Service Opportunities:
To Serve God and Our Neighbors Good
Check out our service link page
Disaster Relief:
Service Trips: Throughout the year there are opportunities to go on disaster relief work trips. Participants donate a week or so of their time and travel, usually by car, to an area in need. One of the current areas is Tennessee. Participants of all skill levels are needed. There is building, painting, demolition, clean up, cleaning and even cooking that needs to be done. Disaster relief trips can use adults of any age, any skill level, for more information call, email or see Mel and Sandy Fox, sandyjfox@gmail.com
Disaster Relief Auction: 
One of the many beautiful quilts sold each September at the Disaster Relief Auction at the Lebanon Fairgrounds.
Wonderful baked goods, and hot foods to eat can be enjoyed at the Disaster Relief Auction.
The third Friday and Saturday the Northeastern Conference holds a Disaster relief Auction at the Lebanon Valley Fairgrounds.
Beautiful TV tables made by out own Marv Zimmerman.You’ll find food, crafts, a quilt auction, a heifer auction and much more. Over the past twenty plus years the auction has raised over a million and a half dollars to benefit the Church of the Brethren’s disaster relief ministry.
Service Opportunites Closer to home:
Drivers needed to give homebound members a ride to church. If interested please call the church office, 610-374-8451, weekdays 8:30-4.
Upcoming Events:
Here are some dates and people to contact if you’d like to help with one of our events!
New Windsor: A day of service in Maryland, at a distribution center. Most of the work can be done sitting down. Two or three trips are organized a year.Contact barbie Kuhns in the church office, 610-927-2175. (See Witness)
Pot Pie Dinner
Cookie Sale
Rummage Sale
Auction
Spaghetti Dinner Oct 8 Pat Harris
An interview with a couple who have led Disaster Reliefs Projects
The Service of Serving
You didn’t see much of Marv and Regina Zimmerman at church in February, but it wasn’t the snowy weather that kept them away. They had taken off for Arabi, Louisiana, near New Orleans, and spent the month there. If you’re thinking a fabulous vacation, readjust your thinking, it was more like a renewal of the soul and spirit. Marv and Regina were project managers for the month for Brethren Disaster Relief.
Regina was head cook and bottle washer, planned the menus, cooked and fed 36 people every day—except for Tuesdays each week. Taco Tuesdays meant Americorps kids were invited, and anywhere from 80-100 people were served. Regina did have help, 2 women worked with her during the different weeks, ranging in ages from 60-82.
Marv was a site leader. He supervised and helped the crew at his site. He marvels how God does seem to work in mysterious ways. Once a project director’s wife fell and broke her hip. Marv and Regina were asked to come, and almost miraculously, were able to leave the next day! Why? “It’s what we’re told to do in the Bible,” states Marv.
Regina marvels at how these trips broaden her Christian family. “You learn to know other people, wonderful Christian people. I feel like I get a reward. Our being there gives people hope. We’re getting people back into their houses, and these people really, really want to go home!”
The Church of the Brethren made a 5 year commitment to flood-torn Louisiana. In May, the five years are up and they’re closing the project and moving onto efforts near Nashville, Tenn. In fact, 2 projects will be happening simultaneously in Tennessee.
Marv and Regina didn’t start out as Project Managers; they’ve been Disaster Relief Volunteers for years. Special skill sets are appreciated, but not needed. If you’re interested in volunteering, talk to Marv or to Mel Fox, a representative on the Disaster Relief Committee.
You can spend a week or two at various projects. Before you go, there is a skills list where you can volunteer to do what you do best….dry walling, demolition, construction, painting, cooking—even being a “go-fer”! Most people drive to the project, sometimes a trip of two days. The District pays your way to and from the project, and New Windsor pays for your meals while you’re there, so financial cost to you is minimal. But the benefits are bountiful. Marv puts it this way; “You get a good feeling. We came home and got much more than what we gave.”