Month: September 2021

Editor’s Note: On the first Thursday of each month (or close to it), the eNews feature article highlights the mission focus for the month. In October we’re lifting up feeding those who are hungry.

During the COVID pandemic Derry Church, through the Mission & Peace Committee, provided additional funding to our non-profit partners’ Feeding the Hungry programs.  Here are two of the organizations Derry generously supported with additional funding this past year:

Central Pennsylvania Food Bank

Food shouldn’t be an impossible choice.  For many, a daily meal is just a choice of what to eat for dinner.  For those facing hunger, a daily meal poses a very different type of choice. It is often an impossible choice between food and other critical needs such as utilities, housing or medicine. How will you choose to end hunger?

The Central Pennsylvania Food Bank is the primary supplier of food and nutrition programs to many of our non-profit partners. Derry Church provided $10,000 in additional funding to the Food Bank, and church members volunteered to pack food boxes during the pandemic.  

Downtown Daily Bread

Downtown Daily Bread (DDB) is a mission project of the Pine Street Presbyterian Church in downtown Harrisburg. For 88 years, DDB has been a gateway to basic human services for hundreds of homeless and hungry individuals in Harrisburg. DDB offers a Soup Kitchen with weekday breakfasts and daily lunch meals; a Day Shelter with cots, computers, phones, and staff counselors; a winter season Night Shelter for men, and numerous assistance programs such as showers, lockers, mail delivery, laundry cards, vouchers for photo IDs, clothing, and other personal hygiene items.

In 2020, the Soup Kitchen prepared and served 11,465 breakfasts and 34,218 lunches. On an average day, 19 people come for showers, 61 people pick up mail, and 40 people check in to receive assistance at the Day Shelter. From December 1 to March 31, 28 men found winter overnight shelter every evening. Bag meals continued throughout the COVID pandemic, and after modifications to the facility, in-person meals and services resumed.

Derry Church provided $10,000 in additional funding to support COVID related building modifications and Day Shelter HVAC upgrades. Church members continued to volunteer in the soup kitchen throughout the pandemic.

In the midst of challenging times, I am grateful for the ministry of our Board of Deacons, whose main responsibilities are providing compassion, witness and service to those in need.  They are supported and assisted by Shepherd Group leaders who especially in these anxious pandemic months have helped reach out in kindness and care to our church family. That’s not easy when our congregational members live in a variety of communities from Lebanon to Carlisle and lots of places in between. 

More than 25 years ago, visionary leaders at Derry organized a caring ministry of neighborhood regions called Shepherd Groups. A Derry member from each geographic group has committed to being the Shepherd Group leader and to work with a Deacon to keep in touch and provide care to members and welcome newcomers. Your Shepherd Group number can be found on your church name tag. You can also find Shepherd Group numbers listed in the Joys & Concerns section of the eNews and on the weekly prayer list.

When it was not so easy to visit in person, our Shepherd Group leaders and Deacons have been busy sending cards, making phone calls, providing meals and organizing meal trains. They have made visits on your door steps, delivered devotions and smiles (behind masks), and kept you in their prayers. When you have a need, please do contact your Shepherd Group leader or Deacon, as well as the church office. We are a stronger church family because of their gifts of time and commitment to reaching out in Christ’s name to offer God’s love and compassion.

Click here for a list of the  2021-22 Shepherd Group leaders and Deacons (PDF). If you don’t know your Shepherd Group, contact the church office or Pastor Marie. To volunteer as a Shepherd Group leader for one year, contact your deacon.

The Apostle Paul reminds us to clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience and above all clothe yourself with love which binds everything together. (Colossians 3:12) That’s a good recipe for any church family.

We have reached September and are entering budgeting season, so it is time for my annual update on how the church is doing financially and my projections for the rest of the year.

As of the end of August, we have a year-to-date surplus of $48,000 for the general operating budget compared to a year-to-date surplus of $46,000 at the same point last year. We have moved the timing of some payments to the end of the year, so when taking that into account, the comparable surplus to last year would be closer to $26,000. I believe we will probably end the year in the break-even to slight surplus range. In 2020 and so far in 2021 contributions to the general operating budget have trailed 2019 contributions. The lower contributions have been offset by lower expenses due to reduced spending related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As Session, the Stewardship and Finance Committee, and the other committees look toward the 2022 budget and the future, we are working to ensure that Derry Church provides for the current needs of the church members and the community, and also maintains financial stability. We are looking at capital projects over the next several years and are working with the committees to make sure they align with the mission and vision of the church. By planning for the future, we can make sure we are managing our resources responsibly.

Through the generous support of the congregation, we have been able to do large capital projects, like the new organ installation, without pulling significant funds from the session designated accounts that are invested. Also in the past year, we have received generous contributions to create new restricted accounts like the transportation account which enabled us to purchase a new van.  We’ve also been able to add principal to session designated accounts like the Legacy and Capital Facilities Funds  which help maintain our church and further the mission of the congregation. We have been able to use dedicated and restricted funds to do mission work in our community and throughout the world – whether it be helping youth with college scholarships or building a new wing on a school in Pakistan.

I would like to thank the congregation for your continued support of the church and of mission work in our community.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss anything related to Derry’s finances, please contact me.

Editor’s Note: On the first Thursday of each month (or close to it), the eNews feature article highlights the mission focus for the month. In September we’re lifting up the Peace & Global Witness Offering that encourages the church to cast off anxiety and fear, discord and division, and embrace our God’s mission of reconciliation to those around the corner and around the world. Read about how Derry is making a corner of Pakistan a better place for eager young students.

For the past several years Derry has talked about and publicized the role we play, as part of our global mission outreach, in providing scholarships to poor, impoverished students (primarily Christian) in the Punjab Province of Pakistan.  A number of Derry members have been involved each year in donating, through Friends of PEB, either $365 (for a day student) and/or $720 (for a boarding student).  These amounts fund a student for an entire academic year.  

This interest and involvement in scholarships culminated with a group of 12 Derry members, all of whom were sponsors of students, traveling to Pakistan as guests of the Presbyterian Education Board (PEB) in the fall of 2019. The visits to schools and students, especially with specific students sponsored by Derry, were extremely rewarding, gratifying, and reassuring. Particularly reassuring was the concrete sense the Derry group had that their contributions were being fully and efficiently utilized. They could see it in the quality of education, the excitement of students to learn, and the passion for teaching in the teachers. 

After the Derry group returned to Hershey, they decided to accept the challenge given to them in Pakistan to help build an additional wing at the boy’s school in Sargodha (Sar-go-da). Through their own contributions and contributions by other Derry members and the Mission and Peace Committee, nearly $430,000 has been raised or pledged. The wing is projected to be completed in 2023. What better global outreach can there be – outreach beyond scholarships and buildings that provides opportunity, hope, changed lives, cross cultural tolerance, and a better world?

In addition to scholarships and buildings, your otherwise undesignated donations provide for other essential resources to include classroom furniture, science lab equipment, fans, laptops and PCs, teacher training and workshops, paper, pencils, and workbooks.

Get involved.  Make a difference where you can actually see a difference. You will derive a sense of great satisfaction and, in the future, perhaps travel yourself to meet some amazing people.  Learn more by visiting Friends of PEB and the Presbyterian Education Board.