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In 2020, OPPC decided to partner with Carmel United Methodist Church,
who has operated a food pantry for nearly 30 years.
Today, we deliver 300 dozen fresh eggs per month, have a cadre of OPPC volunteers who help staff the food pantry, organize food drives, and financially support the pantry through OPPC’s mission budget. Learn more at Mission (carmelumc.org).
OPPC partners with Carmel Clay schools to provide clothing, free of charge, to students who are identified as needing help by school counselors and social workers. We collect new and used clothing, sort and launder the donations and fill and deliver requests as they come in.
Family Promise is a ministry of hope for homeless families in the Indianapolis area. Since the pandemic, homeless families have been housed in apartments with OPPC helping to supply dinners, housewares and furniture, as well as contributing financially from the mission budget. Learn more at www.fpgi.org.
In 2012, OPPC members began collaborating with Harvest Christian Fellowship to host Black History Celebrations, provide music, bags full of groceries, clothing and medical check ups at HCF’s annual fall festival and prepare 30-40 Thanksgiving dinners to residents in the HCF neighborhood. During the pandemic, some of these activities continued. Today, OPPC still provides Thanksgiving dinners, sacks full of groceries, school supply backpacks, food boxes and also contributes monies from its mission budget to pay to keep HCF’s heat and air conditioning running.
OPPC hosts a weekly program of social time, games and lunch for promote and support independent lifestyles for adults 55+ in Hamilton County. We partner with Shepherd’s Center of Hamilton County and provide a welcoming space for folks to gather on Wednesdays from 9:30 am to 1:00 pm. Learn more at https://shepherdscenterofhamiltoncounty.org/together-today/.
The first Friday of every month, OPPC hosts a fellowship benefiting physically and mentally handicapped challenged individuals. Approximately 30-40 adults gather on the first Friday of the month in the evening to enjoy fellowship, snacks and entertainment such as dances, Bingo, karaoke and music groups.
For many years, OPPC children and youth have attended Christ-centered camps at Pyoca Camp & Retreat Center, with many of the kids later “graduating”
to become summer camp counselors.
Each year, OPPC hosts a week-long Camp Friendly and Junior High Camp. In addition, financially supports Camp Pyoca through its operating budget and endowment funds. Learn more at www.pyoca.org.
Each year, OPPC designates a day for worship, fellowship and hands-on mission to assist our brothers and sisters in need.
In 2023, we focused on global and local mission projects involving water by providing members ways to serve, learn and advocate. We helped construct parts for water purifiers with our partner Fountains of Hope, learned about its complex ecosystem as we rafted down the White River and suggested actions to keep Indiana’s water clean, as well as preserve its wetlands. We also financially supported another water purifier for installation in Ukraine and made a sizeable donation to Friends of the White River.
For more than 13 years, Fountains of Hope has been working on the vital issue of providing clean water to humans by installing over 265 water purifier systems worldwide and bringing safe water to over 125,000 persons each and every day.
In 2022 alone, FOH teams installed systems in Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Haiti. OPPC supports FOH’s projects both financially and through participation in its travel teams. To learn more about what FOH is up to click here.
In 2012, Dr. Renaud Gerve opened a mobile clinic to serve the remote villages in the
Central Plateau area of Haiti. The clinic serves 20 remote mountain villages and routinely treats
between 500-1,000 patients per month. In addition, a stationary clinic is being built in Mombin Crochu, Haiti with financial assistance from OPPC. Each year, OPPC also assembles birthing kits for use by midwives and village care workers. Learn more at https://www.profamilleclinique.org/.
OPPC and its members are primary contributors to a post-high school scholarship program for students in Central Plateau, Haiti. Courses of study range from 3 months to 4 years, focus on marketable educational opportunities and include studies in nursing, education, accounting, construction, computer science and even a diplomacy. 53 students are graduating from the program in 2022. Learn more at https://www.facebook.com/cpsprogram/.
For the past 5 years, OPPC member Cindy Brentlinger has worked as a full-time volunteer at Tijuana Christian Mission in Tijuana, Mexico. TCM is an orphanage for children in need. It provides housing, shelter, clothing, education and so much more to children who have no where else to turn. OPPC has provided substantial financial and prayer support to Cindy and TCM since 2018. To learn more, visit www.tijuanachristianmission.org and sign up for Cindy’s newsletter by contacting her at cbrent3@gmail.com.
OPPC members routinely step up to help neighbors around the world but especially when disaster strikes. We support mission causes close to home through the Whitewater Valley Presbytery (Westminster Neighborhood Services, Hispanic Ministries, Camp Pyoca, Congo Helping Hands), as well around the world through the Presbyterian Mission Agency / Presbyterian Disaster Assistance.
Special offerings taken for One Great Hour of Sharing and Christmas Joy support Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, Presbyterian Hunger Program, Self-Development of People and support and leadership development opportunities for Presbyterian ministers. In 2022, we delivered 55 buckets of cleaning supplies to assist with clean up following Hurricane Ian in Florida. Learn more at http://www.whitewatervalley.org/ or https://specialofferings.pcusa.org/
Each year, OPPC offers worshippers an alternative to “regular” Christmas gifting. Folks can make a donation in honor of a special person to support Orchard Park youth on their annual Youth Caravan mission trip, stock the CUMC Food pantry shelves with food supplies, send a camper to a Camp Pyoca’s weeklong summer program, support a teacher in Ganga, Haiti, assist with tuition for a Haiti student to attend a post-high school college or apprentice program, and help those affected by the aftermath of disasters in the U.S. and abroad.
Caring for our neighbors near and far has always been part of OPPC’s beating heart. Our faith community commits its time, talent and treasures to care for immediate needs (charity), partner with others to find longer term solutions to poverty (empowerment) and work to address the underlying causes of societal problems (advocacy). Please take a look at the ways we care in our community and in our world.
At Orchard Park Presbyterian Church, we seek to grow in faith and reach out with the Good News of Jesus Christ.
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