Service Opportunities
Welcome to the First Presbyterian Church Mission Page for External Mission Opportunities
Listed below you will find a number of potential volunteer service opportunities offered by ministries and organizations with which our church currently partners, with which it has worked in the past or that our church helps to fund financially. We hope that you will find this information helpful as you consider where your talents might best be put to use in the service of your “neighbors.” “For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ” Galatians 5:14.
We have conducted annual intergenerational short term construction mission trips to the state of Chiapas, México since 2007 and three short term medical mission trips to the health clinic in Ocosingo, Chiapas that our church helped construct. In 2018 and 2019 we conducted short term mission trips to Cuba under the auspices of Presbyterian World Missions.
Every person must discern for themselves the mission service that the Holy Spirit is leading them into and what will be most satisfying to them in terms of living out their faith. The listing below is only a guide for places that will allow you to start with the discernment process. There are hundreds of other wonderful and worthwhile ministries that work in the greater Virginia Beach area and this listing is not meant in any way to foreclose your evaluation of those ministries. Only your discernment of where the Holy Spirit is calling you to serve can inform your decision-making about where to get involved. This listing is only a starter tool for you. Each of us has been given different gifts to utilize in support of our calling as Christians. “Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received.” 1 Peter 4:10. We trust that you will be able to find somewhere to serve your “neighbors” outside the walls of our church and perhaps some way to do so through this church’s involvement with the listed organizations. The important point, however, is to get involved somewhere in service to others in gratitude for the grace of God at work in your life.
If you have an idea for a new external mission project or volunteer opportunity, please contact the Director of Missions to discuss your idea. We always remain open to being led by the Holy Spirit in new directions consistent with our core values.
If you have any questions about the external mission life of First Presbyterian Church, please feel free to speak with me at church, call me at 757-672-1797 or contact me by email at missions@firstpresvb.org.
Randy DuVall, Director of Missions
Revision Six, August 2020
Ministries and organizations are described below in alphabetical order.
Scroll down to read more about these ministries and how you might get involved.
Volunteer Opportunities. Members of First Presbyterian are given the opportunity to select an angel from the Angel Tree that is set up in November at the church. Members then shop for the child and return their gift to the church. There may be additional opportunities to help with planning, setting up the tree and distributing the gifts. First Presbyterian point of contact: Carla Stevenson, secretary@firstpresvb.org.
About Beach Health Clinic. In 1986, a community group consisting of local physicians and concerned citizens, including First Presbyterian, noticed an increasing problem of uninsured working poor residents in the City of Virginia Beach. The Beach Health Clinic was incorporated as a §501(c)(3) organization with the mission to provide basic healthcare to uninsured Virginia Beach residents. Currently, the mission of the clinic is to provide comprehensive medical care to uninsured Virginia Beach residents who are below the 200% federal poverty level. Patients of the clinic generally suffer from chronic conditions, such as hypertension or diabetes. In the first year of operation the clinic only saw 43 patients. The clinic annually serves approximately 1,700 unduplicated patients.
The clinic is run daily by its volunteer physicians, nurses and staff. There are approximately 60 volunteer providers, the majority of whom are physicians whose specialties include cardiology, neurology, pulmonology, rheumatology, podiatry, gynecology, pediatrics, pain management, endocrinology, ENT, urology and internal medicine. There are also more than 100 nurses, pharmacists, pharmacy students, medical assistants and lay volunteers that make it possible for the clinic to provide more than 11,000 patient visits each year.
Volunteer opportunities. There are volunteer opportunities for physicians, dentists, nurses and dental hygienists plus other medically trained people. Lay volunteers are also needed to serve as eligibility screeners. Occasionally, there are specific needs such as landscaping that volunteers can perform.
Volunteer opportunities. Care By Community operates from mid-October through May. You may volunteer to work with the children doing one-on-one homework assistance, reading, school projects and even playing games. Volunteers can work one day a week, or one day a month, or more often as their schedule permits. There is also the opportunity for groups to prepare and serve the evening meal. Training is provided for all volunteers. Presbyterian Women provide meals several times every month through three circles. First Presbyterian point of contact: Diane Feineis, dianefeineis@yahoo.com
Volunteer opportunities. Set up the food delivered to the church in Stanton Hall for systematic bagging. Bagging of the meals. Delivery of meal bags to families in the Oceanfront area or to Birdneck Elementary one morning in December. Pass out food bags to families that come to the church to receive their meal bags. Load cars of those who pick-up their meal bags at church.
First Presbyterian points of contacts: Lila Davis, liladavis@aol.com and Kevin Merritt, kevinhmerritt@gmail.com
Volunteer opportunities. Receive foodstuffs from the Food Bank once per month. Sort and pack food into individual bags at church for ultimate delivery to school. Delivery of food bags to school. First Presbyterian point of contact: Carol Arsenault, cbapsu@aol.com
Volunteer opportunities. Faith Works undertakes construction projects several times each month that typically require the assistance of six to eight volunteers per day. These projects are usually completed Thursday through Saturday under the supervision of retired professional general contractors. Volunteers help rebuild floors, paint, hang drywall including taping and mudding, repair bathroom plumbing and work on roofing. A volunteer does not need a large skill set but simply needs to have a willingness to listen and take instruction from a professional. All tools are supplied by Faith Works. In addition, Faith Works organizes projects for individual church groups that First Presbyterian participated previously. Finally, First Presbyterian men have traveled out-of-state annually from 2013-2016 to undertake one week rebuilding projects for families affected by natural disasters.
