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Mission Committee
The Mission Committee coordinates the involvement of church members in
local, national and global mission activities, with the goal of providing
ways for every member to serve God by serving others.
The church contributes both money and volunteers. The Kirk is involved
in the following opportunities:
Refugee Resettlement
Over the years the Kirk has sponsored refugee families from Poland, Rumania,
Ethiopia and Bosnia. The church provides temporary financial support to
families on their arrival, as well as assistance with immigration paperwork,
job and housing searches, child care, driver’s licenses, school enrollment,
medical needs, language skills, and many other aspects of settling into
life in a new country and community.
Many cherished friendships have developed between Kirk members and refugees.
Volunteers can help by hosting new families in their homes while permanent
housing is sought, providing transportation, donating cars and household
goods, and helping with any of the other needs listed above.
Wake Interfaith Hospitality Network
Four weeks of the year, the Kirk hosts homeless families through WIHN.
The families arrive every evening around 6:00, eat supper, rest, play
or do homework, and spend the night in Sunday school rooms that have been
turned into temporary bedrooms. They rise early for breakfast and leave
at 7:00 for jobs, school, or the WIHN day center in Raleigh.
Kirk families help out in ways that include moving cots and supplies,
driving the van for guests, providing meals and snacks, playing with the
children, and staying overnight as hosts. The Kirk also provides financial
support to the program.
Kirk Outreach Afterschool Learning Academy (KOALA)
This neighborhood ministry offers one-on-one tutoring for children in
grades K-2 who live in the Wrenn Drive area and attend Briarcliff Elementary
School. KOALA operates on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.
Kirk members make the program possible by volunteering as tutors, substitute
tutors, and van drivers.
The Carying Place
The Carying Place (919-462-1800) provides a transitional housing program
that helps working, homeless families with children attain permanent,
self-sustaining housing.
The Carying Place leases apartments in Cary where the families live for
the four months they participate in the program. A team of volunteers
works with the families every week to help them learn skills including
budgeting, goal setting and attainment, time management, job improvement,
self-confidence/esteem, and improving their credit situation.
More than 40 Kirk members volunteer with The Carying Place. The Kirk
also provides financial support and hosts the weekly Tuesday evening sessions
of the program.
Habitat for Humanity
The Kirk provides a group of volunteers one Saturday of every month to
work on homes being built by Habitat for Humanity of Wake County. The
group averages six volunteers, ages 15+, who donate a minimum of four
hours each time. The Kirk also provides financial support to the Wake
Habitat chapter.
Meals on Wheels
Working in pairs, volunteers from the Kirk deliver the six Cary Meals
on Wheels routes on the second and fourth Wednesday of every month. The
Presbyterian Women coordinate this effort, but men and children are more
than welcome to participate!
Urban Ministries of Raleigh
This agency assists Wake County residents who need food, shelter, medical
care, or other basic necessities. The Kirk supports Urban Ministries with
budgeted funds and volunteers for its programs.
The Helen Wright Center for Women (formerly the Ark Shelter) at
401 W. Cabarrus Street (833-1748) provides short-term housing and support
services for 40 women. On the second Monday night of every month, Kirk
members serve dinner to the residents and staff the front desk.
The Crisis Intervention Program (919-834-4707) provides direct
financial assistance with past-due rent and utility bills, free medications,
CST bus passes, food, and referrals to area human service agencies.
Support is limited to once a year per household.
The Open Door Clinic (919-832-0820) provides health care through
a walk-in clinic on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and an appointment-only
clinic for chronic disease patients on Wednesday evenings. This program
provides opportunities for financial and volunteer support.
Christian Community in Action
This nonprofit ministry serves residents of Cary. Its programs provide
emergency housing, medical and food needs, literacy skills courses, job
development and counseling, and life skills training and guidance.
The Dorcas Shop at 1231 NE Maynard Road (919-469-1351) accepts
donations of clothes and household items, then sells them at very low
prices or donates items that cannot be sold to the Raleigh Rescue Mission.
Proceeds fund the other services of CCA. Kirk members regularly volunteer
at the Dorcas Shop.
The Social Concerns Office (919-469-9861), housed in the Dorcas
Shop, coordinates CCA activities. Clients are interviewed to determine
need and may receive assistance with food, clothing, housing or other
needs.
Family Ties
The Family Ties program allows Kirk members to contribute to the Christmas
experience of others with gifts for families with children, elderly adults,
migrant children, and the WIHN program.
Work Camps
These projects allow the young people of the church to work on a project
to benefit others.
The best-known of these missions is Appalachia Service Project. Every
year the Kirk sends several crews of youth, adults, and tools to help
repair and build homes for low-income families.The Mission Committee budgets
funds to assist with work camp expenses.
Summer in the City
Middle-school youth from Raleigh-area churches, including the Kirk, take
part in this annual four-day adventure combining a Scripture based program
with service to the community.
