Hands On Missions

First Presbyterian Church of Naples has been an integral part of the community since we began in 1952. We support several local agencies with monetary donations, hands on work and spiritual support.

Meals of Hope Packing Party

Saturday, March 9

Did you know there are people going hungry right here in Collier County? Did you also know the Missions Committee is sponsoring a fun, rewarding, easy, interactive way to help fight hunger locally?

Invite your neighbors, friends, family, co-workers and fellow church members to join together on the morning of Saturday, March 9. We will measure, weigh, seal and label nutritional meals for those in need. The ideal packing event involves 100 enthusiastic, caring volunteers, and we encourage you to be one of them.

Registration begins at 8:45 a.m. and the fun continues until late morning. This is an event for anyone from ages 10 to 100. Many of the jobs can be done from a sitting position. For information or to sign up please visit the Missions table in Spencer Hall following church services during the month of February. Questions? Contact Sarah Miller.

Meals of Hope is a 501(c)(3) organization that hosts packing events in southwest Florida. They are highly organized and provide all the ingredients, measuring devices, scales, plastic bags, sealers, boxes, pallets, and even some muscle to help us put everything together.

This packing event is funded by generous donations from those who worshipped together at First Presbyterian Church on Christmas Eve.

Mission Work Days

Throughout the year visit our mission partners for hands on work. Some of our hands on mission work includes:

• Habitat for Humanity to paint, clean and perform other work as needed. These work days are typically held on the second Thursday of each month from November through May.
• Mision Peniel in Immokalee to sort clothes, distribute food and organize the food pantry
• Grace Place to visit with the children and read, play games or help with the food pantry
• Meals of Hope packing party held yearly to help feed the hungry in Collier County

Power Pak Program

Our Power Pak program provides meals/snacks for Big Cypress Elementary School students who would not otherwise have enough to eat over the weekend. During the week, these children have breakfast and lunch provided by the schools, but on weekends, some families do not have enough money to properly feed their children.

We, along with Moorings Presbyterian Church, provide Power Paks of food on alternate months. The Power Paks are given to the school and the teachers put the bags discreetly into the children's backpacks on Friday afternoons.  To support this ministry, we adopted a Care Bear. The Care Bear resides on the cookie/punch table in Spencer Hall ready to receive your dollars and cents to be used to purchase food. On the months that we provide the Power Paks, members of the Missions Committee will food shop for supplies, deliver it to Spencer Hall, separate it and, sometimes with the help of the congregation, fill roughly 25 Power Paks. Contributions to the Power Pak program may also be made online.  Please select Mission-Power Pak Fund. Thank you for your generosity.

Feed the 5,000

On the first Sunday of each month, following the service, we hand out a list of items requested for food pantries of agencies we support. Helps Outreach, St. Matthew's House, Shelter for Abused Women and Children, Salvation Army, Grace Place and Youth Haven are the agencies that we have partnered with.

Items most often requested are:

• Baby food or formula
• canned or dried beans
• canned fruit
• canned tuna, chicken or meat
• canned milk
• canned vegetables
• pasta or rice
• pasta sauce
• macaroni and cheese
• fruit juice
• cereal or oatmeal
• peanut butter
• jam or jelly

Food may be dropped off at church on the second Sunday of the month or the church office Monday through Friday. No time to shop? You can donate monetary gifts by sending a check or give online. Checks should be payable to First Presbyterian Church with the memo marked "Feed the 5000."