Minute for Mission
Deep Griha & AMOR Ministries
by Rick Greene
MISSION GRANTS TEAM MEMBER
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“I think that home is simply whenever you’re surrounded by people who love you” - Mary Kate, Habitat for Humanity
Since its inception, members and friends of First Community Church have supported missions-related activities through volunteering and donations--both internationally, nationally, and locally. In this newsletter, we will highlighting the Deep Griha Society (India) and Amor Ministries (Mexico). These two organizations have activities for our congregation support this Spring.
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In March of 1980, Scott Congdon and Gayla Cooper (who passed recently on Feb.7, 2025) founded Amor Ministries. That fall, they recruited their first ministry group to participate in a building project at a Tecate, Mexico, orphanage. Today, the ministry continues to live out the Congdon’s initial calling and builds homes alongside families each day.
The organization’s name means love. They choose to show God’s love through simple, tangible acts of service. Amor demonstrates to the poor the same grace we have all received through Jesus. For forty-five years, Amor Ministries’ purpose and focus has been to provide adequate housing in order to keep families together. In addition to building homes, volunteers and staff share the grace and love of Jesus by providing security, safety, and stability to families who would otherwise be without.
Over the years, FCC has sent groups of volunteers on 24 mission trips resulting the building of 186 homes. The 2025 trip is set for March 18 – 26. The 44 participants (13 adults, 23 youth, and 8 college-age) will build three homes while in Mexico. Click here for more information about the trip.
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After spending a year in the United States, Dr. Neela Onawale, a medical doctor, and her husband, the Reverend Bhaskar Onawale, a UCC minister, returned in 1975 to their home in Pune, India. Recognizing the lack of services and resources available to residents in the slums, the couple developed the Deep Griha Society (DGS) and began providing medical care and nutrition services in three of the largest slums in Pune. Having developed close connections with the Onawales while in the USA, First Community Church (FCC) became a financial supporter of the Onawales’ outreach program from the very beginning. That was 50 years ago!
Over the years, DGS has developed a strong rapport with the community members in Pune, thus offering the residents a platform to participate in the initiation and development of programs. This relationship has ensured that programs are relevant and valued by the community. DGS’s field workers are present in the community every day to follow up with participants and see that their opinions and experiences are fed back to DGS’ decision makers. As a result of this approach, DGS’ programs have been quite successful and have become a model for the creation of governmental services to the residents throughout the slums.
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Some of the activities developed for the following communities include:
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Tadiwala Road The main problems faced by this community are poor healthcare, hygiene, and poverty, which in turn leads to a low standard of education and high illiteracy rate. Because of the large population of this community, many of Deep Griha’s programs provide immediate care and support as well as empowering the beneficiaries to become more self-sufficient.
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Ramtekadi Many programs include childcare, youth empowerment, and child development in the form of recreation activities and English lessons.
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Bibvewadi Programs include a small nursery facility, adult education classes, and maternal and newborn healthcare. Volunteer and full-time doctors also perform frequent medical health-checks with the children who attend the center.
| FCC’s ongoing financial support has helped to enable DGS growth and in 2007, Sandy Wood and some members of FCC formed Deep Griha USA (DGUSA), a non-profit organization in Columbus. The purpose of the organization are to raise funds for DGS, to report to USA donors on the cost effectiveness, sustainability, and transparency of DGS as observed on visits to Pune by our representatives, and to respond to DGS’ requests for assistance. During its first year, the organization helped raise capital funds of more than $140,000 for schools in Pune. Since that time, many community organizations and several other UCC churches (First Congregational Church, Dublin Community Church, and St. Timothy in the Woods in West Virginia) have become active members of DGUSA. | Over the years, the Missions program at FCC and DGUSA have provided funding for a variety of programs and capital projects, such as construction of an English-medium school in the rural area outside of Pune, creation of an orphanage for orphaned and at-risk children, purchase of a van for transporting disabled students to appropriate schools, funding the renovation of the Tadiwala Road Center facility including the recent modification of the outdoor kitchen and eating area, to mention just a few. This renovation has upgraded the previous space which now doubles as a drop-in center for senior citizens. This funding has helped DGS develop programs and activities designed around the needs of the older members of the community, and heretofore neglected segment of society. | | | |
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Deep Griha Dinner
Fostering Health
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by Kitty Rohrer
MISSION GRANTS TEAM & DEEP GRIHA USA BOARD MEMBER
Join us for dinner in celebration of the 50 years of service and life-changing programs provided by Deep Griha for thousands of residents from infants to seniors in the slums of Pune. A delicious repast supplied by Steven’s Catering with cookies donated by Northstar Café will be served.
