For the past 20 years we have sponsored a two-day Alternative Gift Market prior to the Christmas holidays, where shoppers from the community can forego the commercialism of the season to purchase gifts from a shopping list for the world. Over 30 global and local charities are represented, and the donations made in honor of those on your gift list provide things such as medical supplies, seed and farm animals, tree seedlings, bibles and shelter for our global neighbors. We also sell Third World crafts with the proceeds going to the artisans, and refreshments for the benefit of local mission programs. It is a wonderful weekend of fellowship and mission as we welcome our neighbors into our church.
Traditionally, a 20-25 person mission team made up of members and friends of New Hope, travels to Piedras Negras, Mexico every Summer to spend a week building a house for a family in need through the well-established program called Constructores Para Cristo. The work is hard and the heat intense, but the rewards are unquestionable. The family helps us build, and we interact with relatives, local children, neighbors and animals, as well as the CPC staff and the other missionary groups. Constructores Para Cristo also operates a pre-school, medical clinic and veterinary clinic in the community, and recently opened a children’s library! Beginning in 2011 we are starting to alternate our years of traveling to Piedras Negras with staying within the United States and serving somewhere closer to our home community.
The third Sunday of each month, the children of New Hope collect coins from the congregation for our Fish for Change project. When the collection jar is full (or gets too heavy to lift!), the proceeds are donated to the Haiti Fund, Inc which supports self development in rural Haiti. The funds specifically go toward the creation of Tilapia fish ponds which provide much needed protein and the potential for small business. Haiti Fund is a small non-profit supported, in part, by the Presbyterian Church (USA) and many Presbyterian congregations.
We have recently established a mission relationship with the Ecuadent Foundation to support their mission trips to Ecuador. They provide quality health care to impoverished children, offering both dental and medical surgeries, procedures and preventive education. They treat children afflicted with various congenital deformities including cleft lips and palates and also distribute food, toys, school supplies, love and compassion.
Our other global work includes financial support to: families on the Hopi Indian Reservation in Arizona; YGro, an educational program in Sri Lanka; the building project of Fellowship of Christian Students (FOCUS) in Sri Lanka; care packages and greeting cards to our military troops overseas; disaster relief efforts of the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance program; four PCUSA special offerings (One Great Hour of Sharing, Pentecost Offering, Peacemaking Offering and Christmas Joy Offering) and PCUSA Unified Mission Support.