Final Benevolence Giving for 2011

The tables below show the final allocation of the C+C budget for 2011 and the results from the special offerings taken during the year. We were $8 short of our budget because of a clerical in determining the remaining available money in December. However, all of our core missions were maintained in 2011 and additional support was provided for Immigration Support, Save Our Community Hospitals (SOCH), a gay/lesbian support center (PERSAD), and the Camp Crestfield Buiolding Fund. In addition, the special offerings were strong again this year. The Sixth Church share of the Peacemaking offering (25%) , along with a carry-over of $444 from last year, went locally this year to the Open Hands Ministry. A special fund raising dinner, organized by Louise Craft, raised $1354 for the Camp Crestfield Building Fund.

Final Allocation of Locally Directed Mission Funds 2011

	2011 Budget Approved and Paid
	$17,597
East End Cooperative Ministry	$ 2,500
Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank	$ 2,500
Camp Crestfield	$ 2,000
Neighborhood Academy	$ 2,000
Mars Home for Youth	$ 1,000
Goats for Kids	$ 1,000
Wilkinsburg Community Ministry	$ 2,500
Just Harvest	$ 500
EECM Food Pantry	$ 500
Church World Services	$ 400
Pittsburgh Pastoral Institute	$ 100
Meals on Wheels (Sq. Hill)	$ 500
El Porvenir	$ 500
St. Regis RC – Immigration Support	$ 100
Neighborhood Academy Lunch reimbursements	$ 348
Transfer to 6th Peace Fund – Open Hands	$ 444
Muslim Council of America Foundation – (SOCH)	$ 200
PERSAD Center	$ 200
Camp Crestfield Building Fund	$ 305

Special Offerings 2011

Disaster Assistance	$ 960
OGHS	$ 2,922
Peacemaking	$ 455 To PCUSA: $113.75 To Open Hands: $341.25
Christmas Joy	$ 398
Lazarus (5th Sundays), including Christmas Eve	$ 4,578
Camp Crestfield Building Fund Dinner	$ 1,354
S. O. Total	$10,667
CROP Walk	$ 5,007

Nicaragua Trip - 2011

Pictured: Left to Right: Olivia McCann, Alex DeJong, Sara Berg, Jenn Frayer-Griggs,
Dan Cummings, Jacob Watt-Morse. Missing from the picture is Peter Kaplan

As you may have heard, a group of our Senior High Youth will be going to Nicaragua on a mission trip this coming summer. But what exactly is this mission trip about? We hear about “Mission,” and often our first thought is “conversion.” Historically, the actual “mission” has been to convert people to Christianity and in many cases, even to this day, many Christian churches are traveling to far off lands in an effort to turn people to their own denomination because they believe that this is the “only road to salvation.” Well, I don’t think I need to tell you that this view of mission is not our group’s view of mission.

Although we will be performing challenging and at times back-braking labor, our “mission” is to experience personal transformation and growth. We know that we are not going to “save” anyone, and in most cases, we’re not even going to make a big difference in the Nicaraguan people’s lives. However, it is going to transform our own lives. It is going to challenge our views and our status quo. Our “mission” is to learn about poverty, about injustice, about oppression, about world politics and US policy issues. We will meet the Nicaraguan people and live among them and with them, even if for only a short period of time. We are going to attempt to reach an understanding of the challenges they face, but in the end, we will end up coming face to face with our own challenges. We will learn about these people’s strength and perseverance, and in the end, their deep faith! Yes, if anyone’s faith is going to be challenged, it is our very own! Our hope is that through these experiences, we will allow for the grace of God to take place in our lives and for the Kingdome of God to come to our world.

Like in past trips, we will be spending some time with the people of El Porvenir, the coffee cooperative that produces the very tasty organic coffee we sell at our church. These families have developed a great deal of love and gratitude for our church community and the assistance we have provided to them. They have become an important part of our lives as they teach us about the love of God and about humility.

This year our group will be working with CEPAD (the Council of Protestant Churches of Nicaragua). Our very own PC(USA) has delegates in Nicaragua who do their work through CEPAD. They will be accompanying us through our journey and developing their own relationship with the people of El Porvenir. We look forward to developing this relationship further ourselves.

Please pray for us. Pray that we will be open to experience God’s work in each of our hearts, that we will seek to transform our lives and our views of the world and that through this trip, we will continue to pave the paths to the Kingdom of God.

Thank you for your undying support!

