Dear CGS Family –
Last week’s winter tease – a smattering of snowflakes on Thursday in places, the simple glee of my daughters’ children the next morning – reminded me that winter is not over. But neither is this present COVID affliction, though both “seasons” are – God willing – beginning to shift ever so slightly...
Even so, the hardship associated with COVID will persist in our community long after schools reopen next autumn. And food insecurity is – sadly – a persistent feature of every season in parts of our city. Hunger in Durham has been exacerbated by SARS-CoV-2, but it was not birthed by that virus…
Combatting Food Insecurity in Durham --- Update:
Durham Rescue Mission: We remain faithfully involved monthly in hosting/providing meals through our valued relationship with the DRM. Learn more about this long-standing CGS “Familiar Partner” here, and/or contact our brother Will Burkhart directly, for details regarding ways you may participate.
Durham Public Schools: In December of last year, we launched a targeted effort to help DPS mitigate hunger among young schoolchildren who – because in-person attendance has been largely halted – have lost secure access to weekday breakfasts and lunches. Our target (church-wide) is to be able to raise $4,000 a month thru the end of the current school year (June 2021).
Two things are observably true of this goal:
1) In one sense, this is not a trivial “ask” of ourselves as a congregation: economic uncertainty is a reality, and our own church families are not exempt from concerns of their own regarding finances in the months ahead...
2) But we are -- all of us -- nevertheless more securely positioned than those we are seeking to help: $24,000 raised over the next 6 months will allow knowledgeable principals and social workers in elementary schools across our area to supply the schoolchildren of as many as 80 families with $50 grocery gift cards (or their equivalents in needed clothing and supplies) every month from January thru June. This is not merely a "little something": you can each -- individually -- make a meaningful difference in the lives of some our city's disadvantaged schoolchildren...
In addition to schools with whom members of our congregation have previously established neighborhood or community group connections (e.g. Harris Elementary, Forest View), CGS has also now established personal working relationships with the principals and social workers of four other schools in our area: Eno Valley Elementary, Efland-Cheeks Elementary, Maureen Joy School, and Creekside Elementary.
Comprehensive details of our initiative with local schools are available via this link, including how you and your specific CGS Neighborhood may become immediately involved. I encourage you to go to a map and familiarize yourself with where all of the schools you are supporting are located!
Bull City Farms to Tables: Our Durham Public Schools initiative is targeted to the young; but food insecurity is not restricted by age or grade… CGS is also partnering in 2021 with an initiative piloted by one of our own church families -- the McKethans! This is an imaginative collaboration to help mitigate malnutrition and hunger among the impoverished elderly in Durham. CGS is facilitating a conjunction comprised of i) local farmers, and ii) the Durham Department of Social Services, and iii) Samaritan Health Center (one of CGS’ longstanding “Familiar Partners”). Learn how you can actively contribute to this initiative here!
Parting Shot: As I have said elsewhere – and on several differing occasions -- I am deeply grateful to each of you for your tenacity, perseverance, and compassion during this pandemic. Despite economic uncertainty, you have continued to support our church's regular pre-COVID ministries -- locally and abroad -- by your faithful monthly gifts. But I am particularly appreciative of the fact that -- in the very midst of this turmoil -- CGS has extended itself outward towards our city with courage and great generosity. This reflects honor upon Christ in our community.
May we remain steadfast in Christ in the months ahead, and may God continue to speed His mercy to our hurting world.
Glenn Jordan
