Category: Local Conference

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ConfDirectors Local Conference NEWS

Bob Mitchell Receives Volunteer of Year Award

Bob Mitchell, ACS and DR Coordinator of the Potomac Conference, is not only actively involved with ACS and VOAD, but also volunteers with the local Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) as an instructor. He has been serving on their Steering Committee for over a decade and is a CERT staple every season, attending most of the classes and offering his wonderful insight and experiences to their students. Bob, who has always been a vital part of the CERT program, won the ‘Volunteer of the Year’ award presented by the Virginia Emergency Managers Association (VEMA).
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This year, he went above and beyond and attended every level 2 course for their fall program. When the instructor for the very first class of the season had to cancel at the last minute – literally five minutes before the class was scheduled to start – without a second thought, Bob jumped to the front of the room and with grace and ease co-taught the class with Maribel Street, Acting Emergency Management Coordinator of Charlottesville-UVA-Albemarle Office of Emergency Management.

“Bob’s continued displays of passion and his effort to ensure we have a well-rounded program, is truly inspiring. Our students love coming to class to soak up Bob’s stories and learn about all the opportunities CERT has to offer,” stated Ms. Street. The Charlottesville-UVA-Albemarle CERT program has taught over 1,000 individuals and continues to increase enrollment each season, thanks to leaders like Bob, who drive student participation and create strong volunteers. “I wish every CERT program had a member like Bob. He has made an immeasurable impact on our program and in our community,” continued Ms. Street.

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COVID-19 Local Conference

Showers of Blessings During COVID-19

Serving in metropolitan areas such as New York City where various races, cultures, customs, backgrounds, and beliefs are found can be quite challenging, especially during difficult times such as what we are facing with COVID-19. While this pandemic continues to create challenges and struggles for many in our society, God has allowed the Greater New York Conference Adventist Community Services to serve through their Showers of Blessings Ministry.

The Showers of Blessings Ministry started in January of this year by helping different organizations serve the homeless population in their respective areas. One of them is the Warming Center at the Omega Seventh-day Adventist Church in New Haven, Connecticut. Following safety protocols, this church has managed not only to provide warm meals, but also hygiene methods on a daily basis for up to 70 homeless people in their city.

The Showers of Blessings Ministry also continues to partner with the St. Joseph’s House in New York City in their mission to serve 50+ persons with the facility to take warm showers and provide hygiene kits as this organization provides warm meals, clothing, shelter, and other services in the community. At St Joseph’s House, hygiene methods during COVID-19 have become one of their main priorities to prevent the spread of the virus, along with social distancing.

The Bowery Mission is another organization located in New York City that helps the homeless population in multiple locations throughout the area. Serving up to 100 people per day, the Showers of Blessings Ministry has been helping them promote hygiene and continue social distancing through their mobile showers. Due to COVID-19, many locations are adjusting to new operational protocols. This is most important for the Showers of Blessings Ministry when providing support to other organizations.

“In times like these, people seek hope and what better way to show it then by serving in different ways through Christ’s name. We are reminded that the smallest action of caring and helping others conveys compassion as Christ would have done,” said Pr. Luis Biazotto, ACS Director of the Greater New York Conference.

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.

Numbers 6:24-26
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Food Pantries Local Conference

Pasco Riverview Community Services

The Pasco Riverview Community Services has been serving the Tri-Cities metropolitan area in Washington State for several years. It is located right next to the Riverview Adventist Church. This ACS Center consists of four buildings – a food bank, a small thrift store, a large diaper bank supporting many non-profits and faith-based ministries throughout Tri-Cities, and a storage garage. Their food bank feeds around 1,600 families a month. They continue serving through the COVID-19 pandemic to provide emergency food assistance as demand rises.

On Monday, they received 28 pallets of food. Their food shelves were very bare and they weren’t sure how much food they would get from their single truck load from Second Harvest. However, they ended up receiving three truck loads of non-perishable food items, dog food, and diapers from three different sources. “It was like a fulfillment of the verse in Malachi were it talks about the windows of heaven opening and the blessing being poured out that there is not enough room to receive it,” said Stan Arlt, Co-Director of Pasco Riverview Community Services. Since many of their volunteers are students and older adults, some members of the Washington National Guard have stepped in to help mobilize food distribution in the Pasco community. Read more about it here.

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Disaster Response Local Conference Tornadoes

South Central Conference ACS Disaster Team Responds to Nashville Tornadoes

UPDATE: March 13, 2020

South Central Conference Adventist Community Services Disaster Response volunteers are distributing hygiene kits, bottled water and sack lunches in the community assisting those families impacted by the March 3, 2020 tornadoes that ripped through the Nashville area.

