Shalom International is building a community of peace among the burgeoning refugee community in Clarkston. Outreach is a Saturday children’s program for 50 – 60 children. NDPC provides volunteers to transport the children from Clarkston to the program and back, and to assist the program coordinator with activities during the Saturday sessions. The Inspire afterschool program needs tutors and other volunteers weekdays from 4-6p.m. Contact Dee Raeside to learn more about how you can be a part of this partnership.

“I used to say, ‘but for the grace of God go I,’ but now realize that phrase serves to separate rather than unify me with cultures that are different than mine. After knowing these kids, I can embrace our differences as God’s gift to me.”
– Dee Raeside on Shalom Outreach

Our church joins with 21 area congregations to support DEAM, an agency that provides emergency food, financial aid for utilities and prescriptions, clothing and volunteer support to qualifying residents in the area. NDPC collects donations of cereal, a much needed item that DEAM must buy from the Atlanta Food Bank to help stock their food pantry. Leave your cereal donations in the narthex each week when you come to church.

Summertime is often light on donations for DEAM. This year the trend has combined with a rather substantial uptick in the number of clients needing food and the result is some empty shelves in our food pantry. New

• In May we served 131 households and 226 individuals.
• In June we served 171 households and 323 individuals.
• In July we served 191 households and 349 individuals.
• In August we served 247 households and 444 individuals.

Please help us replenish our food selection by donating generously. Our most needed list includes:

• soup of any kind… especially chunky chicken, and chicken noodle
• canned chili (with or w/out beans)
• canned lima beans
• canned black-eyed peas
• 1 lb packages of yellow rice
• canned greens (especially collards, turnip greens and mixed greens)
• canned yams
• small boxes of corn muffin mix
• deodorant
• bar soap
• toothpaste
• toilet paper

Since we do a client choice method of distribution, we will gratefully accept any non-expired, non-perishable items. Thanks for your continued support! Contact: Anne Hendry [email protected].

Monthly, every 1st & 3rd Thursday night, volunteers from NDPC and Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church meet at the Medlock Laundromat and wash the clothes of homeless women and men for our friends at Mercy Church.

For this calendar year, we will have a rotation of 24 Thursdays (the 1st & 3rd of each month). Join in a rotation for 3 months of lively discussions.

Also – please save your spare quarters to donate to this ministry!

Mercy Community Church laundry/clothes closet needs list:  Every 1st and 3rd Wednesday, a group of volunteers meet at the Medlock Coin Laundry to wash clothes, study scripture, and pray with each other. Doug Clark, a volunteer says, “Homeless folks have dirty clothes too. It always makes me especially sad when there are children’s clothes in the load. We always think of the homeless as down and out adults. Often, there are children caught up in this madness. Special volunteers pick up the clothes at Druid Hills Presbyterian and deliver them to the Medlock Coin Laundry. A group from NDPC meets twice a month at Medlock Laundry to wash and fold clothes for our homeless friends. The NDPC group that helps are from all walks of life (some even have jobs). Besides doing clothes, there is great fellowship and before folding, there is always a thought-provoking devotional and we always end with a prayer. Have Mercy!”
 
Those experiencing homelessness that we serve always have needs, especially this time of the year as temperatures drop. Please make a donation. Check out Mercy Community Church’s wish list on Amazon for these members of their community and upon checkout, please select “Mercy Community Church Gift Registry” when prompted to “Choose shipping address.” Contact: Dee Raeside, [email protected].

Hagar’s House is a shelter for women and children. The shelter currently has 25 residents including 13 children under the age of 8.  NDPC provides dinner for the residents four weeks per year, Monday – Friday. On the weeks we serve, we need 2-3 cooks and servers as well as hosts for each night of the week.

If you can offer to cook and deliver part of a dinner to the shelter or serve dinner at the shelter and clean dishes after, please contact Jason Schoeneberg.

Volunteer for a wide range of activities for homeless and low-income families.

El Refugio

El Refugio serves the families of detainees at the Stewart Detention Center, the Southeast center for immigrant detainees. The program provides the families with accommodations, food, and transportation to the center. This ministry also provides for some of the detainees’ needs while they are in the deportation process.

El Refugio Website