The 2020 Annual Report of the Social Justice & Mission Team (SJMT) ~ Mitch Kirsch, chair

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The Social Justice & Mission Team (SJMT) actively engages in programs, activities, and events that support those who are economically and socially disadvantaged, in our local community, across the nation, and the larger world. This team represents the spirit of the church, and our goal is 100% participation, across the congregation, in at least one mission-related initiative per year: in deed, financial support, or in prayer.

This report summarizes the work of this team during 2020, a most unusual year for everyone, especially those marginalized populations within our community.

• The first quarter of 2020 began as most other new years have in the past. There was discussion within the team about where to focus our attention during the year and we undertook several initiatives to identify that direction.
  • A mission-focused Adult Education session was held on February 2nd to engage the congregation in generating ideas for a major mission project this year. Challenges within the homeless community and immigration were identified as possible issues to address
  • Tom King attended our March meeting to provide insight into the major issues facing our community. He identified
    • Homeless challenge
    • Mental health crises
    • Immigrant rights
    • Needs of underrepresented populations/racial inequities
• Following our March meeting, our world shifted entirely, adjusting to the pandemic that was at our doorstep. Our team continued to meet remotely as we tried to identify where we could be of most help in this new, challenging environment.
  • We received updates from Out of the Cold, assessing their daily needs as the demands from the homeless population increased
  • We conducted follow up meetings with some local organizations
    • Jana Marie Foundation – combating mental health challenges
    • State College Police Community Relations office
    • State College School District – special food drive “Stuff the Bus” with food to support local community
• After much discussion, thought, and prayer, our team felt the local needs for housing and shelter during this worldwide pandemic were so great and deserved our attention.  Beginning in June, SJMT met on a weekly basis, inviting local agency representatives to join us to share their goals and challenges so we could learn more about their work and how our church community might be able to help.  We met with the following agencies:
  • Centre Helps
  • Interfaith Human Services
  • Housing Transitions
  • Adult Services of Centre County
  • Out of the Cold
• After hearing from each of these agencies, SJMT felt it was important to share what we had learned with the entire congregation.  We established a communications campaign that would run throughout the fall that would feature each agency in a Minute for Mission, as well as articles in the weekly email newsletter and the monthly PresbyPost. Each member of our team was responsible for one agency and organizing the communications and messaging for one month. Mike organized each of the Minute for Mission messages and incorporated them into the online service.
• Financial Support – at the same time we were focusing on local housing issues, we knew there were individuals and families struggling with extraordinary financial challenges:  unemployment and lock-down situations changed the economic status for many of our friends and neighbors so we wanted to determine the best way we could be of assistance.   Initially, our team began taking direct requests from members of our congregation who were in need. As we progressed through the summer months and learned more about how the social service agencies work, we proposed a more collaborative approach
  • Mike spoke with ten other church representatives in our local faith community to set up a more coordinated approach to providing assistance. We believe this is the first time this group of churches worked together to achieve the greater good in our community.
  • While we would continue to receive direct requests for support from congregation members, we partnered with Centre Helps, a local agency that centralizes all support for community citizens in need. We found this effort to be more efficient and effective in meeting needs while avoiding redundancies.
  • As of January 2, 2021, the Social Justice & Mission Team distributed the following funds:
    • $23,659 from the Mission Growth/operating funds to help 21 families/individuals (17 unique families were supported once while 4 families/individuals received support more than once from March – December 2020).
    • Two additional individuals were supported from the Pastors’ Discretionary Fund to help with utility bills
  • We continued to provide support to Hekima Place in Kenya by sending $3,905 from both the Powers Trust fund and the 2019 Children’s Christmas collection.
  • Since we were unable to host Out of the Cold guests in December, we provided funds to pay for hotel rooms in the amount of $4,400*.
  • The Angel Tree ministry had to be adjusted this year to accommodate Covid-19 safety protocols. We presented over $7,700 in gifts to local agencies participating in Angel Tree in 2020*

*Note that these figures are reported as of 1/2/21; additional support may be reported after this date

This financial support would not have been possible without the full commitment of the church congregation and we are grateful for the generosity expressed by so many within our church.

One additional activity supported by SJMT in 2020 was providing staffing for Interfaith Human Services during the holidays, bell-ringing at Meyer Dairy.

I would like to thank the members of the Social Justice and Mission Team who worked tirelessly during 2020, identifying key resources within our community and sharing those resources with the congregation. This team demonstrated commitment and dedication to the task at hand, representing the true spirit of social justice and mission within our community.  I am proud to call them colleagues and friends:
Maggie Foster, Lam Hood, Charles Ascolese, Curtis Dell, Scott Kretchmar, Beth Farmer, Reed Miller, and Mike Ozaki
 
I would also like to recognize Carrie Miller and Sharon Manno for their exceptional work on the 2020 Angel Tree project.

The Social Justice & Mission team invites any member of our church family to join with us to continue to work for the greater good in our communities, near and far.
 
Mitch Kirsch, Social Justice & Mission Team chair

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