The congregation at the First Presbyterian Church in Greeneville, TN, has a history of reaching out to others in need. Through mission works large and small, church members are committed to caring for people in their own community and beyond. Recently, the congregation embraced the Keep It! Campaign and the people of Ivory Park by agreeing to provide financial support for Ivory Park initiatives. Church member Ann VanBuskirk explains that the congregation is dedicated to raising enough funds to complete the Suppa du Mamma Soup Kitchen. The new central kitchen located in the Ivory Park community center will provide hot meals for senior citizens and children.
A variety of groups throughout the church have joined the fundraising campaign. The women’s group hosted a benefit breakfast, the senior high youth group organized and performed at a church-based dinner theater, and in November, the congregation participated in an International Bazaar. VanBuskirk notes that the bazaar has become an annual tradition that provides shoppers with access to unique gifts and accessories while providing support to artisans from Palestine, Nicaragua, and other parts of the world. This year, the church sold $400 worth of Awava merchandise resulting in $200 in fair trade wages for the Awava artisans in Uganda and $200 for Ivory Park.
Bob Tryanski, founder of the Keep It! Campaign, explains that the new kitchen will consolidate existing efforts to provide nutritious meals to those most in need. Previously, the soup kitchen operated separately from a feeding program in the Sedimosang Day Care Center and an after school meal program for teenage orphans. Now, one central kitchen will serve all of these programs. As a result, meal programs will become less costly and more time efficient. In addition, it will create sustainable jobs for the cooks.
Tryanski also points out the significant impact that has been created by building a network through the Power of Ten. “When you realize the effects this project can have, it’s difficult not to get involved,” says Tryanski. “Thanks to the efforts of great volunteers like our friends at the First Presbyterian Church, the new kitchen will feed 150 preschool children every day, 60 senior citizens several times a week and another 160 school-age children each day after school. In terms of dollars, $10 will feed three kids for a month, and $100 will pay the salary of two of the cooks for a month.”
To date, supporters at First Presbyterian have contributed over $2000 and are more than one third of the way toward reaching their goal.