Christine Washington, President of Middle TN ACS Federation, Regina Stevenson, Federation ACS Disaster Response Coordinator and their team members walked the streets performing Mobile Distribution in the affected area. Pastors James Owens and Ronnie Forte provided grief counseling to the survivors.

If you would like to help, the best way is to donate MONEY. You can send your monetary donation to:
South Central Conference
715 Youngs Lane
Nashville, TN 37207

Mark your donation “ACS Disaster Nashville.”

PLEASE NO USED CLOTHES OR USED ITEMS!!!

Report by: Lillie Buckingham & Barbara Barnes, SCC Directors
Photos by: Jonathan Freeman

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Disaster Response Local Conference Tornadoes

ACS Responds to Tornadoes in Ohio

Another Midwest State affected by tornadoes is Ohio. Currently, our Allegheny West ACS DR Coordinator Andrew Mobley is leading out the Recovery Efforts on the ground in Dayton. He has been in contact with the Ohio VOAD and attends the Conference calls daily. He has been asked to be on standby to manage a Warehouse/and or Distribution Site close to the affected area. Andrew continues to assess the situation with his ACS Director Jerome Hurst.

Additionally, Andrew is investigating to determine if our Emotional & Spiritual Care Providers are needed to supplement those affected. ACS has also reached out to the Good Neighbor House through their Executive Director Tom Oujukka, as a possible resource to the community. He has agreed to lend support to our Efforts, and a plan is currently being formulated. The Kettering Medical has also reached out to us, and they are also being incorporated into the plan as we move forward.

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Community Local Conference

Upper Columbia Conference Outreach Activities

STEAM Ahead @ Discovery Junction, an after-school enrichment program providing learning opportunities for kids from a low-income public school, began its fourth year – third full year. It is open to 3rd and 4th graders on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. This year the two days will have different 3rd graders, so 21 children will be attending in a given week. An electrical engineer, employed by Avista electrical company, will be one of the instructors. A former librarian whose specialty happens to be LegoRobotics will also assist with the STEAM Program.

A Ph.D. in Psychology asked Gayle Haeger, one of the organizers of STEAM, to speak to a select group about “Adventists and Ecology” in a local Peace and Unity Center. Only when the leader mentioned to Gayle after the program, “Let’s get together for Postum,” did Gayle suspect she must be a former Adventist member. Later when they met for Postum, she shared with Gayle her Adventist background and journey. During that time she asked if she too could join occasionally with STEAM in bettering the lives of the children.

This summer, STEAM Ahead’s five-week summer program involved LegoRobotics, MicroScope Studies, Crafts, and two children’s Cooking Classes. Over 50 children attended each week, including five Nepalese children. Several children were present for more than one week. In addition, a junior camp at Camp MiVoden was organized where seven children from STEAM attended. The UCC Urban Ministries also for the third year presented a VBS for the Nepalese and Burmese children. Their Urban Ministries Bible worker now conducts 18 Bible studies – including 4 university students.

The Spokane Central Church is offering “Fall Parenting Classes,” by a social worker and a nurse especially for the refugee mothers and others, too. The Better Living Center (BLC) which is a food pantry and community outreach center serving inner-city Spokane, also gives out Bible studies. Around ten people attend their Bible study circle “All Nations Warriors for Christ” each week. Picnics and parties are also planned throughout the year with many more Native Americans attending. The Community Center is now giving free food samples once a week. They are also working on setting up a medical/dental clinic which should be ready by December or January.

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Educational Events Local Conference

STEAM Ahead Summer Camps

STEAM Ahead @ Discovery Junction, a ministry of Upper Columbia Conference ACS, is organizing four Kids camps this summer Monday through Friday from 10 am – 12 noon. The first camp “Lego Robotics” which was held from July 9-12 taught kids robotics and engineering principles to make cool things out of legos through the Lego Mindstorms EV3 software. It was attended by eight children, four of whom were Nepalese. More Nepalese children expressed desire to attend the remaining camps. Gayle Haeger, one of the organizers, invited a newly retired librarian who is a Lego Robotics specialist to present at this camp. This also provided an opportunity for evangelism. The non-SDA librarian every day requested during the worship that Gayle pray for her family member who had taken a serious fall. At the end of the week, she told Gayle what a wonderful experience she had and wished to be a part of the second camp “Microscopy4Kids”, as well. Gayle invited her to assist, and she was delighted to be back.

The second camp took place from July 16-20 where the kids learned about different kinds of microscopes and how they function. They also got to closely look at tiny living organisms, insect wings, animal hair, flower parts, and etc. The third camp, “Mini Maker Mania”, started on July 23rd and will end on the 27th. It involves designing, building, and creating things through hands-on experiments and activities. The final summer camp “Junior Chef” will provide kids instruction in the culinary arts. It will include healthy samples and recipes, use of basic kitchen equipment, kitchen safety and hygiene, and tips on staying healthy and energized. It will be held next week from July 30 – August 3.

