Social
The mission of the Social Ministry Committee is to extend Christian compassion and helpfulness to needy persons inside and outside the congregation. In our endeavor to accomplish this goal, the committee remained quite busy throughout the year.
Approximately ten people make up the core of the committee; however, the entire Epiphany congregation carries out the work of social ministry. Let me use this space to promote our Social Ministry here at Epiphany and inform those of you who are new to the congregation what we’re all about, and what we accomplished in the past year. The following lists our projects and involvements and answers the question: “What is Social Ministry?”
HICOR – This stands for Habitat Interfaith Consortium of Rockdale. The consortium is an association of local churches dedicated to supporting the mission of Habitat for Humanity by providing financial and labor support. The annual fundraiser took place in April here at Epiphany. However, the Sock Hop was not well attended and was not the moneymaker it was hoped to be. Most of the pre-construction for the Habitat Community here is Rockdale is complete and construction on the first house will begin in ’09.
Meals on Wheels – This outreach ministry provides Saturday meals to more than 200 shut-ins in Rockdale and Newton Counties. Churches in the community provide funding and the volunteer work force. Epiphany provided drivers for a route on the first and second Saturday of each month.
Soup Kitchen – The Redeemer Lutheran Church in downtown Atlanta provides lunch on a daily basis for the area’s needy. Epiphany sent volunteers to work the soup kitchen on the fourth Tuesday of February, April, July, and October.
Helping Hands – This group of congregation members provides short-term assistance to other church members by supplying meals, handy-person services, etc.
Greeting Cards – These beautiful, hand-made cards are sent to members of the congregation who are ill or are in need of a greeting.
Clothing and Food Drives – Clothing and food items are collected and delivered on an ongoing basis to the Rockdale Emergency Relief. The food drive during the Thanksgiving and Christmas season provided much-needed supplies to this agency.
Elks Aidmore – This home for teenage girls is located here in Rockdale County. This year the congregation purchased hundreds of dollars worth of gift cards from McDonalds, AMF Bowling Center and Carmike Cinema which were given to the girls for Christmas.
Project Adventure – This is a home and school for troubled children in Covington. Several people from the congregation volunteer at the home, and we provided gently used clothing and over two hundred dollars worth of Target and Walmart gift cards for the kids at Christmas time.
Lutheran Services of Georgia – This is an independent, non-profit human services agency. Epiphany members provided Easter outfits for over twenty-five children in the organization’s Foster Children Program. Additionally, the congregation also purchased more than thirty toys and gifts for the children at Christmas time.
Blood Drives – This past year Epiphany held two blood drives — one in January and another in October. Both were conducted through Blood South, and more than 20 members gave blood at each event.
Heifer International – This agency provides animals for 3rd World countries. Epiphany’s children drop their change during the Sunday school hour into Petunia Pig to support this cause. We hope to send enough money to the program in ’09 to purchase several pigs for a third-world family.
Miscellaneous Projects – These include the collection of school supplies and participation in the Baby Bottle Campaign conducted by the Rockdale Pregnancy and Resource Center.
