Mission Yearbook: Wicomico Presbyterian Church in Maryland gives HOPE to people in need

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Wicomico Presbyterian Church

Wicomico Presbyterian Church is a historical Presbyterian church located in downtown Salisbury, Maryland. Many of our neighbors are either homeless or have housing insecurity. And many of our schools have children with food insecurity. We are using our facility resources to host, at no cost, a 501(c)(3) organization, Help and Outreach Point of Entry (HOPE) Inc. (hopesby.com), which strives to serve as an access point for low-income, at-risk individuals in our community. This summer, we hosted a HOPE community resource fair and supported HOPE to expand operations to three days each week, serving meals out of our kitchen and using our grounds to house a portable shower. HOPE serves as a daytime shelter and reaches 220 clients on a weekly basis.

Our congregation, through our deacons, has taken on food insecurity needs by teaming up with five local elementary schools to help stock their food pantries, and to provide sacks of ready-to-eat food for at-risk children to take home for weekend meals. Last year, we provided roughly 120 sacks every other week, with demand continuing to grow. In order to address that demand, we worked with the New Castle Presbytery Ignite initiative to obtain a $9,000 grant to help address the added need. Volunteers from the congregation work with the Maryland Food Bank and, when necessary, purchase additional food and package and deliver sacks to the schools for distribution.

About 15 years ago, our congregation purchased a large Sunday school building from another church that was relocating and updated it to provide office space for local nonprofit agencies. The Langeler Memorial Building currently provides space for four nonprofit organizations that serve people here on the Delmarva Peninsula, as well as two church congregations.

Jim Eaton, Elder, Wicomico Presbyterian Church

Let us join in prayer for:

Erika Lundbom, Associate Director of Marketing, Electronic Resources and Strategic Business Development, Presbyterian Publishing Corporation
Janeen Lush, Accountant, Accounts Payable Office, Administrative Services Group 

Let us pray:

Gracious God, you call us to be Christ incarnate. We are to be the compassionate heart and hands of Christ. We are the loaves and the fish that will give hope and life during these challenging times. Amen.