At the end of September, Joel Gill, Ferncliff’s Executive Director, took a meaningful trip that showcased the power of collaboration. His journey began at First Presbyterian Church of Texarkana. Joel was planning to head down to Camp Gilmont to pick up flood buckets and hygiene kits created by Gilmont campers this summer, along with additional kits made by congregations in Grace Presbytery. Sue Ellen Hall, a friend of Ferncliff, had read about our disaster assistance work and reached out, asking if we’d be near her area soon to pick up kits. As it turned out, Joel was already heading that way.

“I stopped by their service where they made 15 flood buckets,” Joel shared. “The congregation has made every type of kit that Church World Service offers, except for the newest one, and I’m sure they’ll tackle that one next.”

After Texarkana, Joel continued to Gilmont, where he spent the next night loading up Boxanne—our trusty box van—with many more kits. Gilmont serves as a depot for Ferncliff, collecting and storing disaster kits from surrounding churches.

Gilmont campers made 1,127 hygiene kits over the summer, along with the congregations of St. Andrew Presbyterian Church, Faithbridge Presbyterian Church, and West Plano Presbyterian Church. Gilmont also assembled 44 emergency cleanup buckets and 40 school kits.

With the help of a grant from the Synod of the Sun, Ferncliff makes these trips a couple of times a year to gather supplies. This particular trip felt especially timely, as storms had recently caused severe damage in the southeastern U.S.

Although many of these kits were made months ago, they’ll soon be on their way to support recent disaster relief efforts. Some will even be reserved for future emergencies. The importance of being ready to help communities recover cannot be overstated, and we’re grateful to our congregations and the Synod for their dedication to disaster assistance.

How You Can Help:

• Donate Financially
• Make kits or help collect kits at your site
• Send a mission team or service group to Ferncliff
• Support CWS and PDA

After Gilmont, Joel made a stop at First Presbyterian Church of Fort Worth, meeting with their mission committee to share about Ferncliff’s ministries and programs. Once back at Ferncliff, our residential volunteers got to work unloading, inspecting, weighing, and repacking the kits, which are now ready to be sent out to communities in need.