Food Pantry
Mission Statement To share Christ’s love with those in our community who struggle to make ends meet by providing free supplemental food.
Every Saturday morning from 10am-12pm volunteers from Northminster, VCU and surrounding communities gather to pack and distribute bags of groceries, extending hospitality and friendship to our Northside neighbors.
Update: Many, many thanks to all who have contributed food and/or donations for our Northminster Food Pantry. The Central Virginia Foodbank continues to have a low inventory of food for purchase, so your donations are making it possible for more than 600 children, adults and elderly neighbors to continue receiving groceries each month. Don’t stop giving now! With the precarious state of the economy, the needs will only grow!
Needs:
- canned fruits, vegetables and soups
- canned meats
- peanut butter
- dry milk
- breakfast foods (hot or cold cereal, pancake mix and syrup, PopTarts)
- pastas, rice and dry beans
- special needs foods (Ensure)
- We also need shoppers, baggers and Saturday volunteers
For more information contact
Saturday Free Market
Saturdays the folks who visit our Food Pantry can "shop" at the Free Market where new and gently used items of every kind find new homes.
We serve an amazing and awesome God!!!! Lives have been changed and relationships have grown deeper. All to the glory and honor of Christ Jesus.
Tutoring
Tutoring for neighborhood students and adults began in January 2010 and has already been more successful than we could imagine. Just pop into the CWC on a Wednesday evening from 7-8 PM and the joy is palpable. You'll find us every Wednesday, except for the 3rd Wednesday of each month (but come to 3W instead!). Our goal is to develop relationships, show Christ's love, and of course provide help with homework or GED preparation and basic tutoring in math and reading.
If you need tutoring or are interested in being a tutor, please contact , or call the office at 321-2511.
Haiti Disaster Response
Folks lined up for a food distribution in Cite Soleil. There wasn't enough food to distribute that day.
A team of Northminster members joined forces with Haiti Outreach Ministries in early April and took money and much-needed food and supplies to the Haitian people so greatly affected by the deadly earthquake. They came back forever changed, with amazing photos and stories of hope amidst such tragedy. There is much work to be done and you will have the opportunity to support another team that is heading back to Haiti in July.
In the meantime, education (or lack thereof) remains a huge issue for the Haitian people as it is not provided by the government. Families, most of whom subsist on $1/day, must pay for their children to attend school. In a country where the unemployment rate is 95% this leaves a lot of kids without much hope for an education. The Northminster team saw this first-hand on their visit. Every day they were surrounded by at least 30-40 school-aged children at the work site during school hours. The team was housed in a HOM (Haiti Outreach Ministries) school that opened while they were there. The children attending that school are all sponsored by folks like us in the US for just $25/month and they are given 2 school uniforms, shoes, backpacks, books, supplies, hot lunches (usually the only one of the day), snacks, and birthday and Christmas gifts. You can be part of this incredible mission! More information about sponsoring a child’s education through HOM can be found at www.haitioutreachministries.org. Pamphlets with info. are also available at the Chapel & Welcome Center.
For more information contact
Community Garden
Two springs ago a handful of us decided that the folks who visit the Food Pantry could use some fresh vegetables. So, not really knowing what we were doing, except what we were able to learn from the internet and neighbors, ground was heroically, and muddily broken and a modest garden planted in the church courtyard. For two summers volunteers have weeded, watered, prayed and harvested and harvested and harvested, all summer long, some of the most beautiful vegetables you've ever seen. Every Saturday the ripe produce (so abundant we were afraid we'd have some left over) was put out for our FP folks to take home. And every Saturday the entire week's harvest was gone by the end of the day.
The garden is within the Church’s courtyard and is a way to involve our members and neighbors in providing fresh vegetables—and great fellowship—for the Food Pantry.
You will get dirty!
The 2010 garden is already underway! We have planted a variety of veggies and will need continued help throughout the season with weeding, watering, and fertilizing. Come out and join us! Bring your kids - it's a great way to "dig in" and serve as a family.
For more information about the work schedule and how you can get involved, contact .
Monroe Park Mission to the Homeless
Every other Sunday a group from Northminster distributes donated used and new street clothing, toiletries and other essentials to the homeless folks who gather in Monroe Park for an evening meal.
The Northminster Monroe Park Clothing Mission provides much-needed articles of clothing (and other items) to some of the homeless men and women of Richmond. At least once a month, folks from Northminster drive to Monroe Park on Sunday afternoon to distribute supplies to those in need. Be a part of this mission! You can make donations, help sort and prepare goods for delivery, and/or be the hands and feet that visit the park.
Items Needed
Men’s pants and shirts, sweatpants and shirts, socks, undergarments, shoes, gloves, knit caps, coats, travel-size toiletries (soap, toothpaste, deodorant), toothbrushes, snack foods (easy-open – like Nabs, PopTarts, Vienna Sausage, etc.), candy. (Seasonally appropriate clothing only, and please, no children’s clothes or business attire.)
Want to find out more about volunteering with this mission? Contact .
Habitat for Humanity Apostles' Build
Every year Northminster partners with other churches to build a Habitat house. This spring we will be assisting on the newest development in Church Hill... THE PILLARS AT OAKMONT. As soon as our dates are confirmed they will be posted here.
If you would like to volunteer for the next Apostle Build contact .
