Your Missions Offerings Are at Work

From Carol Bashore, Missions Chair

Since the start of the virus pandemic, there have been many individual donations to our church Mission Fund. So when Caitlyn Christopher asked to spearhead a project to provide lunches for New Journey Community Outreach recipients, we knew it would be a great way to help our local community.

After receiving financial approval and support from several church members and LP’s Bowling Team, Caitlyn and her family (parents, Debbie and Dan; aunt, Donna Sweimler; and grandmother, Nancy Artz) purchased, made, and packed 300 bagged lunches and delivered them to New Journey on May 26. It was so appreciated that they volunteered to do this each Friday through the month of June.

The Christophers continued the project through June, making the purchases and the sandwiches. Other church volunteers — Rich and Carol Bashore, Cindy and Dave Kercher, Diane Fisher, Alan Koeble, Jan Ferree, Linda Lee, and Rich and Beth Auman — filled bags at home with the non-perishable items.

Kudos to everyone who made this project possible; especially to Caitlyn who graciously wanted to help others while she was home from college.

A Tale of 1500 Lunches

Due to COVID-19, Caitlyn Christopher was home from Drexel University and her second year (of five) in a Biomedical Engineering Program. She received a flyer from New Journey Community Outreach (NJCO)  asking for help serving lunch to their clients. When Caitlyn saw it, she said to her parents, “I want to do this!”

So, they began looking for donations and discounts. Water and paper bags were donated. Weis Markets gave a discount on the deli products. “It’s a terrible time right now; people are struggling,” says Debbie, Caitlyn’s mom. Fortunately, they found that many “were so willing to help,” including volunteers from LP Church. The first time, the Christophers assembled the 300 lunches themselves. “You can’t understand what 300 lunches is until you see it,” says Debbie. “It takes two trips to deliver them.”

The Christophers’ “good experience” involved other family members, including Caitlyn’s aunt Donna Sweimler and grandmother Nancy Artz. Debbie says, “It was really a lot of fun and nice to do something productive.” The last of their lunches have been delivered, “at least for now,” she says. Caitlyn is taking a class and doing a co-op for a cancer research center in Philadelphia.

The people at NJOC said, “Boy, we’re really going to miss you.”  Debbie says, “We’re hoping to help again in the future.”

Thank You

I’d like to thank the LP congregation for their terrific support in the New Journey Lunch Bag Project! We were able to pack and deliver 1500 lunches to those in need at New Journey Community Outreach. It was a huge success! The church’s generosity is greatly appreciated.

Blessings, Caitlyn Christopher