Author Archive: Bruce Gowe

Hello, I am Wil!!!

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Hello, I am Wil !!!!!

Hi, I’m Wil. I would like to take this opportunity to share with you my involvement in and dreams for the food pantry at Christ Episcopal Church, Stroudsburg, Pa.

Probably like most of you, for Thanksgiving I always said that I would like to help at a soup kitchen, and even take family members to help, especially the younger ones. But year after year I never did.

A little over a year ago, we moved back to Pennsylvania and were in search of a church.  We were warmly received at Christ Episcopal and made it our home. I was curious about the food pantry, but didn’t act on it until Fr. Bruce, our pastor, asked me to go because of a language barrier; newer clients were attending who spoke only Spanish. I went and quickly found myself immersed in God’s grace as I assisted with the language and restocking shelves. Since then, the Latino/a population has exploded, many of whom only speak Spanish. I felt that God was calling me to do more.

Under the leadership of Debby Campbell, a sense of common purpose, a community, is flourishing.  In my capacity, I taught a Spanish lesson on common phrases related to the food pantry to a group of volunteers. I began to assist more Spanish speakers to the point that they feel comfortable sharing their stories with me.  I work closely with a group of volunteers in planning and bringing to fruition events for families, and I assist as well meeting individual needs.

As we hear in the Bible in both Matthew 9:37, Luke 10:2, “the need is great, and the laborers are few.”  It is my dream that the food pantry continues to grow with our community partners, that we continually strive to make our clients feel like family, and mostly, that any services these folks need can be met by us and through us. And lastly, we dream of them seeing us as Christ-like, that God’s grace fill them with the spirit to honor him in word and deed, paying forward what they have received.

I believe that all who enter the food pantry leave with an uplifted spirit made possible by God’s grace.  Join us and you too will want to come back and do more!

Author: Wil Colon

October Quarterly Meeting: Sat. Oct. 28th

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All members of the CEC parish, all Food
Pantry Volunteers, all those affiliated with the CEC food pantry are cordially
invited to the Quarterly Meeting on October 28 from 10am to 12pm

This quarterly meeting is intended to
introduce all partners in this food ministry to each other and to encourage
more participation in the vital work the Food Pantry does. It is also an
informational assembly where the plans, finances and goals can be given a
public voice.

Please familiarize yourself with the agenda.
There is much work to do during those two hours. Everyone’s participation is
appreciated. 

Author: Deborah Emin 

 

Agenda Items for
Quarterly Meeting 

Oct.28th (10am-12pm) 

-Opening Prayer (1min)

-Testimony Time (10mins)

-Upcoming ministries  (20mins)

Thanksgiving 

Christmas 

-New Partnerships & Thanks for Continued
Partnerships (5-8mins)

-Goals for 2024 (30mins)

-Gala Team (5mins)

-Financial Update (10
Mins)

-CEC Ministry Budget Request (5mins)

-Questions, Concerns or Needs of the
Community (15mins) 

Announcements: (10mins)

-CEC Twelfth Night Party
Friday, Jan.5th  

-Paint-The-Town-Red 

 

-Closing Prayer (1min)

Paint The Town Red

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Paint the Town Red

There is a new project beginning this November 19 when beautiful red ribbons will begin to appear tied to the lamp posts around Court House Square in Stroudsburg. Then, as the sales increase the bows will appear on Main Street.

 

Two hundred bows are for sale. The receipts will benefit CEC’s food pantry and others so that if we sell them all, we will raise between $1000 and $1400 for the Food Pantry and the others will receive a similar amount.

 

This project has many partners to help it along, including the members of our parish. In terms of the physical work involved to make this happen, to help raise money for the Food Pantry at Christ Episcopal Church, we require your participation in taking down the corn stalks before the bows can be put up.

 

Wilson Colon will be inscribing the bows for those who want to add a memorial to a loved one. Those bows will cost $35. For those who want to add to the festive look while also supporting the Food Pantry, the cost is $25.

 

The ribbons themselves come from The Potting Shed.

 

Please purchase a ribbon or two and remember that with this minimal purchase you’ll be adding to the beautiful lights and cheer of our community during the holiday while also helping to do what Christ has called us to do.

 

With the example of the 5 fish and 2 loaves of bread, as Fr. Bruce says about this project. “Through the power of community belief in hope and love in God, we can bring a gift to multiple ministries and the families they serve.”

 

With good cheer and a generous heart, Christ Episcopal Church is once again reaching outside its doors and into the community to spread Christ’s message. Please add your voice to this ministry.

By: Deborah Emin 

Meet the Managers

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Meet the Directors

While there were only 5 loaves and 2 fish, Jesus could
feed the 5000.

