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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). OPPC members are a very giving congregation with a drive for food, clothing, housewares, disaster cleaning buckets highlighted almost every month of the year.
For more information about these mission opportunities, please contact Rev. Dr. Shelly Wood at shellywood@orchardpark.org or Cindy Muse, Mission Elder, at cindyanddavidmuse@gmail.com.
CUMC Food Pantry
In the 2nd year of the pandemic, OPPC decided to step up its efforts to help those in our local community who are food insecure. We partnered with Carmel United Methodist Church, who has operated a food pantry for nearly 30 years, to supply eggs, hygiene products, dollars and volunteers. Today, we deliver 300 dozen fresh eggs per month, have a cadre of OPPC volunteers who help staff the food pantry, organize food drives such as Souper Bowl of Caring and financially support the pantry through OPPC’s mission budget.
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. As the need has grown, so too has the Clothesline Ministry with plans to expand to more schools, provide hygiene products and partner with Kids for Coats to provide socks and underwear to students in need.
Each year, OPPC designates a day for worship, fellowship and hands-on mission to assist our brothers and sisters in need. In 2022, we packed 9,500 meals to fight hunger in Indiana, assembled 100 birthing kits for Haiti medical teams, prepared and served a lunch and coordinated an activity/craft for guests of Day Spring Center in downtown Indianapolis and assembled 15 school supply backpacks and 12 food boxes for distribution through Harvest Christian Fellowship to residents in the near north Reagan Park neighborhood of Indianapolis.
Indianapolis Interfaith Hospitality Network (IHN) operates under the umbrella of Family Promise of Greater Indianapolis. It is a ministry of hope for homeless families in the Indianapolis area. OPPC partners with Family Promise to provide a week-long place for families to shelter overnight as health concerns allow. 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/.
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.
