Winnebago Presbytery supports a number of local partnerships between our congregations and local agencies and programs.

One answer to the question, “Where do our dollars go?” is:

The Emergency Shelter of  the Fox Valley

The mission of the Emergency Shelter of the Fox Valley, Inc., is to provide temporary shelter to homeless individuals and families in a safe environment, while providing guidance to those both homeless and at-risk that promotes independence.

The Emergency Shelter of the Fox Valley was established in 1981 as a non-profit organization to provide homeless men, women, and children safe shelter. Our current facility currently can house adult men, adult women and families not to exceed 75 total residents.

The Emergency Shelter of the Fox Valley serves any homeless individuals regardless of their city, county or state of origin providing they adhere to our admission criteria. All residents fall below the federal poverty guidelines for income.

The Emergency Shelter of the Fox Valley celebrates its 30th Anniversary this year. We invite all interested community members to attend our Annual Report to the Community meeting on Tuesday, March 23, 2010. More details and registration information are available at under “Upcoming Events” on our website: www.emergencyshelterfoxvalley.org. You may also contact Jill Mitchler, the Emergency Shelter’s Fund Development and Volunteer Coordinator, at 734-9603 or jillmitchler@esfv.org. “It is in the shelter of each other that people live.” Irish proverb.

During the Presbytery meeting  at DePere First United on February 13th, their Family Ministries Program is holding a Family Adventure Day in which they will be assembling hygiene kits.

Please consider bringing supplies to the Presbytery meeting so that even more kits can be assembled.

Collect items locally and bring them to the February 13th Presbytery Meeting in DePere.  Let’s see how much we can gather.

ACCEPTING ONLY THESE ITEMS:

·        Hand towels (approximately 16″ x 28″)
·        Washcloths
·        Wide-tooth combs
·        Nail clippers (NO files or emery boards)
·        Bath size bars of soap (in wrapper)
·        Toothbrushes (in original packaging)
·        Band Aid strips or other adhesive strips
·        Monetary donations are always welcome

When the earthquake struck Haiti, a 40-foot container was immediately prepared with hygiene and baby kits and sent to the Dominican Republic for transport into Haiti.  Kits have already been distributed.

When very large quantities of kits are sent, few to no kits are available for the next disaster. We understand that the shipment to Haiti completely depleted both warehouses of hygiene kits and baby kits. Therefore, the kits that are being prepared now will allow kits to be available for immediate shipment to other disasters and/or available for additional shipments to Haiti.

A recent report from Church World Service indicates delivery of the following number of kits for response to the Haiti earthquake:

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance is working to respond to the aftermath of the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12. Join with Presbyterians in prayer for the survivors and give to the relief effort now.

Give to the special fund by clicking here

Happy New Year!

We look forward to working with you in 2010