Current Recipients | Thank Offering Resources | Applying for a Thank Offering Grant | Promotional videos and more!
The Thank Offering is one of Presbyterian Women’s two offerings. Received in the fall each year, it gives women a tangible way to express their gratitude for the special blessings in their lives. Thank Offering grants range from $5,000 to $50,000. At least 40 percent of the offering funds health ministries.
Thank Offering Resources
Promotional materials are mailed to each congregation, attn: PW/Women’s Group, in August. Order or download resources to promote and receive the Thank Offering.
Thank Offering Current Recipients
The Creative Ministries Offering Committee of Presbyterian Women read, prayed over and selected eight projects for funding this year. Six of the projects serve people in the United States, and two are international. In keeping with the Thank Offering bylaws, more than forty percent of the selected projects are related to health ministries.
NATIONAL
SYNOD OF LAKES AND PRAIRIES
Dakota Presbytery
Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
Waniyetu Consulting
Welcoming of the Child
$18,000
Waniyetu Consulting empowers young mothers by providing teaching and direction for their role as a parent. This grant will fund a program to bring back the Welcoming of the Baby ceremony, one of the oldest and most significant ceremonies in Lakota culture. During the Oglala Lakota ceremony, new mothers are taught the traditions of protecting the baby’s fontanel (soft spot) from harm or sickness and the sacred connection to walking in balance. This ceremony celebrates the birth and provides an opportunity to teach parenting skills such as nutrition, nurturing baby care and healthy relationships. A Lakota elder is invited to speak about their traditions, which connects the generations and provides important lessons on motherhood and the sacredness of caring for the child.
SYNOD OF MID-ATLANTIC
Presbytery of the James
Voices of Jubilee
Crossing Borders Accompaniment
$37,160
voicesofjubilee.org
Voices of Jubilee brings together incarcerated youth and their families with mentors who have experienced incarceration and others who want to help. They provide pastoral care for youth and advocate for a judicial system that responds to harm and violence with accountability and restoration. This project provides support for youth who are in detention and in prison in Virginia, along with their families. The Thank Offering grant will provide essential mentors, restorative justice training and hospitality dinners to create communities that transform lives and embody the hope of the Gospel, even in a harmful judicial system.
SYNOD OF MID-ATLANTIC
Presbytery of New Hope
SAFEchild
Technology at SAFEchild Advocacy Center
$50,000
safechildnc.org
SAFEchild (Stop Abuse for Every Child) is the leading voice for child abuse prevention through evaluation, intervention and treatment in Wake County, North Carolina. Specialized interviews are often a turning point in children’s lives, placing them on a path to recovery. The Thank Offering grant will provide for the purchase of discrete cameras and microphones to record interviews at SAFEchild’s advocacy center. Through prevention and intervention services, this program offers children and families a safer future, where they can find support and live into their true capabilities and callings.
SYNOD OF SOUTH ATLANTIC
Central Florida Presbytery
Forward Paths Foundation, Inc.
Homes to Independence—Housing for Homeless Youth
$50,000
forwardpaths.org
Forward Paths Foundation works to positively influence at-risk youth in Lake County, Florida, with the support needed to complete high school, attain a consistent work history and learn financial management skills. The Thank Offering grant will help expand their services to homeless, unaccompanied youth and those who have reached the age of 18 and are no longer eligible for foster care. By providing housing and a personalized plan for each youth, this program makes possible a future for them to have meaningful work and relationships, and to live independently by the time they are age 25.
SYNOD OF THE TRINITY
Presbytery of Carlisle
Peace Promise
Kitchen Renovation
$25,000
peacepromise.org
Peace Promise offers advocacy, education and economic empowerment to survivors of sexual exploitation and human trafficking in the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, area. The Thank Offering grant will help equip and renovate a kitchen that will serve as a central location for two new social enterprises, Ruby Coffee + Co. and Soaps By Survivors. These programs will employ survivors and offer mentoring, education and on-the-job training, giving them the opportunity to find peace and experience the hope of a new tomorrow.
OFFICE OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (U.S.A.)
Office of Immigration Issues
Public Affairs Software
Platform for Grassroots Advocacy
$15,000
pcusa.org/immigration
The Office of Immigration Issues helps PC(USA) churches by providing advice and resources towards a more just immigration system. Advocacy work within the denomination is decentralized so that local needs are addressed. As a result, the church’s voice often is not organized to speak out effectively and powerfully. The Thank Offering grant will help purchase software that tracks legislation and gives users a deep understanding of the issues and the ability to contact their lawmakers directly. With the advocacy software, Presbyterians can follow concerns unique to their location and also organize to offer a group voice working for justice and fairness.
INTERNATIONAL
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (DRC)
Presbyterian Church in Congo (CPC)
Presbyterian Ministries with Vulnerable Children
Protecting Children in Greater Kasaï
$50,000
youtube.com/watch?v=oP6B9G3O4hw
Presbyterian Ministries with Vulnerable Children protects and cares for at-risk children in the DRC through outreach programs in congregations, neighborhoods and schools. The Thank Offering grant will provide training for a project that moves away from centralized programs that rely on physical structures and instead builds local social safety nets. Care of homeless children is offered by host families in CPC congregations, and prevention of child neglect, abuse and abandonment is coordinated by church committees. By building the organizational structure of this community-based effort, this ministry to vulnerable children will become more effective and sustainable for years to come.
HAITI AND SYNOD OF MID-AMERICA
Heartland Presbytery
Higgins Brothers Surgicenter for Hope
Village Presbyterian Church, Prairie Village, Kansas, fiscal sponsor
Surgicenter Ambulance
$25,000
higginsbrotherssurgicenter.org
The Higgins Brothers Surgicenter provides the only 24/7 trauma and surgical care available in Fond Parisien, a rural region near the Haitian-Dominican border. Funds from this grant will be used to purchase an ambulance to transport rural patients to the Surgicenter for life-saving emergency care and to safely move stabilized patients to major medical centers. Additionally, the ambulance will enable medical practitioners to visit distant villages where they can treat children, pregnant women and people with chronic conditions or acute illnesses.
See a list of projects funded by the Thank Offering since 1988.
Applying for a Thank Offering Grant
Grant requests come from a variety of national and international sources, such as PC(USA) governing bodies, health agencies, overseas churches, ecumenical councils, community groups, educational institutions and church-related groups.
Projects must meet the criteria outlined in the grant application.
To ask a question or to learn more about the Thank Offering, contact Cheri Harper.