Our Benevolence giving tries to address the range
of human needs as outlined in Matthew 25:34-36, targeting issues
of hunger, poverty, incarceration, illness, and the needs of refugees.
In a growing awareness of our environmental responsibilities,
we also have one Benevolence that targets wildlife and land preservation.
Our Benevolence giving is supported by the pledges of our congregation
and the church tries to maintain a ratio of Benevolence giving
that is minimally 10% of our total church expenditures.
Every year
two or three Elders are assigned to review the Benevolence budget.
They solicit annual reports from the recipient programs, investigate
new programs, look at the overall balance of our giving, and recommend
changes in dollar amounts. This sub-committee reports their
findings to the Board of Elders which then writes up the new proposed
budget and submits it to the Trustees to be sent to the congregation.
Description of Programs
(The date in parentheses is the year we began our giving.)
Alfred Area Food Pantry: The Food
Pantry is housed in the Seventh Day Baptist Church in Alfred Station
and serves people of the Alfred-Alfred Station area. The children
of our church bring food for the Pantry every Sunday which is
collected during the Children's Time in worship. Adults also contribute
both food and volunteer time at the Pantry.
Allegany
County Senior Foundation: (2009): Identifies the
unique needs of seniors living in Allegany County that are not
being met by current services, and tries to efficiently coordinate
and fund if necessary non-governmental efforts to fill those gaps.
Almond Good Samaritan House:
(1994) The Almond Union of Churches in Almond, NY (the next
village over) administers
this house which provides
temporary housing to people in need. The maximum stay allowed
is 30 days.
Arbor Development:
(formally SCCAP): (1999) Provides services and
affordable or transitional housing in New York's Southerntier
to victims of domestic violence, the mentally ill, and low income
people.
Cameron
Community Ministries:(1995) This ministry began
as a soup kitchen in one of Rochester's poorest
districts and has expanded to offer medical services, counseling
services, teenage pregnancy
prevention programs, youth services, and many other innovative
programs.
Christian Sojourners:
(1987) A local mission to Haiti supports volunteer doctors,
special medical needs, and adult
trade schools. Run by the First
Congregational Church of Wellsville
Children’s
Defense Fund: (1997) A national non-profit
organization targeting the needs of
children, particularly those living in poverty. Children’s
Defense Fund has many programs designed
for use in churches, synagogues, and religious groups to raise
awareness of and minister
to the needs of children in the U.S.
Colgate
Rochester Divinity School:
(1970s) Many of our pastors, including the Rev. DeMott, have
received their training in theological
studies from this seminary.
Comfort
House of Allegany County: (2010) A house in Wellsville,
NY operated for the purpose of providing assistance and comfort
care to terminally ill residents and their families. Can accomodate
up to two terminally ill patients and family members at a time.
Discretionary Fund:
Reserved for emergency help with any sudden private, community,
or global disaster. If not
needed during the year, it is generally redirected by the board
to other missions.
Faith
in Action:
(1998) Coordinates a large network of volunteers who visit the
homebound in the wider Hornell area
(including Alfred). Volunteers may also help out
with odd jobs, and provide other
small services to their assigned person. Several members
of the congregation volunteer with
the Interfaith Caregivers.
Foundation
for the Children of Haiti: (1992) This mission's
largest priority is maintaining and
enlarging a children's hospital dedicated the summer of 1993.
Has developed a carefully
arranged human chain to get contributions past the repressive
military government which
is hampering work for the education and health of Haitian children
and their families.
Gil's Hills: (1984)
A lodge and farm buildings on a 50 acre tract near Wellsville
donated by Gil Parker.
Staff works with troubled pre-delinquent youth. Shelter,
activities, social, and spiritual
guidance are provided for young people. During one recent
year they reported helping
300 children in various ways.
Habitat
for Humanity: Genesee Valley Chapter:
(1993) Habitat for Humanity provides
low cost housing by working with a family to build their own home.
The Genesee Valley Chapter
covers Allegany County and beyond.
Haiti
Outreach: (2007) After
a youth service trip to Pignon, Haiti to help build a home for
a family, our youth urged the church to support the work of Haiti
Outreach in that region. Haiti Outreach is a community based organization
that, among other things, funds scholarships for school children
and is digs wells for villages to provide clean drinking water.
Heifer
International: (2011) Provides breeding animals to
poor communities globally with the understanding that the recipients
will pass along some of the offspring to other families in their
community. For many years, our church has taken special collections
to support the work of Heifer and in 2011, the Board of Elders
decided to add it to our regular annual giving.
Pastor's Fund: Emergency
funds for the pastor to use for individuals in need.
Peaceprints Prison
Ministry (formerly Cephas Attica): (1985)
This program has helped return to society individuals who no longer
view crime, drugs, or alcohol
as a desired way of life. It provides counseling, housing,
emergency services, job/skills/work/ethic training. Their
success rate betters the statewide rehabilitation
record by 140%.
Red
Cloud Indian School: (1997) A member of the congregation
developed a connection with this
school when she had a "sister school" relationship between her
Day Care and Red Cloud.
Vive:
(2009) Provides temporary housing and assistance to world
wide refugees seeking asylum, primarily those who will be relocating
in Canada. Our church became involved in Vive through one of our
youth who, after graduation, did an Americorp internship with
Vive.
Western
New York Nature Conservancy: (2002)
As people of faith, we believe that we have a responsibility
to care for the earth as well as its inhabitants. The Western
New York chapter of the Nature
Conservancy buys and preserves important habitats for wildlife
and flora in our region of New York
State.
In addition, the Board sponsors
a community UNICEF
drive in the fall, supports distribution of
Christmas baskets to families in need, collects an offering
for Church World
Service Blanket Fund
in the winter, has given special offerings to Matthew
25: Ministries for crisis relief, and takes on an
intergenerational special service project each year during the
weeks of Lent.
(Updated 5-25-2011)