FOOD for HOPE: Launched with a small pilot group in the spring of 2016, and now serving over 60 kids each week, Food for Hope is a backpacks-with-food ministry that expands on our existing partnerships with Edison School. A large number of Edison students qualify for free lunch, and some of them struggle to find adequate food on the weekends when they are not in school. Food for Hope seeks to stand in the gap for these kids by filling backpacks with non-perishable food for the weekends and delivering them to the students at school on Friday. The student returns the backpack to school on Monday, and we start all over again for another week.
For more information about how you can partner with us in striving to end childhood hunger in our community, please contact the church office. To partner with us financially, please donate here.
KIDS HOPE USA: In 2005, we established a KIDS HOPE USA [www.kidshopeusa.org] partnership with Edison School here in Stickney. Adults from Faith are paired with students at Edison in a one-on-one relationship; mentors visit the student at school for one hour, once a week, providing a stable, loving relationship. (While we are currently taking a break from KIDS HOPE; we hope to be able to resume this important aspect of our larger Edison School partnership soon.)
CROP Walk: [www.cwsglobal.org] Each fall, Faith partners with a dozen area churches and Church World Service in a 4 mile CROP Walk for hunger relief. $5,000 – $7,000 is raised annually, with 25% of those funds staying local (Cicero-Berwyn-Stickney Anti-Hunger Foundation and the St. Leonard Food Pantry) and 75% of those funds going to Church World Service to support their work in worldwide hunger relief and disaster response efforts.
FIRE/POLICE PRAYER SUPPORT: Our firefighters and police officers give of themselves in sacrificial service to our community, often with little fanfare. We commit to praying for these servants throughout the year, and give than an intentional focus each spring, with a month of prayer: thanking God for their service and asking God for continued protection, safety, and blessing for them and their families. We celebrate and thank our firefighters and police officers each summer with a special picnic in their honor.
VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL: Our walls resound with the laughter and singing of children the last week of July each year during Vacation Bible School as kids (4-yrs.-old – 5th grade), guided by junior/senior high students, take over every inch of our facility as they learn of God’s love for them. In recent years, we have joined with our mission partners J.P. & Katy Sundararajan to raise funds to send audio-Bibles to former lepers in India, and the kids have responded in incredible generosity to this chance to give back. For more information about how you can be involved with V.B.S., please contact Sandy Johnson through the church office.
Global Partners:
Shelvis & Nancy Smith-Mather: [www.rca.org/smith-mather] South Sudan
Shelvis and Nancy work with RECONCILE (the Resource Centre for Civil Leadership), an indigenous ecumenical Christian organization, which was established in March 2004 by a national church council. It promotes peace-building by providing training in trauma recovery, conflict transformation, and civic education. RECONCILE’s activities are in areas of high inter-ethnic conflict, with the churches often being the typical point of entry into these communities. Shelvis and Nancy participate in RECONCILE’s training events that address inter-ethnic conflict. Shelvis also serves as principal of the Peace Institute, which offers three-month courses in community-based trauma healing, peace studies, and conflict transformation. Shelvis & Nancy have a son, Jordan (the first American born in the country of South Sudan), and two daughters, Adelyn and Nicole.
Chris & Christie Winkler: [thosewinklers.wordpress.com] Wycliffe Bible Translators
After 6 years in north-central Nigeria, working on the operations & support side of Bible translation efforts throughout West Africa, the Winklers returned to the United States in 2014 where Chris now serves as the Vice President of Advancement for Wycliffe Bible Translators. Chris and Christie live in Orlando, Florida, and have three children: Judah, Jovelle, and Josiah.
Camp Manitoqua: [www.manitoqua.org]
Camp Manitoqua is a youth camp and retreat center located in south suburban Frankfort, Illinois, which has served several generations of youth and families from Faith.