2016 Thank Offering Grant Recipients
Promotional materials for the 2016 Thank Offering of Presbyterian Women will be available August 2016. Packets are mailed to "PW/Women's Group" in each PC(USA) congregation. If you don't receive a packet by the end of August, contact us.
Download a Thank Offering grant application in Word format.
Give to the Thank Offering. The goal for the 2016 offering is $900,000.
The Creative Ministries Offering Committee of Presbyterian Women met in Louisville, Kentucky, in March 2016 and selected 22 applicants to receive grants from the 2015 Thank Offering of Presbyterian Women. Fourteen projects serve people in need in the United States, eight of the projects are international.
Projects must meet criteria established by the committee, including consistency with the mission concerns and policies of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), a purpose that meets basic human needs, provides a form of aid that relates directly to the people being served and is a creative project less than three years old or a new direction for an existing program. The committee selects programs based on merit, regardless of geographic location. At least 40 percent of the Thank Offering funds go to health-related projects.
The Creative Ministries Offering Committee is proud to announce the recipients of the Thank Offering.
Synod of the covenant
Family to Family Furniture Bank
Marysville, Ohio
$25,000
The goal of this project is to ensure that no one sleeps on the floor. The Furniture Bank provides families facing hardship or emergency situations with furniture necessary to live independently.
Synod of Lakes and prairies
Exploit No More
RISE Restoration Center
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
$25,000
Exploit No More is dedicated to ending child sex trafficking in the Milwaukee area. This grant will provide an eight-bed residential treatment home for teenage girls recovered from the sex trade.
Synod of Lincoln trails
Harambee Chicago
Summer Program
Chicago, Illinois
$15,000
Harambee Chicago will increase employable skills of low-income youth by engaging them in community service, training them in a skilled trade and developing leadership through mentoring.
The Gilead House
Re-entry Program
Kokomo, Indiana
$25,000
These funds will help support incarcerated individuals re-entering society by providing transitional housing as part of the comprehensive services provided by the Gilead House.
Synod of Living Waters
Southwest Mississippi Christian Ministries, Inc.
WINGS Medical Initiative
Columbia, Mississippi
$40,250
Women in Need of God's Shelter (WINGS) provides a safe space for domestic violence survivors and their children. This grant will be used to meet medical needs of domestic violence survivors.
Westminster Interfaith Caring Place (WICP)
Elders Learning and Nurturing Project
Florence, Alabama
$41,000
This grant will provide adult day care for frail and cognitively impaired people of advanced age. Staff will be trained and certified in Montessori-based dementia programming.
Green River Ministries
Rapid Re-housing Assistance Program
Campbellsville, Kentucky
$15,000
With this grant, Green River Ministries will be able to quickly move homeless persons into safe, permanent housing. These funds will help with up-front move-in costs.
Synod of Mid-Atlantic
Miriam's House
Community First Expansion Project
Lynchburg, Virginia
$20,000
Community First helps homeless families obtain rental housing while receiving case management and financial assistance to prevent them from becoming homeless again.
Backpack Blessings, Inc.
Summer Blessings
New Bern, North Carolina
$30,000
The Backpack Blessings summer feeding program will provide family-friendly, nutritious foods for children who experience food insecurity during the summer months.
Synod of the Northeast
LifeWay Network, Inc. (LWN)
Safe Housing for Survivors of Human Trafficking
Rego Park, New York
$25,000
This program provides women with a stable and supportive home with an emphasis on holistic healing—mind, body and spirit—as the survivor journeys toward self-sufficiency.
Synod of the Rocky mountains
Antonito Presbyterian Women
Antonito Food Bank
Antonito, Colorado
$5,000
This grant will allow Presbyterian Women of Antonito to help residents of this isolated town, where employment opportunities are few, provide food for their families.
Synod of the Sun
Stewpot of First Presbyterian Church
ESL Program Enhancement for Immigrant Families
Dallas, Texas
$7,660
FPC Dallas will expand its English as a Second Language (ESL) program serving families whose incomes are extremely low. The expanded curriculum includes job-seeking and life skills.
Brazos Valley Center for Independent Living
Independence on the Move
Bryan, Texas
$25,000
This grant will allow the center to convert an accessible bus into an outreach vehicle. The mobile outreach program will provide transportation and training for individuals with disabilities.
Capital Area Alliance for the Homeless
One Stop Homeless Services Center
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
$41,000
This grant will enable the center to add weekend hours and expand the number of clients rehoused and provided services to 50 clients per day.
International
Presbyterian Women, FPC Fort Worth/Living Water International
Water Well Drilling Rig for Haiti
Ft. Worth, Texas/Haiti
$40,250
This grant will be used to purchase a drill rig for use in Haiti, where more than a third of people lack access to safe water. Living Water will work with people in Haiti to drill wells in several communities.
Atlanta Church Group
EcoVillage School Expansion, Colladere, Haiti
Decatur, Georgia/Colladere, Haiti
$25,000
This grant will fund construction of three more classrooms at the EcoVillage School, begun in 2014 for families of EcoVillage, a PDA response to the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.
Sinking Spring Presbyterian Church
Women's Bee-keeping Enterprise
Abingdon, Virginia/Luwerezi, Malawi
$20,000
The new Luwerezi bee-keeping enterprise will use this grant to provide equipment, supplies and training for new beekeepers. This project seeks to serve 50 families headed by widows with children.
Protestant Center for Pastoral Studies in Central America (CEDEPCA)
Prevention of Family Sexual Violence
Guatemala City, Guatemala
$11,100
This project is an extension of CEDEPCA's work with women and girls on the issue of domestic violence. The program will be expanded to focus on sexual violence and build a network of support for survivors.
Handicap and Orphan Children's Charity Society (HOCCS)
Women's Empowerment Through Sustainable Agriculture
Faisalabad, Pakistan
$8,828
This grant will equip rural women who are poor with tools and skills that will enable them to use sustainable agricultural practices and ensure the food security of 200 women farmers.
Church Women's Fellowship of Pochalla (CWF)
Pochalla Agriculture for Women
Pochalla, South Sudan
$25,000
This grant will be used to address root causes of poverty in Pochalla. CWF will help the community run agricultural activities that provide employment and enhance food security.
Church of Central Africa Presbyterian, Synod of Harare
Agape
Harare, Zimbabwe
$20,000
This grant will provide a well, thus enabling widows, elderly people and single parents to grow vegetables, generate income and reduce waterborne diseases .
Presbyterian Church in Rwanda
Empowerment of Unemployed Youth of Kirinda
Kigali, Rwanda
$20,000
Funds from this grant will help implement vocational training activities for unemployed youth of Kirinda, contributing to the well-being of families and community development.
Give now so more life-changing projects can be funded in 2016. The goal for this offering is $900,000. Give through your PW group or give on line.
