Community outreach is important to the Kalamazoo First Presbyterian Congregation. We have more than a dozen active programs and invite you to join us.
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Open Doors
The support received from First Presbyterian Church of Kalamazoo each year helps many wonderful people rebuild their lives. We are thrilled at the opportunity to help these men and women find employment, overcome addition and save money to help fund their own future housing. We have homes available in our Residence Community for working people while they get back on their feet. Combining affordable housing with personal…
Rickman House Bingo
Several volunteers from the First Presbyterian Church have organized a BINGO Event that is held on the third Saturday of each month at Rickman House, an assisted-living community for persons with mental illness. Prizes, such as personal care items, food, and laundry detergent, are collected from our donors or purchased with Outreach Committee funds and are distributed to participants throughout the evening. Attendance at the monthly BINGO events average…
Vine Neighborhood Project
Several area churches partner and collaborate with the Vine Neighborhood Association (VNA). FPC works diligently to bring church and neighborhood partners together. The project’s primary goal is not merely to assist a low-income family in repairing and painting their home, but also to support on-going resident-led street-revitalization efforts. All partners recruit volunteers, mobilize ladders, and supply key on-site coordination. “Members of our congregation seek to live…
United Campus Ministry at WMU
The United Campus Ministry is a collaborative effort with six other congregations in Kalamazoo to provide service learning and leadership for students of Western Michigan University and Kalamazoo Valley Community College. United Campus Ministry is located in Kanley Chapel on the WMU campus. The Reverend Kathleen Robertson King is director of this program. UCM promotes three essential components to “Service Learning”: Getting…
Mission & Outreach Designated Endowment Fund
The Ford-Neff Fund was established as a named fund within the “Mission and Outreach” special fund area to support current local and global mission outreach, provide financial assistance to minority students in Presbyterian Theological Seminaries, and to provide seed money for new mission projects. In 2015, the Outreach Committee, with the approval of Session, utilized this fund to provide for the wider…
Downtown Community Literacy Center
The Downtown Community Literacy Center (DCLC) began April 30th, 2014, as a partnership with the Kalamazoo Literacy Council. Active tutors from our church family have combined their efforts with several tutors from outside the church community. Currently, we provide tutoring in reading, writing and computer skills. The DCLC’s hours of operation are Wednesday, 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. and Thursday, 10 a.m. until…
Ghana Partnership
Our congregation’s outreach to the West African nation of Ghana began in 1991, in response to an invitation from Frank Abror, a Ghanaian master’s degree student at WMU from 1989-1991. He was a graduate student in the Rehabilitation of the Blind program at WMU that would prepare him to assist adults in Ghana, who experience major vision loss, as he, himself, had…
Special Offerings
SPECIAL OFFERINGS Every year we have four Special Offerings sponsored by the Presbyterian Church USA. These Special Offerings are a way for all Presbyterians to come together to change lives locally and around the world. Though our offerings may seem small, they are like the mustard seed, which, tiny as it is, holds the promise of an incredible tree. Our gifts hold…