First Presbyterian point of contact: Randy DuVall, duvallchiapas@gmail.com
About Judeo-Christian Outreach Center (“JCOC”). JCOC exists to break the cycle of homelessness in Virginia Beach by empowering homeless families and individuals to recover from crisis situations and return to being self-supporting, productive and independent members of our community. Its Frank Bragg Dining Hall on Virginia Beach Boulevard serves 70,000 free meals annually. Meals are served 365 days a year and are available to the community, homeless or not. Its Food Pantry provides over 9,000 packages of groceries every year to those in need. JCOC doesn’t want any of its neighbors who have a home to be forced into making the decision between a utility bill and groceries and believe this is a preventive measure against homelessness. Since 1991, JCOC has provided six-month emergency housing for up to 50 individuals at a time through its men’s dorm and its women/family dorm, as well as food and essential clothing. In 2011, it opened its West Lane apartment complex with 14 units designated for homeless veterans (to live up to two years rent free through a grant from the Veterans Administration) and eight units for permanent supportive housing for the chronically homeless with disabilities. To date, more than 6,000 individuals and families have found shelter with JCOC. Beyond serving the immediate needs of food and shelter, JCOC is equally committed to providing long-term support by empowering people to forge a life of independence, self-sufficiency and strength. To that end, its employs professional case managers to provide substance abuse counseling, education resources and direction, vocational support, employment services, job placement and, of course, personal counseling and encouragement. The Blumenthal/Schor Education Building, which helps residents and low-income neighbors prepare for the G.E.D. test and develop computer skills, and the new Job Skills Academy, are two of the most visible components of this effort.
Volunteer opportunities. First Presbyterian is one of a number of churches and synagogues that prepare and serve the evening meal at JCOC. Cooks prepare the meal and other volunteer serve the diners as they come through the serving line. There are other opportunities available to serve through JCOC. People are needed to unload food trucks from the Food Bank and to sort the food that comes off the truck. Drivers are needed to transport residents to doctors’ appointments, job interviews and other places. Life and technical skills instructors are also needed in a number of areas including computer skills, addiction and self-esteem sessions, budget and finance management, healthy relationships and nutrition. Contact Randy DuVall for information about helping with the service of meals. For more information on volunteer opportunities, please contact JCOC.
About Nimmo Community Garden. The Nimmo Community Garden began in 2009 as a container gardening project with the Potter’s House ministry. This project grows and gives away everything from the garden including fruit, vegetables and herbs to feed the hungry in Virginia Beach, including FPC’s Food pantry. The garden is 100 feet x 60 feet and is located at Nimmo United Methodist Church in Virginia Beach. From summer through winter, the produce is picked and distributed by faith-based organizations including Potter’s House, Star of the Sea Roman Catholic Church, First Presbyterian Church and other church partners. In 2013, more than 1,200 pounds of produce was distributed from the garden. This ministry is accomplished by a labor of love by many warm hearted volunteers giving of their time, talents, service and gifts.
Volunteer opportunities. Gardening work including harvesting the produce from the garden and maintaining the garden. Contact Becky Davison for volunteer opportunities.
Volunteer opportunities. There are a number of volunteer opportunities available to individuals and groups.
PIN provides dinner and Bible study every Thursday evening at six o’clock. Volunteer groups are needed to cook and serve the meals.
PIN provides health care through volunteer medical professionals on Sunday afternoons including dental care.
Lunch is provided and served on Sunday afternoons followed by worship and help is needed with these events.
Breakfast is served every Saturday morning from seven to nine-thirty and help is needed to serve this meal.
PIN has warehouse space on 17th Street that it uses to house donations of clothing and other items that are given to people who are homeless or extremely poor and needs help to organize these donations.
PIN provides transitional housing for families that are homeless. It currently has three mobile homes and two houses. Volunteer opportunities exist to maintain these properties.
First Presbyterian point of contact: Randy DuVall, missions@firstpresvb.org
About the Blood Drive. Partnering with the local branch of the American Red Cross, First Presbyterian hosts, sets up and conducts a blood collection center four times annually. The blood collection center is conducted in Stanton Hall. The blood collected by the Red Cross is used in local health care facilities to meet the blood needs of the local community. Red Cross personnel do the actual collection and safekeeping of the blood through their highly trained professionals.
Volunteer opportunities. Volunteers staff the check-in tables. Volunteers serve as greeters. Volunteers complete needed paperwork thereby freeing up Red Cross personnel to concentrate on technical aspects of the blood drive. There is also opportunity for food preparation to feed blood donors a snack after they have donated blood.
Volunteer opportunities. Samaritan House offers quarterly training for skill-based volunteers to serve as advocates in its various programs. People with skills in social service areas are always required to conduct the programs of Samaritan House. There are also abundant opportunities for people willing to help clean and maintain the numerous properties in its inventory of emergency shelter housing. Periodic cleaning of these units lends itself to excellent group service opportunities. Finally, Samaritan House is always in need of donations of food, clothing and cleaning supplies. melodys@samaritanhouseva.org
Facilities include a 28 stall barn, Indoor Riding Arena, outdoor jumping ring, outdoor Dressage ring, round pen and numerous pastures. Benefits derived from the therapeutic approach employed include one-on-one interaction with staff and volunteers, increase in self-confidence and self-awareness, increase in gross and fine motor skills and muscle tone and enhancement of verbalization and awareness. All instructors are professionals with combined instructional experience of over 45 years and are PATH, International certified and members of the Therapeutic Riding Association of Virginia (TRAV).
Volunteer opportunities. Horse side walkers. Gardeners. Landscaping workers to keep the grounds looking nice. Volunteers needed to work at periodic fundraising events. info@untamedspirit.org
Volunteer opportunities. Gardeners needed to maintain the outdoor vegetable and flower garden visited by the residents of the facility during warn weather months. Volunteer gardeners generally work on Thursday mornings. First Presbyterian point of contact: Sandy Cowden, smcowden@aol.com