The Christmas Joy Offering reflects that God is with us, through the generous gifts that support church leaders among us, retired, present and future, who have pointed us to God. Even as we support our current and former church leaders through the Assistance Program of the Board of Pensions, God is calling new leaders for our Church and world, through the ministry of Presbyterian-related schools and colleges equipping communities of color — offering students the means for a brighter future and enhanced opportunities to use their talents and skills to serve God, the Church and the world for years to come.
The Christmas Joy Offering has been a cherished Presbyterian tradition since the 1930s. The Offering distributes gifts equally to the Assistance Program of the Board of Pensions and to Presbyterian-related schools and colleges equipping communities of color.
OR you can write a check to the church with a note designating it Christmas Joy Offering.
The Christmas Joy Offering is one of four annual special offerings. The church-wide Special Offerings of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) play an important role in defining what it means to be a connectional church in the 21st century, bringing together the diversity of the PC (USA) to focus and take faith-based action on shared concerns. The Special Offerings offer opportunities for partnership, learning, and witness and they profoundly affect the life of the church as a collective witness to Jesus Christ’s love for the whole church.
85 wreaths 17 family gift bags 71 gift bags for elderly residents The missions and outreach committee has been busy. Thank you to everyone who donated blankets, hot chocolate and snacks for the gift bags!
Thank you to Stephanie M, Beverly M, Gwen C, Kaila W, Tim and Nancy B. It was a very joyful morning loading up and delivering our Christmas gifts. Thank you to all who gave in donations and work to give this gift from our congregation.
I want to share with you and the committee some of my experiences while shopping. It was so unusual to be buying so much of an item that I would explain that my church was gathering items for families in low cost housing so they could have a family nite watching a movie together. I ran into so many wonderful and helpful people. While in FW I bought as many blankets as possible at the Ross on Hulen which was 3 huge Ross shopping bags that filled my car. A family saw my dilemma – they didn’t fit in one basket – and the teenage boy of the family offered to help me get then to the car.
The next day I headed to Ross in Granbury with the same experience of filling a basket so high I could not see over it. It was busy and I waited in line for awhile before making it to checkout where a tall young man began to ring up all those blankets. He told me he was not from Granbury but was here taking care of his grandparents who had taken care of him. He said if I needed someone to help to give him a call and gave me his phone number.
Then I was off to Walmart. I started with a manager telling him the quantities of popcorn and nuts I would need hoping they had some in the back, but no, everything they had was on the shelf, so I began loading. A young employee came by and asked if he could help. Thank goodness! He ended up crawling on the floor to reach the popcorn boxes at the very back on the bottom shelf. Then on to add the cans of peanuts. The basket was overflowing and strange looking. Someone took pity on me and helped me steer it to checkout. Some dear soul checked out every single item and was then told the tax exempt info has to go in first. So it all went back into the basket and a fresh checkout person took over. Of course they decided someone needed to help me get it to the car and unload.
The world is full of wonderful individual people and I met several while gathering our gifts. So our mission project for Christmas has double blessed me.
The plight of food insecurity has only been heightened during this season of job loss in our community. The work of People Helping People is always to provide fresh, healthy food to our hungry neighbors, usually on a monthly basis for each registered household. However, during this season of increased need, PHP has stepped up giving. Serving 125-150 households every week, PHP has been able to keep the food pantry going throughout the pandemic season, only closing down for one day during February to organize the new method of drive-through distribution and close down the resale shop and other entrances to limit contact. Three days a week they distribute food from 12-3.
The all-volunteer staff arrives early to pack bags of fresh fruit and vegetables, meat, dairy, bread and canned/boxed items for each family. These are the items purchased from Tarrant Area Food Bank at a nominal cost and delivered to Granbury once a week. PHP buys between 6 and 7 thousand pounds of food each week from the food bank and transports it on pallets. HEB and Walmart donate day old and close date food for free pickup. ( From time to time, FPC has been asked to donate food when the supply runs low, and we have been generous in our giving.)
FPC now has two members on the board of People Helping People and we have been impressed by the dedication, skill and efficiency of the staff in caring for the needy among us. Because of some generous donations, there have been some property improvements in the past year, including a new walk-in freezer, an outside covered area to protect workers from sun and rain, and a new sign. If you haven’t been by the facility in awhile, drive by and take a look. Also, the aging volunteer staff has been depleted by this pandemic so there is a need for some more help.
As a small but effective ministry focused on one essential goal, PHP is a treasure in the Granbury community, effectively addressing Jesus’ words in Matt.25:35 “..for I was hungry and you gave me food.”
