About the Organization: Americans for Native Americans works to improve the quality of life of Native Americans by providing essential goods and programs that foster self-reliance and mutual understanding. With many lacking basic necessities, the living conditions on Native American reservations can be shocking to those not familiar with reservation life. Native Americans deal with frightening statistics every day, struggling with rampant poverty, homelessness, sub-standard housing without water, heat, or electricity, extremely high unemployment, and very low graduation rates.
DPC Engagement: Our congregation has supported the work of this organization in a number of ways, including the Zuni Eyeglass program, the backpack food program through the Community Pantry, and the Children Clothing and Shoes program.
About the Organization: Bridging the Gap is dedicated to saving lives and improving the quality of life for marginalized communities across sub-Saharan Africa by constructing pedestrian footbridges to overcome the dangers posed by impassable rivers and ravines that threaten their safety, limit their access to education and healthcare, and restrict economic opportunity.
DPC Engagement: DPC supports the repair, maintenance, and upkeep of a pickup truck that has been the lifeline of the organization, allowing it to continue its important work. The cost of maintaining a vehicle in Kenya is very high due to poor roads and harsh conditions. The pick-up truck was originally purchased largely with funds that were contributed to Bridging the Gap by a group of Doylestown Presbyterian Church members who traveled to Kenya in 2007.
About the Organization: CEPAD (Council of Protestant Churches of Nicaragua) is Christian organization in Nicaragua that addresses the problems of hunger, empowers community leaders to be leaders for human rights and community development, and promotes education.
DPC Engagement: Through the Bridging the Generations Capital Campaign, DPC funded a "patio project," which supported Nicaraguan women in creating small backyard gardens and farms around their homes to provide their families with quality food and a source of income. Each woman in the project received a package of seeds, plants, animals, and equipment worth $450. The project participants are asked to "pay back" the value of the animals by passing along some of the offspring of the animals to others. Each woman on the project is trained and educated on how to manage and develop his or her own patio project.
About the Organization: Serving more than 2,300 households each month, the Community Pantry strives to nourish the families in its surrounding area of Gallup, NM by acquiring, storing, and distributing wholesome food to children, the elderly, and families in need.
DPC Engagement: DPC has been actively supporting the Community Pantry in a variety of ways for many years. Since 2006, our congregation has provided support for a backpack food program, which ensures that school-age children will have food over each weekend. DPC provided the resources for a cistern in 2011 to help nourish the Community Pantry's Hope Garden, which supplements the food given to families in need by providing fresh produce while also educating the public about health sustenance and enhancement. Through the Forward Together capital campaign, we provided the funding for the completion of the Hope Garden, which included the construction of two additional hoop houses for vegetables and a berm to provide wind protection from winds that at times can reach 50 mph. It also allowed for the purchase of fruit-producing trees, shrubs, and grasses, fill dirt and topsoil for areas inside the berm and hoop houses, irrigation equipment, Bobcat time, and project management for nine months to make the effort a reality. DPC members have been visiting the Community Pantry on an annual mission trip since 2010.
About the Organization: Discovery Service Projects (DSP) is a faith-led organization whose volunteers travel to developing countries and areas in the United States afflicted by natural disasters to help build and repair churches, clinics, community buildings, school, and homes.
DPC Engagement: DPC helps to support projects in areas that have suffered from a natural disaster, and our members have gone on a handful of trips in the past several years.
About the Organization: Heifer International sends farm animals to impoverished and war-torn countries whose famers are in desperate need. Famers receiving animals are trained on how to care for them and must commit to give their first-born animals to another deserving family.
DPC Engagement: DPC has donated several arks full of animals to Heifer International and supports the organization through the Alternative Giving program during Advent each year.
DPC Engagement: DPC has supported families who came to us from a refugee camp in Thailand after leaving their homes in Burma. The support provided included child care, literacy training, help with acclimating to a new country, financial support for housing and related costs, and transportation for medical visits and shopping trips. Today, these families are mostly supporting themselves independently of DPC.
About the Organization: The Presbyterian Education Board (PEB) provides the human and financial resources necessary for educating children in Pakistan in mind, body, and spirit in an environment that values self-discipline, integrity, tolerance, respect for others, fairness, and justice. While the organization is rooted in Christian tradition, students of all religious backgrounds are welcomed and valued.
DPC Engagement: DPC has supported the Presbyterian Education Board through the Presbyterian Women's program and VBS.
About the Organization: Samaritan's Church is a non-denominational evangelical Christian organization providing spiritual and physical aid to hurting people all around the world. One of their projects is Operation Christmas Child, which collects boxes of gifts for children during the holiday season and sends them all to those in need.
DPC Engagement: DPC's 456 club participates in Operation Christmas Child, collecting materials and assembling gift boxes at Christmastime for children internationally.
About the Organization: Providing an income opportunity for women and families living in poverty in Cambodia, the Tabitha Foundation trains and employs women to make hand-made, one-of-a-kind items, including silk scarves and bedding.
DPC Engagement: DPC supports the Tabitha Foundation through the Alternative Giving program during Advent.
About the Organization: World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families, and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice. The WASH program strives to promote sustainable water management; foster partnerships for water, sanitation, and hygiene development; and create awareness and advocacy of safe drinking water issues.
DPC Engagement: Through the Forward Together capital campaign, DPC will provide for the development of a well, pump house, and a water supply storage facility, which will serve a community of up to 300 people.
DPC Engagement: Our congregation supports a youth mission trip each year for students in grades 10-12. The youth study and address various needs, including working in soup kitchens, shelters and food banks; rehabilitating houses and churches; and working directly with the community. In July 2012, a group of 17 students and 7 leaders will travel to Mill Creek, West Virginia to help with home repairs and other needs around the area.