Deep Griha Director, Ashlesha Onawale, is traveling to Columbus from India to be a featured speaker at this event. She will be joined by gubernatorial candidate, Dr. Amy Acton, Former Director of the Ohio Department of Health, and by Dr. Cathy Slemp, Former Commissioner of the West Virginia Bureau of Public Health.
Please plan to come celebrate the 50 years of Deep Griha Society, the Lighthouse!
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Friday, April 4 at 6 pm
Wing Grace Hall, FC North
3777 Dublin Rd. Columbus, OH 43221
Registration is required.
| Some Deep Griha USA members gathered for dinner (PICTURED, CLOCKWISE FROM BOTTOM): Sandy, Annita, Harridana, Sally, Kitty, Deb and Mary Ann | | |
Refugee Ministry
Monthly Update
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by Shirley Barney
REFUGEE MINISTRY TEAM LEAD
Our CRIS (Community of Refugee & Immigration Services) partners, the Refugee Ministry Team and all the families we support continue to feel the impact of recent executive orders. Funding and resettlement operations have been indefinitely suspended. The CRIS team has been reduced to half and will potentially lose all their team members eventually. There are many families in Central Ohio that need help and support.
What can you do to help?
Volunteer
We need volunteers to help with:
- Transportation to and from school, appointments
- ESL (English Second Language) tutors
- Enrolling in school
If you are interested in volunteering, please contact Shirley Barney.
Donate
If you can't volunteer, consider making a donation to our Refugee Team, or directly to CRIS.
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Monetary donations to a CRIS fundraiser to raise $100,000 in 100 days. All proceeds will support existing families in Central Ohio. Any amount helps! Click here to donate.
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Groceries or grocery store gift cards. Please arrange donation of these items with team leader, Shirley Barney.
- Support the Pattycake Bakery fundraiser for CRIS.
Learn more
Indivisible Central Ohio is an organization working together to defend truth and justice, plus human, racial, and voting rights. For more information, please visit their website.
Update!
Vicki Rush and her family donated a car to support families that have resettled here. We partnered with Rides 4 Refugees to pair the car with a family in need. The car was provided to Ahmad Ali Ahmadi and his family. They are from Afghanistan and a family of ten, including parents, four sons, and four daughters. At this moment, only Ahmad Ali and his oldest son are working. Thank you, Vicki for donating your car; the family is so grateful!
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by Yohan Kim
HEART TO HEART FOOD PANTRY MANAGER
February was Heart to Heart month at First Community, including a sermon about the pantry by Rev. John Girard. We had a SOUPerbowl Sunday at worship services, which netted $105 and 780 pounds of soup in a single day! We also received soup from the Spanish classes at Jones Middle School and the Key Club at Upper Arlington High School. Brownlee Hall is overflowing, thanks to your support!
Our Generosity Match-a-thon kicked off on Valentine’s Day. That is the birthday of the first Director of Heart to Heart, Jill Thomas. Her husband, Duke, is continuing her legacy by matching donations up to $20,000 until March 31. Financial support will go a long way towards helping us order dry goods from the Mid-Ohio Foodbank, purchase supplies like paper bags and gloves, repair and replace equipment, maintain our van, and so much more. With donations being doubled, now is a great time to donate!
