Annual Report 2023-2024-DIGITAL - Flipbook - Page 24
BOARD OF BENEVOLENCES
Chair: Maggie Tillman
Vice Chair: Randy Breese
Secretary: Jeanne Lyle
Staff Liaison: Peter Strobel
Mission from Bylaws:
It shall be the duty of this board to: supervise, promote and
interpret the benevolence activities of this Church; promote
representation of Church members in decision-making bodies
of the denominational and ecumenical agencies to which funds
are given; and advise the Board of Trustees in the most effective
use of benevolence resources by presenting a budget at the time
designated by the Board of Trustees.
Major Events/Achievements in 2023-2024:
Through the Plymouth congregation’s generous donations and
matching donations from the Marlon Laverman Benevolence
Fund, Plymouth was able to provide over $80,000 to organizations
in our community who are helping those most in need. In
addition to our own Food Buddies and Shelter Meals, which are
the recipients of the Thanksgiving Special Offering, this year
the recipients of the Christmas and Easter Special Offerings
included Building Better Futures, Urban Bicycle Food Ministry,
Boys & Girls Club of Central Iowa, IMPACT Community
Action Partnership, Let’s Talk Now, Des Moines Public Schools
4+ Program, Project Iowa’s Youth Works, and The Beacon’s
Transportation Assistance Fund. We were also able to contribute
to the Pastor’s Discretionary Fund, which is used to provide
emergency funds to neighbors for covering costs such as rent
assistance, utility bills, medicals bills and bus/travel expenses.
During the 2023 calendar year, the Pastor’s Discretionary Fund
provided nearly $11,000 to 69 of our neighbors in need.
Food Buddies is finishing its sixth year of partnering with Hubbell
Elementary School to provide students who have food insecurities
with weekend back pack meals, including double bags with
larger, family sized items during the longer Christmas and Spring
breaks. This program is now providing backpacks to 50 students,
which is up from 44 last year and 30 when first started. For the
second year, they are also providing snack foods to 20 classrooms
to help alleviate hunger so that students are able to focus on
learning. This is made possible through the generous donations of
Plymouth members to the Thanksgiving Special Offering, a grant
from the Frisbie Club and ongoing Sunday food donations.
With the help of a group of Plymouth volunteers, a weekly rotation
was created to help fill the little free Food Pantry with food and
paper product donations. Due to the high numbers of those
experiencing food insecurity in our community, daily filling of the
pantry has been a necessity. They also partnered with the Board
of Christian Social Action and the Board of Children, Teens and
Families for the MLK day of service, to help fill the pantry with
donations from congregation members. For greater accessibility,
volunteers took time to help organize the storage room where the
Food Pantry and Food Buddies donations were kept.
The Shelter Meals program continues to benefit from the online
sign up for our two monthly volunteer days. This year a Shelter
Meals group was created in Church Center to communicate with
individuals about news and special requests. This group is open to
everyone and they would love to have more children, teens and
families volunteer!
The yearly nut sale was a great success once again, selling over
1,000 bags of nuts and raising over $5,000 in profit for our
Scholarship fund. This money will go to support the Marie Green
Scholarship (two high school students going into college), the
Plymouth Scholarship Fund (three college students continuing
their education in a service field), and the Plymouth Nursery
School for need-based scholarships. In 2024, there were eight
applicants for the Marie Green Scholarships and three applicants
for the continuing education scholarships. Recipients will be
determined by the Scholarship Committee.
These programs are a wonderful outreach to help our neighbors
in need and with the congregation’s help, we will be able to
continue them. The Board of Benevolences would like to thank
the Plymouth congregation for their continued generosity of both
time and donations.
Board Members:
2023-2024
2023-2025
2023-2026
Karen Barnhizer
Tom Drake
Randy Breese
Jeanne Lyle
Janie Wine
Melinda Collins
Robin Maharry
Maggie Tillman
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