Emmanuel UCC

This has been an especially challenging year for most people, but God’s hand is still seen in the actions of the members of Emmanuel. For many years you have donated your time, talents and treasure to such undertakings as the Alberdeen Road Clean Up; hosting the men of Mother Theresa Haven (formerly V.I.S.I.O.N); assembling Thanksgiving dinners, making “care packages”, buying Giving Tree gifts, and wrapping Christmas toys for the families of the McKinney Clinic; raising awareness and funds for CROP Walk; purchasing gifts to ensure a Merry Christmas to children at Bethany Children’s Home; and fulfilling our budget promise of benevolence offerings to OCWM, Bethany Children’s Home, Lancaster Theological Seminary and Phoebe Devitt Homes.
You have always supported the mission projects of our Vacation Bible School which this year collected
Alabama, plus the Pre-Kindergarten special mission project of restocking the food bank (our theme was Shake It Up Café). You supported Kimmy and Allison Bernetski (along with Marc Davis and Pastor Penny) on their mission trip to North Carolina where they repaired an older woman’s home and made renovations to a mission clinic.
In response to the horrific devastation in Japan caused by the earthquake and tsunami, you gave your monetary gifts through a special offering. Again you responded when the spring tornadoes ripped through the southern states, but not only through our special offering. When challenged to fill five CWS clean-up buckets, you provided enough supplies for SEVEN. But the greatest challenge you undertook was the one coordinated by our Scout Troops – Cub Scout Pack 433, Boy Scout Troop 434, and Girl Scout Troops 3340 and 33369. Operation Shickshinny collected so much that the entire basement of Emmanuel was filled with furniture, clothing, bedding, towels, cleaning supplies, appliances, dishes, glassware, flatware, games, toys, TV’s, lamps, videos, books, strollers, stuffed animals, bikes, and all sorts of items. From the front office reception room, through the nursery, middle room and into the basement kitchen, there was only a path left wide enough to walk through. When this project started, we expected to have some donations, maybe enough for a couple of pick-up loads. Instead, more than enough was donated for a couple of tractor-trailers – yes, two trailers and one straight truck of donations were taken to Shickshinny on the morning of October 8.
All in all, this has been a demanding year, but also a very satisfying year. We can look back and thank God for the abilities and resources to radiate His love and strength throughout our communities and around the world. Let’s keep up the good work!