Those contributions support the work we do distributing food in our Drive-Thru and Pop-Up Pantry. We’ve had 316 households in our Drive-Thru during February, including 55 new ones, as of this writing before the last week of the month. Our Pop-Up Pantry has also delivered food to 120 households at the sites they serve.
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As seen in our 2024 Annual Report, we served 14 counties, 71 zip codes, and a record number of visits year-over-year. We also had 384 unique volunteers, all of whom do an incredible job helping us be a force for good in Central Ohio. On February 20, we had the opportunity to share our mutual gratitude at our annual Volunteer Appreciation Dinner & Award Ceremony. The impact of this work doesn’t occur without them, or your support, at the church where community comes first. | | |
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by Amy Caskie
DIRECTOR OF MISSIONS
Our Heart to Heart food pantry is a blessing to the staff, the clients and our volunteer community. February has been a month full of events to celebrate this ministry. Check out what we did this month.
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SOUPerbowl Sunday
February 9
We collected $105 and 780 pounds of soup last Sunday! Bets-by-donation correctly favored the winning Philadelphia Eagles:
- FC South 235 pounds ($30 Eagles, $10 Chiefs)
- FC North 545 pounds ($10 Eagles, $10 Chiefs)
Although some donors made non-traditional bets, with $25 favoring the Cleveland Browns and $20 betting neither team would win! Thank you not only to the donors, but our team quarterbacks, Susan Jagers at FC South and Becky Ryan and FC North.
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Pictured: Charlie and Judy donate at the 9 AM service every time we have a food drive! | | |
Heart to Heart Sunday
February 16
While the snow kept most at home for Heart to Heart Sunday, we are grateful to the many supporters who made it to one of First Community's three worship services.
During worship, we held a special offering for the food pantry. We are grateful for the generosity of the donors who contributed:
- $5,765 Online gifts
- $1,315 Worship offering
- Total $7,080.00
These gifts will be doubled through the matching grant provided by Duke Thomas.
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Pictured: after each service, supporters joined staff and volunteers for a small reception. | | |
Volunteer Dinner
February 20
About 40 Heart to Heart team members gathered last Thursday evening for the annual Heart to Heart Volunteer Appreciation Dinner and Awards Ceremony. Those present participated in two fun appreciation activities, and many volunteers in received awards for their specific contributions to the ministry. Yohan also made sure to recognize the work of each small group that contributes to the success of the food pantry!
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Click the image above for photo album. | | |
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You can mail or drop off a donation at First Community South, 1320 Cambridge Blvd. Columbus, OH 43212.
Make checks payable to: First Community Church with "Heart to
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Match-a-thon Fundraiser
February 14 - March 31
Donations made to Heart to Heart through March 31 will be doubled up to $20,000 thanks to the generosity of Duke Thomas. The success of this fundraiser directly impacts our ability to serve the greater Columbus community.
Each week during the fundraiser, we will release a short video. Those interviewed reflect on the impact of Heart to Heart from their differing points-of-view.
We are grateful for the generosity of the donors who contributed so far. As of Wednesday, we have raised $$10,369.00 toward our $20,000 goal.
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Click here to learn more about the First Community monthly collections during Sunday worship services. | |
Hygiene Drive
March 16 during worship services
Please bring your donations of personal care items with you to worship on Sunday, March 16. The food pantry welcomes donations including toiletries, feminine hygiene, dental care products, etc. As we are able, we provide these items to clients both in the Drive-thru and Pop-Up Pantry, in addition to groceries. These items are necessary and often come with significant expense, but not covered by SNAP benefits. Your contribution allows us to provide an additional means of support to our Central Ohio neighbors, who are already struggling to make ends meet.
