Ahead of The Storm: Summit Church Reaches Out To The Homeless
Central Presbyterian Church delivers food and warm clothing in New York City
While many of us spent Friday evening fighting the crowds at the supermarket for last minute supplies before Blizzard Jonas hit, a group of dedicated teenagers and their chaperones packed up meals, hot soup, and warm clothing items and headed into New York City to bring some comfort to people living on the streets.
The snow was already falling when the 8 teens and 5 chaperones packed up 75 bagged meals, 5 gallons of hot home-made soup, 3 gallons of hot cocoa, 100 bottles of water, 15 first aid kits, 100 coats, 50 sweaters, and 100 hygiene kits into a van and headed into the city. In spite of the increasing snow, the group stopped at 3 different locations, and handed out all they had brought. By the time they returned to Summit, the snow was deep and the roads treacherous, but not a single volunteer regretted the trip.
“A Midnight Run is a wonderful opportunity for adults and mature youth to work as colleagues and peers. The kids jumped out of the car at every stop and engaged. We were all struck by how respectful and pleasant folks were. They asked politely for sizes or specific needs and were understanding if we didn’t have that. We heard ‘Thank you so much’ a hundred times,” said Ted Tolles, a chaperone on Friday’s trip.
The trip was the most recent of many taken over the past three years by volunteers from Central Church. A similar relief mission has left the church nearly every month since 2013 when Central partnered with MidnightRun.org, a volunteer organization that is dedicated to finding common ground between the housed and the homeless.
Central Church conducts drives (which are open to the public for donations) each month to collect items to send on the runs, including coats, toiletries, clothing, shoes, and hand/toe warmers. All ages get involved – middle schoolers run collections and prepare the bagged meals, high schoolers sort, load and deliver the goods. Adults shop, drive, cook and chaperone. Even the preschoolers have participated, decorating the brown bags in which the meals are packaged. The project has brought together multiple generations with a common goal of helping those in need.
Central Presbyterian Church is located at 70 Maple Street in Summit, NJ. Worship times are 8:30 a.m. in the Chapel and 10:00 a.m. in the Sanctuary, with a contemporary service, WAVE, at 11:15 a.m. in the Auditorium. Free infant care is available during worship. Sunday School for children Pre-K through 8th grade is held at 10:15 a.m. year-round. Learn more about the church and its missions at http://www.centralpres.org/. Learn about Midnight Run at http://www.midnightrun.org/.
(above) Teens from Central Church in Summit prepare bagged meals for the homeless in NYC prior to Blizzard Jonas.