The mission trip travelers

Benevolence Giving in 2010

Calendar Year 2010 was another remarkable year of giving by members of Sixth Church. In the Table 1 below you will see that your Church and Community Committee disbursed $17,615 to mission programs this year, including the Session budget amount of $17,505 and $10 donated by Glenda Rosenberry from her aluminum recycling efforts. These mission projects included local cooperative ministries and food banks, Presbyterian concerns, youth oriented support, and international support. But that is not all. Table 2 shows that you, the members and friends of

Table 1: Final Allocation of Locally Directed Mission Funds 2010

	2010 Actual
Budget	$17,605
East End Cooperative Ministry	$ 2,500
Wilkinsburg Community Ministry	$ 2,500
Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank	$ 2,500
Camp Crestfield	$ 2,000
Neighborhood Academy	$ 2,000
Mars Home for Youth	$ 1,000
Goats for Kids	$ 1,000
Just Harvest	$ 500
EECM Food Pantry	$ 500
Church World Services -Pakistan flood	$ 400
Pittsburgh Pastoral Institute	$ 100
Meals on Wheels (Sq. Hill)	$ 500
El Porvenir	$ 500
Neighborhood Academy Lunch reimbursements	$ 310
CROP Walk lunch reimbursements	$ 80
Peacemaking Fund Pakistan English Schools (PEB)	$ 1,225*
TOTAL	$17,615*

*includes extra $10 donation from Aluminum Recycling

Sixth Church have provided another $11,926 in "extra mile" giving to the special Presbyterian-wide offerings offerings this past year. Added to the mission support in Table 1, that comes to $29,541. Although that amount is remarkable in itself, there is more.

Table 2: Special Offerings 2010

ONE GREAT HOUR OF SHARING	$ 2,348
PEACEMAKING	$ 1,266
CHRISTMAS JOY	$ 1,994
LAZARUS	$ 2,752
OTHER (Haiti Disaster Assistance, Christmas Eve,etc.)	$ 3,566
SPECIAL OFFERINGS TOTAL	$11,926

Note: Sixth Church Share of Peacemaking Offering: $280 to Church World Services Pakistan flood relief, $1262 to Presbyterian Education Board for Pakistani English Schools in Sargodha, including $37 from 2010 and $1225 from 2009 carryover to 2010 budget

Table 3 shows other benevolence giving amounts for 2010. First, there is the annual contribution to the greater church mission. Last year we gave $20,067 to the mission efforts of Pittsburgh Presbytery, Synod on the Trinity, and the General Assembly. To get an appreciation of the scope of these mission projects, access the PCUSA website and find the Mission Yearbook link.

Next, there is the support we provide through the annual budget of two organizations that are important to the message of Sixth Church: More Light and Covenant Network. In addition, our Deacons also provide separate benevolence giving. This adds to $23,749 for a total of Sixth Presbyterian Church benevolence giving for 2010 of $53,290.

Table 3: Other Benevolence/Outreach Giving

Presybytery/Synod/GA Mission	$20,067
More Light	$ 500
Covenant Network	$ 500
Deacons	$ 2,682
Total*	$23,749

We would be remiss to not also recognize the record collection of $6593 from the annual East Hills CROP Walk. Our own Sue Koehler has led this event for years. Although this amount cannot be attributed exclusively to Sixth Church, it would not have been so successful without Sue's efforts and the giving of our members.

If we add the CROP Walk amount to the we see that, either directly or indirectly, Sixth Church was responsible for nearly $59,883 of benevolence giving in 2010. This is a remarkable achievement. Yet, it is typical of Sixth Church and reflects our continuing concerns about hunger, education, and social justice issues at home and abroad. Not only do we recognize the needs, but we put our faith into action.

two Nicaragua pieces

I've uploaded two pieces about Nicaragua and wanted to share the links to them with you, (both are PDF files):

The first is a narrative that Sara Berg prepared summarizing the Summer 2010 Sixth mission trip to Nicaragua:

• Nicaragua Narrative

The second is an article Bill Beggs found from Gettysburg College's alumni magazine about their work in Leon and around Nicaragua:

• Nicaragua Article

Enjoy!