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by Beth Hanson
TRADING POST VOLUNTEER TEAM LEAD
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The Trading Post is already leaning into spring even though, as I write this article, temps have been in the low teens all week. Valentine’s Day is already in the rearview mirror, and St. Patrick’s Day is peaking up with all of its cheery green-ness on the horizon. Before you know it, Easter will be hopping up to our doorstep.
All year, we sort donations by seasonal and holiday categories, so that we are always ready to provide our shoppers with the next season’s décor, greeting cards, linens, jewelry, and apparel. In other words, we take donations from any season all year long. We take sleds in August and Easter bunnies in January. Nothing has to be donated in its season. Halloween costumes? Swim suits? Turkey platters? Christmas wreaths? Bring them on! Most of our items are stored in the Annex Building, but if our space becomes too crowded, we will schlep things over to the basement of Lincoln Road until we need them.
Donations may be dropped off during our open hours on the first floor of the Annex Building which is located at the back of the South Campus parking lot. (We are open Monday, Wednesday, Friday and the first Saturday of the month between 10a-4p.) We have metal shelves along the hallway where you can leave your boxes and bags, and we have a rack for clothing donated on hangers. Also, there are Trading Post drop-off boxes at North and South Campus.
We have a crew that sorts the donated clothing by season every Tuesday. All other non-clothing items are also sorted by season and/or holiday, but many items go out for sale immediately. For example, there is no season for books, birthday cards, toys or frying pans. The Trading Post has become so popular in recent years that it is a perpetual challenge to keep the shelves stocked with a variety of tantalizing wares. I like to say that it has become a hungry beast that needs to be constantly fed!
So we are always eager to receive whatever clothing and items you have to offer us. The only things we don’t take are large furniture and appliances due to space restrictions. A list of the items we do take is posted on the church website. Most of the money we raise goes to the missions supported by our church and in 2004 we raised $145,156! The average price of items sold is only $3.67, so you can see that every frying pan, candle, comforter, necklace, pair of pants, puzzle and coffee pot adds up to something really significant to help those in need.
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Warm Welcome Knitters
Yarn Donations Wanted
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by Pat Porterfield
TEAM MEMBER
The Warm Welcome Knitters is looking for donations of washable wool worsened or DK yarn. This group knits hats, scarves and sometimes mittens for donation to those in need. Originally intended solely for incoming refugee families, the group now donates the warm weather gear to a few local agencies, New Life Community Outreach, Bhutanese Community of Central Ohio, and our own Heart to Heart food pantry. Contact Pat Porterfield to arrange for pickup or drop off of your yarn donation.
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Tandana Foundation
Trip with Intention
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by Connie Hieatt
TANDANA VOLUNTEER
I recently had the privilege of joining an international outreach trip organized by the Ohio State University Extension Master Gardener Volunteers, in partnership with the Tandana Foundation. Our destination was Otavalo, Ecuador, where we collaborated with an indigenous community on a school gardening project.
A bit of background: The Tandana Foundation was founded in 2004 by Anna Taft after she spent a gap year in Ecuador following high school. Her deep connection with the people there led her to create a foundation focused on supporting community initiatives to the indigenous communities in the Andes, as well as Mail’s Bandiagara District. First Community has previously supported Tandana through grants for special projects.
While many organizations do incredible work in Ecuador, what sets the Tandana Foundation apart is its emphasis on communities contributing their own effort, or "sweat equity." This philosophy fosters a deeper sense of involvement and sustainability.
From January 18 to February 1, two groups of volunteers worked two consecutive weeks in the Carabuela community, specifically at the Modesto Larrea JiJon school. I was part of the second group, which included 15 Master Gardener Volunteers and friends.
Each day, local family members joined us in the project, and the school staff expressed immense gratitude for our help. The vegetables we were planting would later provide nourishment for the students. On our first day, we were warmly welcomed by the entire school—a crowd of about 200 students, ranging from kindergarten through tenth grade. As we entered the schoolyard, the students clapped, sang, and performed an indigenous dance to greet us, all while speaking in English.
