The 134-year-old Fenimore Road United Methodist Church (FSUMC) in Brooklyn on Saturday continued its quarterly mission of offering lunch and leisure, with donations of meals, clothes, toiletries and toys, to households at three homeless shelters in New York Metropolis.
Marlene Ferguson, the Trinidadian-born chairperson of the church’s Household Life Committee, advised Caribbean Life that 65 males, girls and kids from Boulevard Household Residence in Queens, Hospitality Home in Staten Island and Kids’s Rescue Fund East in Manhattan had been the recipients of Saturday’s occasion.
“Below our church theme of ‘Loving God and Loving Individuals’, our ethical crucial is to feed and assist our neighbors, and our mission is to advocate love and look after homeless/much less lucky households,” stated Ferguson, who can be a retired registered nurse at SUNY Downstate Medical Middle and College Hospital of Brooklyn, stating that the committee “exemplified” the church’s mission on Saturday.
She stated the occasion was initiated “to make sure that our households and kids had been totally geared up with the required college provides previous to returning to high school.”
By beneficiant donations from the church’s congregation, associates and households, and funding from the United Methodist Church’s Frontier Basis, Ferguson stated the committee was in a position to buy backpacks and faculty provides for distribution to the kids in attendance.
“Each youngster, together with the kids from our congregation, obtained a backpack with provides,” she stated, including that backpack and provides had been additionally given to church members to distribute to their neighbors, youngsters and Godchildren, at their request.
“We believed that no youngster needs to be left behind,” Ferguson continued. “The kid can solely progress, given the required instruments and assist for the classroom.”
She stated new clothes, barely used clothes, new sneakers and toiletries had been additionally distributed.
Regardless of the splendid lunch and refreshments – ice cream, cake and fruits – Ferguson stated the spotlight of the occasion was the “enjoyable instances of video games and actions”, coordinated by the church’s pastor, the Rev. Roger Jackson, and First Girl Kim Jackson.
“Since their task at Fenimore, they’ve been energetic members of those occasions,” she stated. “They buy the video games, prizes to be awarded, and they’re those who direct the video games.”
Ferguson stated the video games included tug-a-war, musical chairs, sack race, dart and tossing the ring.
“The video games saved us all on our toes, dancing, laughing and screaming in assist of your group,” she stated. “The shoppers’ participation in all actions was distinctive.
“As I noticed them in motion and considered their circumstances, they had been nonetheless stuffed with pleasure and verbalized their appreciation for what we did,” she added, stating that the occasion required “a number of members to coordinate the actions, and we had been lucky to have our volunteers.”
Ferguson stated the committee was grateful to the youth of the church and different volunteers on the occasion.
In volunteering on the occasion with, alongside together with her youthful first cousins – Zoria Thorpe, Shadae Gooding and Shilah Griffith – Shanae Als stated she was delighted to supply a serving to hand.
“It wouldn’t be Fenimore if it wasn’t service,” stated Als, who, in addition to her first cousins, grew up within the church. “I realized about homeless individuals right here.”
Thorpe chimed in: “I’m grateful to indicate up and assist.”
Gooding added: “It’s at all times good to assist the much less lucky. It’s an ideal pleasure to see that they admire every little thing.”
Ferguson additionally complimented her daughter, Dechelle Ferguson, and Allister Aird, who served as DJs.
“On the conclusion of this occasion, I used to be elated, exhausted and grateful to all who attended and took part indirectly, in some way large or small,” she stated.
“Because the chairperson of this exemplary committee, I thank God for surrounding me with a co-chair, Sis. Minerva Beaton (Guyanese nationwide), who is provided to hold the position at a second’s discover,” Ferguson added. “I thank God for members who’re devoted, dedicated, reliable, loving and respectful. These are the qualities required of us as employees in God’s winery.”
Simon Chick, director of Neighborhood First, a pantry in decrease Manhattan, and Shally Wong, a volunteer, additionally attended the occasion.
“It’s feeding the neighborhood and the shelter,” Chick, who co-sponsored the occasion, advised Caribbean Life. “It’s excellent.”
Joe King, leisure coordinator at Hospital Home, stated he wished the homeless households “to see past Sunday (Worship) Service.
“Extra individuals will be part of the church in the event that they know the church is concerned in the neighborhood,” he stated. “I at all times seem. So, after they name, I cease what I’m doing.
“The hospitality is unimaginable,” he added. “And so they (homeless households) return to the neighborhood figuring out that church buildings care.”
Majorie Fisher, a Jamaican-born member of the committee that oversees the United Methodist Church’s Parish Growth Grant, stated she was enormously heartened by the occasion.
“It’s a beautiful factor they’re doing for the neighborhood,” she stated. “I’m so impressed. It’s wanted.
“As a church, it’s not solely figuring out the wants of the neighborhood, however it’s additionally assembly that want,” she added. “It’s assembly the entire household, offering stuff to the mother and father and kids.”
Pastor Jackson stated: “I believe Household Life (Committee) at all times exceed their expectations.”
Ferguson stated The Household Life Committee is likely one of the mission ministries at FSUMC, positioned on the nook of Fenimore Road and Rogers Avenue.
Since its inception in 1995, she stated the committee has organized quarterly luncheons, with donations of meals, clothes, toiletries and toys, for round 9,000 homeless/much less lucky youngsters, youth, ladies and men by partnership with New York Metropolis Division of Homeless Companies.
“I imagine that this mission is a success of my calling from God,” Ferguson stated. “He initiated this ‘love of caring’ in me after I accepted my name to grow to be a nurse. Caring for others is my ardour.
“So long as I’m in a position, I’ll proceed on this mission to feed till they need no extra,” she added. “I thank the neighborhood, associates and different church buildings for serving to to make this undertaking a hit. To God be the glory for the nice issues he has performed!”