They spend time at the North Carolina Food Bank, Tammy Lynn Center, Interact,
Wake Interfaith Hospitality Network, the Boys and Girls Club and other
local service agencies.
Gleaning
This is a fall youth project. The youth help to harvest remaining produce
from fields to share with others in the community.
Crop Walk
This annual community walkathon supports the ministry of Church World
Service, especially grass-roots, hunger-fighting development efforts in
more than 80 countries. A great number of volunteers from the Kirk participate
every October through walking or sponsoring walkers.
Monthly Food Offering
This offering of non-perishable foods is collected by the ushers on the
first Sunday of the month. The Presbyterian Women deliver the food to the
Social Concerns Office of Christian Community in Action in Cary, the Western
Wake Crisis Ministry in Apex, and the Raleigh Rescue Mission.
Pennies for Hunger
This year-round offering is collected the first Sunday of the month.
Increasing the awareness of world and domestic hunger by encouraging the
contribution of two cents per meal, this program provides funding for
local and international hunger needs.
Food Bank
Through the Summer in the City program, Kirk youth volunteer every year
at the Food Bank of North Carolina. The Kirk also supports this service
with mission funds.
Blood Donation
Three times a year, Kirk members are recruited to give blood at the American
Red Cross Blood Center in Cary. Many of them become regular donors and
don’t wait for the “Kirk days” to give.
Camperships
The Kirk pays the way for children who could not otherwise afford to
attend a Presbyterian camp.
Presbytery of New Hope Missions
The Kirk provides support on a per capita basis for mission activities at
the Synod and General Assembly level as well as at the Presbytery level. These
program areas include Outdoor Ministries (Camp Albemarle), Congregational
Nurture, Outreach Ministries, Evangelism and Church Development, Care for
Church Professionals, Committee on Ministry, Racial-Ethnic Ministries, Women's
Ministries, Council, Administration and management. Many Kirk members
participate in these activities.
Capital Area Presbyterian Council, Inc. (CAPCI)
CAPCI (919-828-0507) is a cooperative ministry of Presbyterian churches
in the Wake County area. This ministry is twofold: to help establish new
churches (and redevelop existing churches) and to provide vital ministries
to our community on behalf of the Presbyterian Church (USA).
The Kirk budgets financial support to CAPCI. In turn, CAPCI provided
start-up funds for the Kirk’s KOALA neighborhood tutoring program.
Other local ministries supported by CAPCI include Capital Towers (middle
income retirement complex), Davie Street Summer Youth Program (summer
enrichment program), Loaves and Fishes (after-school program), Mickey
Efird Bible Study, prison ministries for men and women, Step-Up Ministry,
and Summer in the City.
Madagascar Missions
The Kirk provides financial support and prayers for the ministries of
Dan and Elizabeth Turk, Presbyterian missionaries to Madagascar.
Dan is a forester who is working with the Madagascar church to restore
devastated forests, educate farmers on growing fruit trees, and promote
environmentally sustainable farming methods.
Elizabeth is a nurse who works with the church in health education and
public health projects such as well and sanitation improvements.
Bringing Hope
This non-profit U.S. organization was founded by a Kirk member to support
the work of Hope and Homes for Children, a British agency that provides
homes for children who have lost their families in wars or disasters.
It reunites children with their relatives, places them with foster families,
or creates new families by building small group homes for up to 12 children.
The Kirk gives financial support to Bringing Hope.
Campus Ministries
The Kirk provides budgetary support for Presbyterian Campus Ministries
in Raleigh and Chapel Hill.
Step-Up Ministry of Raleigh
This ministry provides a comprehensive transitional housing and counseling
service to homeless, employed individuals and families in the community.
The Kirk provides financial support to the program, which offers many
volunteer opportunities.
SAFEChild
This program is intended to improve parenting skills for low-income families
in a group interactive setting. This program receives funding from the
Kirk and offers volunteer opportunities to members.
Loaves and Fishes
This holistic program enriches the lives and skills of low-income children
and teenagers who are at risk of failure in school. Staff and volunteers
provide caring, individual relationships during a wide variety of after-school,
evening and summer activities for about 45 students in grades K-12.
Kirk members have volunteered at Loaves and Fishes, and the Kirk provides
financial support as well.
Alliance of AIDS Services – Carolina
The Kirk gives financial support to this non-profit agency serving people
with HIV/AIDS in Central North Carolina.
Presbyterian Mission Trips
Many congregations, presbyteries and synods provide opportunities for
travel, study and service around the world. Visitors to an area work with
local people to serve local needs, and worship and build relationship
with local congregations.
Over the years, Kirk members have participated in trips to Mexico, Haiti,
Guatemala, and other countries. Financial aid for Kirk mission travelers
is available through the mission committee.
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