We are grateful for the financial gifts made to the mission budget. The Mission Distribution team meets 10 times a year to make decisions about how to share these resources. Some costs are fixed. For instance, we support our missionaries each month and buy bus tickets each month.

Then each year the team picks two areas on which to focus gifts, giving between $10,000 – $14,000 to those areas. This year the focus areas are housing and healthcare.  In the area of housing, we made gifts of $2500 to:

• The Center of Hope which works with people to keep them in their homes by helping with bills. We have partnered with them for many years.
• Mennonite Housing which provides housing for people who are low-income, seniors, and those with special needs; does home repairs; offers financial education for future home buyers.
• Hilltop Urban Church – This is a church Kirk Anderson is connected to through a ministry group with their pastors. This church is in the Hilltop neighborhood and helps with home repairs and rent assistance.
• Family Promise of Wichita – This organization houses families in churches as they seek to get back to permanent housing.

The team is currently studying and discerning ways to support healthcare needs.

Many of you continue to use your Dillon’s Reward Cards with Grace as the beneficiary.  The money Grace gets from Dillons goes to the team and is shared equally between Partners for Wichita and Giving the Basics.  In 2021 the total we received from Dillons was over $1500.

If you have questions about any of this, contact Pastor Catherine Neelly Burton or committee chair Shelley Duncan.

As an outgrowth of our Refugee Team, Janet Rhoads and Texie Randle have been teaching Citizenship classes through the Wichita IRC (International Rescue Committee).  Recently, four students successfully passed the Interview Test given by USCIS Officers (United States Citizenship Immigration Services), and their Oath Ceremony is scheduled for February 25.

Requirements to become a US Citizen are: permanent residency in the US for five years and successfully passing the Interview Test which includes knowledge of the US Government, and a reading, writing and speaking section. Janet and Texie really enjoyed teaching these students and plan to teach another class in the spring.

If you want to learn more about the Grace Refugee Team contact Wizie Eads, wizie1164@gmail.com

Longtime Grace member Lois Fisher died in 2020 and left a financial gift to the church. The gift was to be used by the church Mission Distribution Team, a team Lois was part of for many years. The gift was $84,000, and the team spent time all winter and spring discerning how to share half of it.

After considering Lois’ life and passions, the team gave the money to organizations and missions that matched where Lois’ heart was. They are listed below, and we give thanks for the opportunity to be generous in Lois’ memory.  This summer the team will consider the best way to share the remaining $44,000.

Medical ($10,500)

• WSU Nursing Scholarships – $5,000
• KU Med Sweet Foundation – emergency fund for HIV/AIDS patients – $3,000
• Victory in the Valley – $2,000
• Positive Directions – $500

Children ($9,500)

• Wichita Children’s Theater – $1,000
• Music Theater for Young People -$1,000
• Child Start Reading is Fundamental – $2,000
• Wichita Children’s Home – $1,000
• WSU Children’s Literacy Camp – $1,500
• Sedgwick County Child Advocacy Center – $3,000

Mental Health ($8,000)

• Breakthrough Club – $2,000
• NAMI – $2,000
• Kidzcope – $2,000
• Suspenders for Hope – $2,000

Music ($4,000)

• Laughing Feet Wichita – $1,000
• Music Theater Wichita – $1,000
• Wichita Symphony – $1,000
• Wichita Community Theater – $1,000

Missionaries ($8,000)

• Hurd Family – $4,000
• Katie Rhoads – $4,000

The Grace Mission Distribution Team has met monthly via Zoom since March.  Thanks to your generosity, our church supports many people and organizations.  Our focus areas for 2020 are Homelessness and Mental Health, but we also prioritized local organizations that were seeing elevated need because of the pandemic. Feel free to contact Catherine Neelly Burton catherine@mygpc.org or team chair Shelley Duncan with questions.

January – June 2020 MISSION FINANCIAL REPORT

Undesignated Mission Spending

Cheri Ochs Wheeler, from Marion Presbyterian Church, and myself just returned from a week- long visit to Cuba.  The purpose of our trip was two-fold.  We visited the Reformed Presbyterian church in Placetas to further explore the possibility of forming a mission partnership with our churches. The second part of our visit,  we attended a meeting with the El Centro Presbytery, Baltimore Presbytery and Central Florida Presbytery.   It was an annual business meeting reviewing the partnerships the two United States presbyteries have with the El Centro Presbytery.

We had the opportunity to meet many people in the church at Placetas.  We stayed in the home of a woman named Xiomara, who was an elder in the church and also served as Vice Moderator of the Presbytery.  She is 79-years-old and was a key person in keeping this church open through the difficult times of the Revolution and Special Period in Cuba.  Another older woman from the church, Tu Tu, came each morning to make breakfast for us and then served as our guide traveling to and from the church. Tu Tu also took us around the town and helped us secure some internet cards that gave us two hours of access to internet while we were in Cuba. In Placetas the only place to access the internet was the city square.

After church on Sunday we went to a restaurant for lunch with the Pastor, Marielys, and her daughter.   Following lunch, Tu Tu took us on a walk around town visiting several church members in their homes.  It was nice to meet people in their homes. Interestingly, Tu Tu spoke no English.  Many of those we visited did not speak any English either. Still, we were able to have meaningful conversations with our limited Spanish and a translation app on my phone.

During our time in Placetas we met with the Session, which consisted of four women, and the Pastor.  We discussed the programs and ministries of the church. There is something going on in the church seven days a week.

• They have feeding program and a laundry program for elderly and needy.
• They provide medication and first aid materials for the community.

We were fortunate to deliver a lot of medication and bandages due to the generosity of Grace church members.  While we were at the Placetas church we were able to witness many in the community receive some of the items that we delivered.

The church has one mission in a nearby community to get all elderly people to church.  We were supposed to visit the mission on our first day, but mechanical problems on our flight to Cuba caused us to miss one full day of our planned trip.  We were sad to miss the visit to this important ministry of the church. There are many elderly people in Cuba who have no family in the country.  Many fled at the time of the revolution and others continue to leave in order to earn money to support their families.  Many of these elderly have not been able to see their family members since they left Cuba.

We also got to share in an afternoon of singing, dancing, storytelling and games. Saturday afternoon a group of church members of all ages gathered together for fellowship and getting acquainted. We brought a bingo game with chocolates for prizes that was very popular! We worshiped together on Sunday and the pastor included Cheri and I in the service as liturgists.

We had the opportunity to share dinner at one of the Session member’s home.  We also visited a farm, where soup was made and shared with the needy and home bound in the area. We walked most places, but when the distance was too far, we traveled by horse and buggy, which were serving as taxis in the town.

While we stayed in the town of Cabaiguan, we participated in the annual business meeting of the El Centro Presbytery Partners. We stayed in dorm rooms located at the church.

During the day we had meetings discussing topics such as current conditions in Cuba, everyday life of the church, and the accomplishments and challenges in each church in the Presbytery.  The US Presbyteries also shared what was happening within their own Presbyteries.

The budget of the El Centro Presbytery was also shared, and the United States presbyteries in partnership with El Centro discussed their partnership agreements and how they would contribute in the upcoming year.

After long days of meetings, each night after dinner the group would share in social activities, playing games, and telling stories. Cheri and I learned a lot about how the Presbytery to Presbytery partnerships are working in Cuba. We also had a great opportunity to build many relationships with the Cubans and also other Presbyterians from our country.

I look forward to working toward establishing partnerships with the church in Cuba and hope that many others from our area can travel to Cuba and build relationships with the people of Central Cuba and share in their ministries.