2016 Presbyterian Women in the Synod of the Northeast Annual Report
Submitted by Maxine G. Hunter, Moderator
The highlights for the Presbyterian Women in the Synod of the Northeast 2016 fit nicely under the four tenets of the Presbyterian Women’s pledge:
TO NURTURE OUR FAITH THROUGH PRAYERS AND BIBLE STUDY:
Worship and prayer from the lightening of the Christ Candle at the beginning of each internal meeting to the closing of each meeting, was the umbrella under which the work at our 2016 Annual Business Meeting and Leadership Training Gathering functioned. An interesting and lively aspect of our worship was the interactive discussion of the scripture. Beyond the meeting members are encouraged to tell their home members to use or at least review the award winning Horizon Bible Studies.
TO SUPPORT THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH WORLDWIDE:
The Young Adult Volunteer (YAV’) program is one of our primary missions. Our YAV grants are available to both women and men from our Synod, and as of this year, the grant is now available to YAV’s assigned in our Synod. A YAV must apply to receive a grant. For easy access the grant process and application form is now posted on our new website, pwsne.org, under Young Adult Volunteer (YAV) Support Grant. This year we spent $3,400 total which was divided among 8 YAV’s. There are 4 from our Synod. They are from the following Presbyteries: Elizabeth, Utica, Western NY and Albany); and 4 stationed in our Synod are from the following Synods: Alaska/Northwest, South Atlantic, Southwest and Living Waters.
Presbyterian Women PC (USA) has two major mission programs. First is the USA Mission Experience. Rhonda Sanchez of PWP of NYC, was selected to represent PWSNE on the USA Mission Experience, “Out of Darkness into Light”, San Francisco Bay Area, September 2016. The second program is the Global Exchange. We are pleased to announce that Virginia Champlin, PWP of Geneva, was selected in Sept. 2016 to represent us on the 2017 Global Exchange to Indonesia.
Lastly, PWSNE voted in 2015 to use $10,000 on a one-time-only mission project with emphasis, but not limited to, children and youth. The grants were distributed in February 2016. Grant amounts and recipients are:
$4,000 - New Creation Life Center at Iglesia Presbyteriana Nuevas Frontas, in Plainfield NJ. The New Creation Life Center works in the neighborhood to provide ministry and assistance in the area of marriage, family development, youth & adult ministries and assistance with local agencies. They minister to people of all ages and also are developing "My Sister's Place" a support group for women, especially immigrant women.
$1,000 - Iglesia Presbiteriana en Hato Rey, San Juan, Puerto Rico. To be used for their youth to attend the Triennium.
$1,000 - Johnsonburg Presbyterian Center, Johnsonburg, NJ - for youth campers.
$800 -Camp at the Eastward, Anson, Maine - for youth campers
$800 - Camp Whitman on Seneca Lake, Penn Yan, NY - for youth campers
$800 - Camp Wilmot, Wilmot, NH - for youth campers
$800 -Holmes Presbyterian Camp & Conference Center, Holmes, NY - for youth campers
$800 - Vanderkamp, Cleveland, NY - for youth campers
TO WORK FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE:
We are pleased to announce that with support from PWSNE and PWP of New York City, the Thank Offering, which is a major mission grant program of PW PC (USA), was awarded to Life Way Network Inc (LWN) Rego Park, New York, for their project, Providing Safe Housing for Victims of Human Trafficking.
2016 UN Commission on the Status of Women: “Priority theme: women’s empowerment and the link to sustainable development”, was held in March. Two of our members, Magdalene Lewis and Alpha Brown (Justice and Peace Coordinator) were able to attend.
TO BUILD AND INCLUSIVE, CARING COMMUNITY OF WOMEN THAT STRENGTHENS THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (U.S.A.) AND WITNESSES TO THE PROMISE OF GOD'S KINGDOM.
At our 2016 Annual Meeting and Leadership Training Gathering our workshop focus was “Cultural Diversity: How to Start the Conversation”. This program was inspired and led by Coordinating Team member, Carlyon Terrell of PWP of NYC. She was assisted by Maxine Hunter, PWSNE Moderator.
Alpha Brown was our representative at the Montreat symposium, “Seeking God’s Grace amid the Disgrace of Racism”, October 10-13, 2016.
New website: In closing I am pleased to announce that in January 2016 our Wed-servant, Schuchen “Sue” Liu, with the help of the Rev. Kathy Nealand, transferred our website to a new host, WordPress.com. To finalize this website change, in January 2017, Sue Liu transferred our domain management to Godaddy.com. This means we now own our PWSNE.org domain. This has enable Sue to update our PWSNE information in a timely fashion.