Fred

Holocaust Service

On Sunday August 29 we had the privilege of hearing a stirring service presentation called "Who are These Germans". The presenters were Susanne Ortner and Fritz Ottenheimer. Fritz is a Squirrel Hill resident who escaped Germany in 1939 as a boy. Susanne is young Christian German woman who plays Klezmer music on her clarinet and came to the US four years ago on a grant to promote international understanding through her music and Fritz's memories. She has since gone back to and returned from Germany to marry Pittsburgh jazz pianist, Tom Roberts, Tom accompanied her in this service. With Susanne setting the mood with her music, Fritz related several moving anecdotes from his life, including the loss of the family business, her father's imprisonment and later release, their escape to the US, and some war stories. Not all of these memories were negative, however, since at one point some German POWs that he was escorting to a camp probably saved his life with a warning about a trolley wire across the road that could have decapitated him. Susanne related how young Germans knowledge and ultimate shame regarding the Holocaust have changed with her generation.

Nicaragua Travelers Return

After an eventful 10 or 11 days, 8 of us returned safely to Pittsburgh. Sara and Chris were staying over until the 30th to attend an anniversary celebration in Sara's family. Due to a 2 1/2 hour delay leaving Managua on Friday, June 25, we missed our connecting flight from Miami to Chicago. The American Airline agent worked diligently to arrange flight for us back to Pittsburgh. As it worked out, Fred was able to get a flight in the afternoon; Pam, Carol, and I were booked on an evening flight thorough Charlotte, and Cliff, Nora, Al, and Brenda were put up in Miami for the night before returning on Saturday. This was only the last of a series of adventures that we experienced on our trip. I will start the narration and others will take up the tales later.

Even our flight to Managua foretold of the adventures to come. Our flight from Miami to Managua was delayed about 75 minutes before takeoff due to a malfunctioning light. Then, as we were about to land we had to circle for about 15 minutes while a thunderstorm in Managua dissipated a bit. We landed hard in rain and, we thought, hydroplaned down the runway. Sara, Chris and a van were there to meet us. A wonderful dinner, mush appreciated, was waiting for us at the Aloha Hotel, run by Sara's sister, Nora and husband Andrea (Andrew).

I will leave the events of our day in Managua for others to tell and move on to our trip on Thursday to El Porvenir. We left Managua late morning with a pickup truck and a large van and stopped in Leon to have lunch. Then a series of events (some might say miraculous) began to occur. Someone at the restuarant told Chris and Sara that the road they intended to take was washed out by the previous night's thunderstorm and was impassable. An alternative route was suggested, so off we went along this other route, not fully sure of ourselves. At what turned out to be the correct turnoff, we stopped to get additional directions at a small store. A bus pulled in behind us and a man got off and wanderer over to the conversation. When he heard what was being said, he announced that he knew Renne, our El Porvenir contact, and knew how to get to El Porvenir. He, Marvin by name, volunteered to ride with us to direct us to the right place. Off we went again along a dirt road for some time before coming to a turnoff. By now the daily thunderstorm was beginning to roll in. Fearing the storm and the fact that part of the road from hereon was the bed of a river, our van driver, William, and Sara decided to stop there. Chris, along with Al and Fred, went on ahead in the truck to find the tractor and wagon that we hoped was waiting for us somewhere up the road. We had not been able to make any communication with El Porvenir for several days, so were not sure where or when the wagon would be.

Moments after Chris left in the truck, the storm hit and within minutes the river bed was a raging torrent. After a half hour, the rain subsided and suddenly a motorcycle came up the road. The cyclist told us that he had seen Chris and the wagon. The wagon arrived, we piled in and endured a bouncy trip up the mountain, taking about 2 hours to do so. We arrived in El Porvenir at just about dusk, which was good because the tractor had no lights. We set up our cots and mosquito nets, had dinner and settled in for the night in an open air, bur covered by a roof, veranda. Thus, ended our first day in El Porvenir.

Others will tell you about roosters, coffee plant, school, roadwork, a trip to repair to a truck, and trips to the hospital in future postings. Stay tuned, the adventures are just beginning.

Bill

Prayers for Peace In Homewood this Friday April 2nd

The House of Manna's Mission, Justice, and Peace Ministry invites the public, all faith communities, and community and civic leaders to join them this Friday, April 2nd (Good Friday), in spiritual solidarity praying for peace and non-violence in the community of Homewood-Brushton . Rev. Eugene Blackwell and Rev. Sheldon Sorge, the new Pastor to Pittsburgh Presbytery, will lead prayers for peace in the East End neighborhood. At 9:00 AM, the group will gather for fellowship at the Homewood Coliseum located at 7310 Frankstown Avenue, and line up along Frankstown and Homewood Avenues to pray at 10:15 AM. For more information, visit www.houseofmanna.org .