Mission Groups
Every Member a Minister - Often on a Mission
In RCPC congregational missions, you dream big, follow your passion, make a contribution. Details below!
RCPC Outreach
Hunger Mission Group
The Hunger Mission Group is a ministry both fully funded and staffed by the congregation. Each week, congregants put together food bags for the weekend for children at Hurt Park and Lincoln Terrace Elementary Schools. Additionally, other volunteers make food purchases, restock the pantry at the church, and bring in grocery bags. The Hunger Mission Group has also helped start a sustainable food pantry at Woodrow Wilson Middle School in partnership with other local churches.
Haiti
Since 1998, RCPC has financially supported the teachers of the St. Timothee School in Larevoir, Haiti. Located seventy miles south of Port-au-Prince, this school is run by the Episcopal Church of Haiti and funded through the American organization, Haiti Education Foundation. In 2018, a lunch program for the school began, feeding all 250 students and faculty each day. Since then the number of students has doubled. Since 2020, we have paused yearly in person visits and have continued to strengthen relationships and support special projects. Most recently, new safety and security measures were built around the school property to protect students and teachers and promote a better learning environment. Updates from our 2017 trip.
Sudanese Mission Group
Beginning with the Lost Boys of South Sudan, Roanoke has been a home for refugee families from this community. Supported in part by the benevolence funds in the annual budget, RCPC's Sudanese Support Team helps Roanoke's local Sudanese community with educational needs, medical issues, and day-to-day living while attempting to help their South Sudan homeland. Additionally, needs are often met by individuals from our congregation with gifts of furniture, household items, diapers, clothes, shoes, and other tangible gifts and services as needed. As the relationships and needs develop in the community, the team has been able to shift focus to educational needs through ESL and tutoring. Extending love and grace to our Sudanese brothers and sisters gets the Word out not only in Roanoke but across the ocean, where family members often remain behind.
Mission Group Partnerships
Care Portal
CarePortal connects RCPC to the vetted needs of vulnerable children and families throughout Roanoke. This is a way that we can help with the foster care crisis in our community. By simply providing material items such as beds, baby items, cleaning supplies, and clothes to support children that need it most we are able to preserve family units and keep children out of foster care. Local requesting agencies in our area for CarePortal are Roanoke City DSS, Roanoke County DSS, Wasena Elementary School, Blue Ridge Women's Center, Intercept Health, and Health Connect America. We can also use CarePortal as a way to connect the needs of our own church ministries, such as House of Bread and the Sudanese Mission Group.
House of Bread
House of Bread is a ministry of support for women coming out of incarceration to find positive mentors and receive ServSafe training to help them with job placement. Using the avenue of bread baking, the students work with a mentor to learn a skill as well as build relationships.
Roanoke Area Ministries (RAM House)
Each month members of RCPC visit the Roanoke Area Ministries (824 Campbell Ave, SW) to serve lunch to those experiencing homelessness. Volunteers help prepare food in the kitchen, fill containers with food, and serve those who visit for lunch that day.
Family Promise
Family Promise is a cooperative of over 30 area churches and 1,000+ volunteers who house families experiencing homelessness and working with them to obtain employment and permanent housing. The program allows parents and children to stay together in ways that are not possible in traditional shelters, with up to 4 families staying at a time in the home. RCPC partners with Christ Lutheran Church to host these families once a quarter. Volunteers sign-up to provide dinner or to stay overnight as a host. The families are housed at The Alexa House across the street from Second Presbyterian Church. Hospitality, a large support system of volunteers, and new life skills enable over 88% of our families to move to and maintain permanent housing.
Habitat for Humanity
Each Spring we support two volunteer workdays on local builds in the Roanoke Valley. Every other year we support financially and with volunteers on the Habitat for Humanity Apostle Build which is fully funded and worked upon by local faith communities.
Pump-A-Pint Blood Drive
Three times a year, congregants are encouraged to participate in a blood drive through the American Red Cross held in the church Fellowship Hall. These blood drives are open to all members of the community.
Presbyterian Community Center
PCC addresses homelessness and poverty of underserved families in southeast Roanoke by providing emergency financial aid, food access, after-school education, and spiritual development through direct services and community partnerships. RCPC sponsors a Lenten Almsgiving collection where the congregation brings items needed for the food pantry each week. Volunteers are needed for front desk help, food pantry organization and delivery, and Pathways for Youth tutors.
The Rescue Mission
The Rescue Mission seeks to "help hurting people in Jesus' name" in many ways. Most of us know about their overnight shelter but the Mission helps those experiencing homelessness in a wide variety of ways. This includes providing breakfast and dinner every day. There's also the Manna Food Pantry with weekly grocery box distribution program seeking to help struggling families in the valley.