Our task was to continue the work begun by the first group the week before—clearing grass and weeds and preparing the soil for planting vegetables and lemon trees. This is no small feat. The soil in the region is fantastic, but the grass we were removing was a particularly stubborn, invasive grass. For anyone who's tried to rid their garden of johnsongrass, you’ll understand the challenge.
Despite this, the soil in this area is incredible. Those of us in central Ohio, accustomed to heavy, compacted clay soil, can only envy the sandy, loose, well-drained volcanic soils of the Andean highlands. The soil here is perfect for growing crops, and the main staples are corn, beans, and squash—often planted together in the "three sisters" method, where corn, fava beans, and squash are all planted in the same hole.
Although the soil is easy to dig, the persistent rhizomatous grass meant we had to go over each bed multiple times to get it all cleared. The only tool used by the indigenous people is the hoe, which is far heavier than our typical garden tools. The hoe is used for everything—preparing the soil, digging rows, creating holes for lemon trees, and weeding the garden.
The parents at the school are required to assist with these gardening projects, ensuring that the whole community has a stake in the work. This recent project focused on planting vegetables and fruits, which will not only feed the students (from kindergarten through eighth grade) but also be incorporated into various school subjects such as science, reading, and math.
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This trip was a unique blend of volunteer work and cultural immersion. After completing our tasks in the mornings, we spent the afternoons learning about the local culture through activities and tours, which greatly enriched the experience. Activities included an Ecuadorian cooking class and a 3-hour day trip up to a Polylepis forest in the high Andes where we were at 12,000 feet altitude.
At the end of the week, the community hosted a Pampa mesa, where everyone brought dishes to share—potatoes, fava beans, rice, tostadas (roasted corn, like Corn Nuts), and more. The food was laid out on a large table, and we all gathered to enjoy it.
If you're interested in learning more about Tandana Foundation, volunteer opportunities or ‘trips with intention” to Ecuador, please visit tandanafoundation.org. Trips can be customized and scheduled for groups.
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Monday Night Meals
Volunteers Needed
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by Pat Porterfield
MINISTRY TEAM VOLUNTEER LEAD
Each Monday, volunteers from First Community provide a meal for the men staying at Friends of the Homeless. Small groups have been established that volunteer for the same week each month, each with their own routine, recipes, and assignments. The group members purchase items, assembled the meals and deliver them, with some staying to serve the meal. New volunteers are welcome on many of these weekly groups. Some groups bring additional donations for the men housed at FOH. If you would like to make a donation, or join one of the weekly teams, contact Pat Porterfield.
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Monthly Mission & Justice Meeting
For All Ministry Teams
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by John Girard
EXECUTIVE MINISTER / MINISTER OF MISSION & JUSTICE
Join us on Tuesday, March 18, for a special guest speaker at our Mission & Community Justice meeting at 6:30pm. Ms. Ashlesha Onawale, Director of the Deep Griha Society, in Pune, India, will share about the mission and work of Deep Griha Society (“DGS”) – an independent charitable organization working to better the lives of low income, informal communities in Pune, India. DGS is one of the partner missions First Community supports. They work with participants in and around Pune through a range of family welfare programs encompassing education, healthcare, child development and women’s empowerment. Join us on March 18th, to meet Ashlesha, learn about DGS, and enjoy a time of Q&A.
The next meeting is Tuesday, March 18 at 6:30pm in Wing Grace Hall, FC North.
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Everyone involved or interested in the work of our Missions and Community Justice teams is invited to join us for our monthly all teams meeting. Each ministry team or small group should identify a representative to regularly provide 1-2 minute updates in these meetings.
You do not need to RSVP or commit to future attendance. Please mark your 2025 calendars for these important meetings which will occur on the third Tuesday of every month at 6:30pm.
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News from our Mission Partners | | | | |
