P R E S S R E L E A S E
For Immediate Release
This week people from all over the world will gather in New Wilmington to make a difference. Sleepy New Wilmington is home to the New Wilmington Mission Conference, a 102 year traditional gathering of Presbyterians who care about missions. The week-long event is marked by speakers and singing, prayer meetings, and small groups, all intent on learning about what in the world the Church is doing in mission.
While there, the youth will do some mission service themselves.
Junior and senior highs will visit the local nursing homes, playing bingo, talking and making friendships with older adults three and four generations older – usually five and six times their age. They will make a small gift for each person they visit as a way to “break the ice” and as a reminder of the visit.
Elementary children will make handmade crafts for mission workers in Ethiopia and Taiwan. In addition, they will make health care kits for a rural hospital in Mombin Crochu, Haiti. A simple zip lock plastic bag will hold basic items for hygiene – a washcloth, soap, tooth brush and tooth paste, three Band Aids and safety pins, a pen and small notebook. Paul and Joan McClain, who worked at the Covenant Hospital say even these simple items are more than most Haitians can afford. The children will assemble about 125 kits, which will be shipped to Haiti, courtesy of the Sixth Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh.
They will even have a car wash to raise money for a specific mission project.
But the main service project this year is to gather and assemble the items needed to make 700 AIDS Care Kits, promoted through World Vision, an international Christian relief organization.
40 million people worldwide are living with HIV. Local caregivers in Africa, Asia, and Latin America are already helping families affected by HIV and AIDS. But they lack simple items needed to prolong lives and comfort the sick. Caregivers are family members and local volunteers around the world who are providing compassionate support to people living with AIDS. Hardworking community volunteers offer physical and emotional support to affected households, while family members—many of them children—sacrifice everything to care for sick mothers, fathers, and other relatives. Many of these courageous caregivers lack the basic supplies they need to safely and effectively minister to the sick.
Caregiver Kits are filled with basic supplies that improve and prolong the lives of those living with AIDS while protecting caregivers and preventing the spread of infection. Each kit consists of a carrying case filled with: Antibacterial soap, Petroleum jelly, Antifungal cream, Cotton balls, Latex gloves, Washcloths, Notebook and pens, Flashlight with batteries. A handwritten note is included in each kit to encourage the caregiver who receives the supplies.
First Lady Laura Bush was recently on ABC Good Morning America promoting the World Vision AIDS Care Kits. See the video at http://worldvision.org/ or
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=3321172&lid=gma&lpos=day:txt:first_lady
On Friday, the kits will be boxed and loaded into a semi-truck, where they will begin their long journey across the country, and across the world, carrying hope, love and care, in the form of soap and medicine, to a world which needs them all.
It’s been said that “God is in the details.” The truth is, you can see God’s loving hand in each of the estimated 17,000 items that we will assemble this week.
· 20 items for AIDS kits per kit, times 700 kits, equals 14,000 items.
· 14 items for Haiti health care kits, times 125 kits, equals 1,750 items.
· 9 items for Nursing Home gifts, times 125 elderly, equals 1,125 items.
· 10 items for New Baby kits, times 50 kits, equals 500 items.
· Handmade gifts for mission workers in Ethiopia and in Taiwan, approx. 500 items.
For more information please contact the New Wilmington Mission Conference office at (724) 946-7195.
Submitted by Rev. Barbara Price-Martin,
Service Project Staff
New Wilmington Mission Conference
229 S. Market Street
New Wilmington, PA 16142
724.946.7195