Because we have 2 women willing to step up to lead the
work the Food Pantry does at Christ Episcopal Church, we
are able to feed twice a month the growing number of
hungry who come to our door on Saturday mornings. And
who call during the week for emergency food assistance.
Debby Campbell and Peggy Walck, the two managers
called to lead our church’s food ministry, have changed the
lives of many, including the lives of the volunteers who
have signed up to help on Friday afternoons when the two
deliveries are made by Second Harvest and the volunteers
who show up for the work of distribution on Saturday
mornings.
Keeping track of the volunteers of the Food Pantry is no
small task. It requires a sensitivity to how physically and
emotionally draining this work is. Both Debby and Peggy
have much work to do on Fridays to get the word out to
volunteers about the truck’s two deliveries as well as to
supervise where the food is to go for the next day’s
distribution. As you may not know, we have limited freezer
and refrigerator space and limited shelf space. Plus, on
Friday night the Undercroft is used by an NA group. So,
their space needs must be respected as well.

On Saturday mornings, the line of people in the parking lot
behind the fire station starts early, before the doors have
opened or set-up has begun. The first crew of volunteers
arrives around 8 am for the set-up. Then a new crew
arrives to help with distribution around 10. And once the
doors close after 12:30, all must be cleaned up to be
ready for church on Sunday morning.
Debby and Peggy manage all of that and more but without
their attention to every detail, this process would fall apart.
Both of them speak about their time spent in the Food
Pantry as a calling. And well it must be as both give great
amounts of time to this ministry. A “normal” week which is
an off week can take 1-5 hours. This is time spent
planning and restocking shelves, also organizing how
foods are stored given the limited space the pantry has.
The work, this very physical work, has fallen onto Peggy.
As Peggy told me, “I had a desk job in medical offices my
whole adult life . . .Nothing prepared me for the physical
labor of this ministry, but it’s one aspect I enjoy the most.”
For Debby, the amount of time and the calling to lead this
ministry have reflected her upbringing on an island in the
Caribbean and her father’s example of good education
and giving back.
If you’ve watched Debby on a Saturday morning at the
Food Pantry, you will have observed that she makes the
pantry experience fun. As she says, “If I put on some
music and commune with our members, the time goes so

much faster and this church can be our members happy
place.”
In ways I may not have described adequately, working with
Debby and Peggy in this essential ministry is all about
giving and the magic and mystery of feeding those who
appear at our door.
As the days grow colder, the lines are getting longer. I
urge you to volunteer with us. Whatever time you have will
be put to good use.
As Fr Bruce reminds us with every opening of prayer,
Christ Episcopal Church is a welcoming, compassionate
and healing community. Feeding the hungry certainly fits
that mission.

Author: Deborah Emin 

Photo: Barbara Cramer

Feed Them!!!!!! Sept. 29.23

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Feed Them!!!!!

 

And the disciples advised Jesus to send the multitudes back to the villages to find food. But Jesus said no, you feed them. There were only 5 loaves of bread and two fish.

But as we know Jesus fed 5,000 men besides women and children.

Jesus knew what was possible, to feed the hungry. The disciples only saw what was there, the 5 loaves and 2 fish.

Christ Episcopal Church opens its doors to its Food Pantry 2 Saturdays per month. Never knowing how many will appear, though, given the level of food insecurity in Monroe County (30%), it is safe to say, many will appear, and none will be turned away.

Fr Bruce appointed Debby Campbell and Peggy Walck to run the Food Pantry. Each of them plays a distinct role in the administering of this ministry that has grown, since March, from feeding 35 families to the latest stats of 209 families. This food pantry cannot run without volunteers. That numbers currently around 30 but others have joined in and participated who are not on Debby’s email list. (Perhaps you’d like to join us, too.).

Debby is the voice and moving force of the Food Pantry. But no organization runs without someone who knows how to make all the moving pieces fit together. Peggy calls herself a worker bee. Quietly and with great organizing skills, Peggy knows where everything is and where it needs to be so that the food is distributed and leaves the pantry and is made available each day of distribution.

In order for there to be two Saturdays of official distribution, there has to be a Friday of reception. This is when the truck arrives, twice, from Second Harvest. This organization provides the fresh food in one delivery and the non-perishable food in another.

You may have arrived on a Sunday morning and seen the pallets lying at the back of the church and large piles of torn down cardboard. That is the residue of the delivery and distribution of the food.

If you were fortunate to be a volunteer you had seen the families arrive on Saturday morning, some so early they are forming a line to get in.

Christ Episcopal Church ‘s Food Pantry feeds them all. With the grace of God, believing in Jesus to feed us too and with the hands of the Holy Spirit guiding this work, this is a sacred ministry. If you feel called to help in it, please contact Debby. If you feel called to donate money to it, please use this link. https://christchurchstroudsburg.org/outreach-3/food-ministry/ If you feel called to donate non-perishable food, please bring it to the narthex.

Just as our church feeds us with the spiritual food to go out and proclaim the Good News of Jesus, we feed the hungry as part of our baptismal vows.

 Author: Deborah Emin