for refugees seeking sanctuary from death threats in Colombia, opportunities to protest the School of the Americas at Ft. Benning, delegation trips, and US advocacy efforts. CRLN itself is an interfaith information and action network that mobilizes religious leaders and congregations in Illinois to advance peace, justice and human rights in our hemisphere. Through speakers, workshops, monthly membership updates, advocacy action initiatives, visits to Latin America, and meetings with U.S. policy-makers, CRLN engages religious leaders to speak out for more just U.S. policies in our hemisphere. More information can be found at www.crln.org.
Middle East: Work for peace and justice in the Middle East comes through a variety of groups.
The Middle East Task Force of Chicago Presbytery (METF) wishes to bring a greater awareness of the conflict in the Middle East (specifically Palestine/Israel and Iraq) through methods of personal witness - including non-violent methods of resistance - and present opportunities for support and action in accomplishing a just peace in the region.
The Arab Group for Christian and Muslim Dialogue brings together clergy and people in public life to try to diffuse sectarian tendencies and violence by the promotion of peaceful resolution through joint development action as well as interfaith and intercultural dialogue.
Douglas Dicks is a Presbyterian mission worker who lives in Amman, Jordan. Due to diminishing financial support he must raise money to cover vital projects with which he is working in his position as regional liaison between Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian Territories. You can read more about Doug and his reflections on his work at http://www.pcusa.org/missionconnections/profiles/dicksd.htm.
The Committee for a Just Peace in Israel and Palestine (CJPIP) was founded in 2002 in Oak Park to foster enhanced understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through constructive local dialogue and community education events featuring distinguished speakers—authors, activists, scholars, and religious and political figures with experiences and perspectives not frequently covered in the mainstream media. The Committee for a Just Peace in Israel and Palestine (CJPIP) supports the implementation of US policy promoting the well-being, security, and economic prosperity of both Israelis and Palestinians, recognizing that the aspirations of Palestinians and Israelis are inextricably interrelated and that Israel’s security depends on political and human rights for the Palestinians. The Committee for a Just Peace in Israel and Palestine (CJPIP) is a recipient of development grants from the Crossroads and RESIST Foundations. In 2004, CJPIP was awarded the prestigious Blessed Are The Peacemakers Award by the World Council of Churches. For more information visit www.cjpip.org.
Protestants for the Common Good: PCG educates and mobilizes people of faith to participate in political democracy for the sake of social justice and the beloved community. PCG is both an education and advocacy organization which pursues educational activities, including the teaching of a Faith and Public Issues discussion series, public events such as forums and town meetings on issues with important moral dimensions, and the dissemination of written materials that prepare the reader to consider the direct moral consequences of public policy. The central focus of PCG is to assist people to examine their responsibilities as citizens in the light of their religious faith. For more information go to www.thecommongood.org.
Support of GLBT People: More Light Presbyterians and That All May Freely Serve (TAMFS) are two groups within PC(USA) that advocate for the full inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in the life of the church. The UCC Coalition consists of several groups which advocate for the extravagant welcome of GLBT women and men. More information can be found at www.mlp.org, www.ucccoalition.org and www.tamfs.org.
UCC and PCUSA Seminaries and Retirement Homes: To support the strong educational imperative we appreciate in both denominations, we give money to both Chicago Theological Seminary (UCC) and McCormick Theological Seminary (PCUSA). We also support programs at retirement homes associated with our denominations that offer assistance to lower-income residents who wish to live at either Presbyterian Homes in Evanston or Plymouth Place (UCC) in LaGrange. More information can be found at: www.chgosem.edu, www.mccormick.edu, www.presbyterianhomes.org, and www.plymouthplace.org.