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CARING FOR OUR NEIGHBORS B Y E V E LYN P U C K E TT, S OCIAL S E R V ICE S COOR DINAT OR
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he food ministry at IPC
STUDENTS PARTICIPATING IN IPC'S SUMMER LEARNING PROGRAM AT THE FRESH AIR FARM, 2024
the congregation responded with its usual generosity and contributed hygiene and paper products that helped so many people through a terrible time. Heading into its fifth year, the Blessing Box is still a very important ministry for families in crisis. When schools reopened during
Covid, IPC revisited a conversation we were having with Hayes K-8 School about childhood hunger. Hayes realized that without breakfast and lunch provided by the school, many children did not have enough to eat over the weekend. In Jefferson County, 24.3% of children are food
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FEATURING
NOW & FOREVER
HOLY WEEK
Observe the Season with your church family P G 4
Get to Know Rev. Nicole Newton P G 8
Endowment Campaign Kick-off PG 1 1
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has been a vital part of the congregation since members brought laying hens to Chicken Sunday during the early days of the Children’s Fresh Air Farm so that campers would have eggs for breakfast. From then to the days when IPC Member Gayle Pelham hosted visitors to the Food Pantry and talked to them about how to use the various pantry items in their meal planning to today when IPC is continuing to look for more and better ways to serve our neighbors. When the pandemic came, jobs disappeared and buildings closed. IPC looked for a way to help our neighborhood, many of whom were suddenly unemployed. Staff member Susan Dukes suggested moving the food pantry outside the church building so that it would be accessible, and in that moment Blessing Boxes were born. Recognizing that food stamps don’t allow recipients to buy non-consumables like toilet tissue, toothpaste, cleaning products, and hygiene products,