In addition to the Kids Camps, STEAM Ahead also organized a Junior camp at Camp MiVoden few weeks ago. Seven of their past two-year STEAM Ahead children from the local low-income public school attended the camp. Currently, the parents of one of the attendees live in a park. Patty Marsh, UCC ACS Director, said, “What a privilege is ours to change the lives of children not only in this world, but for the world to come”. She added, “As you can imagine – outreach ministry whether during the summer or after school enrichment is challenging, but in this complex world I believe we must stretch our methods in the way we touch the lives of others”.

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Disaster Response Emotional & Spiritual Care Local Conference Volcano

ACS Responds to Hawaii Volcano Situation

The Hawaii Conference hosted a ACS Emotional and Spiritual Care session this week in the aftermath of the volcanic eruption that has devastated hundreds of homes and property. Thirty-five pastors and lay members took advantage of the classes that were taught in Oahu by W. Derrick Lea, NAD ACS DR Director. The Hawaii ACS DR Director, William Payne, is also hosting a wonderful series of Disaster Response training that started with Derrick and will continue until the weekend by the Pacific Union ACS Director, Charlene Sargent.

After the sessions, Derrick headed to the Big Island of Hawaii to support Pastor Lopez, our lead on the ground. His Team has been feeding the community at least two days a week and working at two shelters that are housing those whose homes have been overtaken by the lava flow. Currently, Camp Waianae in Oahu has opened its doors to over 30 children who live on the Big Island. This has provided respite and rejuvenation for a group that will be confronting challenges in the long run.

Derrick had an opportunity to speak with some of the children that were flown to Oahu from the Big Island. Each of them was so excited to express how much fun they were having learning new things and taking part in the nightly vespers. “It was thrilling to hear the excitement of the youth and just as encouraging to see the work our young adult Counselors put into making this such a wonderful experience,” said Lea. He added, “While the Camp does provide a respite to the children, as I walked around two of the shelters on the Big Island, I was struck by the reality the children will return to.” Due to limited space, both shelters provide beds closely positioned next to the other. Tents were set up around the parking lot and in the lawn area. This seems to provide some level of privacy, but the daily rain makes this an uncomfortable circumstance.

In addition, there were other challenges that the residents were facing. Breathing in this environment is extremely difficult, even for those without asthma. Many of the occupants and workers talked about having a constant headache for days. Though the Governing authorities suggest the air quality is acceptable, those on site have a differing opinion. The ACS DR Teams continue to work with the local community to ensure a long-term Recovery Plan is being worked on that will meet the needs of the community.

Click here to get a glimpse of the work that ACS was involved in this week.

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Local Conference Pathfinders

UCC Pathfinder Outreach

On May 18-20, the Upper Columbia Conference conducted a large Pathfinder Camporee which involved around 750 kids. The UCC Associate Director of the Pathfinder Club, Richie Brower, who is passionate about community services, planned an outreach project for the Pathfinders attending the camporee. His goal was to have the attendees fill ACS DR flood buckets with $16,000 worth of products and store them for future disasters. We partnered with them in this endeavor by providing 480 buckets. The UCC ACS funded 225 more white buckets which had large ACS/Pathfinder labels stuck on them. The money for the supplies to go inside the buckets were given by donors.

The flood buckets prepared by the Pathfinders will be utilized in response to the recent flooding that took place in Northern Washington this week. Ferry County will take 100 buckets at the Sheriff’s office. Fifteen buckets will go to the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation at Tribal Headquarters in Nespelem. Pend Oreille County will pick up ten buckets here at the office. UCC ACS will also be sharing fifty buckets with Montana Conference, and the remainder with Texas Conference.

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Disaster Response Educational Local Conference

Rocky Mountain Conference ACS DR Simulation

On April 22, Sunday morning, the Rocky Mountain Conference Adventist Community Services held the first Disaster Response Simulation at H.M. Richards Elementary School. The purpose was to give volunteers a hands-on experience needed to respond to a disaster. “The leadership team for Disaster Response felt doing the simulation would allow the volunteers to have an extended training. Before all we did was to give the theory of donations management, now we have given the practical side,” said Cathy Kissner, RMC ACS Director. All the leadership team was involved in the training so that volunteers could meet and interact with each other. “Everyone felt the day was well spent and learned a great deal,” Kissner added. There were 30 individuals trained from three different States. Elder Marshall and Julie Gonzales, Texas Conference ACS/ACSDR Directors, were the guest attendees.