Pennsylvania church offers community a ‘Fresh Start’

Peace & Global Witness Offering supports small congregation’s laundry outreach program

by Emily Enders Odom | Presbyterian News Service

The Presbyterian Church of Waynesboro in Pennsylvania operates its “Fresh Start” ministry with help from a grant from the Presbytery of Carlisle. (Contributed photo)

LOUISVILLE — The local laundromat was Linda’s chapel.

It was where she first shared a prayer concern that had been weighing heavily on her mind — and on her family’s heart — to say nothing of their budget.

At the time, Linda was dealing with stage 4 cancer.

“Since I got sick, my washer and dryer can’t handle the volume of blankets and bedding,” she confessed to the pastor and volunteers from the Presbyterian Church of Waynesboro (Pennsylvania), who were gathered around Linda and her adult daughter, L., listening attentively. “And the expense of doing my laundry would have been difficult to handle without your help.”

The help that had become a lifeline for Linda and other area families — for whom the escalating cost of health care was threatening to drive them even deeper into poverty — was the church’s “Fresh Start: Loads of Love” laundry outreach program.

“Every two months we provide quarters, snacks and connection,” said the church’s pastor, the Rev. Caroline Vickery, who worked as a community organizer before graduating from McCormick Theological Seminary. “We also bring children’s bulletins, paper and markers, information about our church and other spiritual materials, like devotionals. We always go on the last Monday of the month since people on public assistance are running low on money at the end of the month.”

The ministry began when the church’s Outreach Committee started looking for a community program that could be handled by a small congregation. When committee member and deacon Sarah Stains discovered a laundry ministry on Instagram, the church agreed to give it a try.

“What I like about this ministry is that it’s not labor-intensive,” Vickery said. “It’s something that’s doable for a church of our size. And, because I happened to be living in an apartment with no laundry facilities at the time, I started to use the nearby laundromat to get clean clothes and bedding and had to relearn how expensive clean laundry could be.”

But the program goes well beyond clean clothing.

“The other main thing is that it personalizes poverty,” said Vickery. “It puts a face on it.”

Not long after launching the “Fresh Start” initiative, the congregation received welcome validation in the form of a $500 grant from the Presbytery of Carlisle’s portion of the Peace & Global Witness Offering, which empowers congregations and individuals to become peacemakers in their communities and in the world.

Traditionally received on World Communion Sunday, which this year falls on Oct. 6, the Offering is unique in that half of it is directed to peacemaking and global witness efforts at the national church level to address critical issues around the world. Twenty-five percent is retained by congregations for local peace and reconciliation work, and 25% goes to mid councils for similar ministries on the regional level.

“The Waynesboro church’s laundry outreach program exemplifies the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s longstanding commitment to peacemaking,” said the Rev. Wilson Kennedy, the PC(USA)’s associate director for Special Offerings and Appeals. “Even the simplest tasks, like washing clothes for those on the margins of our communities, help sow seeds of peace like Jesus commands us.”

And following Jesus’ commandments is integral to the mission of “Fresh Start.”

“I take part in and value this ministry because, while I see the Church’s first mandate as to ‘Go and Tell,’ I also believe strongly that we must first love people where they are and help in whatever way we can,” said Ruling Elder Linda McFarland. “My ‘mantra’ is that Jesus gave us three clear-cut commandments: ‘Love God, Love One Another and Go and Tell.’ Unless we do all three, we are not living in joyful obedience to Christ.”

McFarland shared that she often engages people in the laundromat about their situations and listens to their stories. She especially loves visiting with the younger children.

“As a retired family nurse practitioner, I sometimes even find myself discussing health-care needs, encouraging people to seek attention for problems, and suggesting to them how to be prepared for medical visits and what questions to ask,” she added.

Rolls of quarters are at the heart of the Presbyterian Church of Waynesboro’s “Fresh Start” ministry. (Contributed photo)

The church also keeps a roster of those who accept its rolls of quarters — not everyone does — not only for financial accountability, but also for follow-up purposes, such as letting people know about special services and events like its Back2School Bash, Pumpkin Palooza and Wreath Making Workshop.

The latter was an especially big hit with Linda and members of her extended family.

“Ever since we first met them, Linda and [her daughter] L. have come to many of the outreaches, and I have gotten to know the other two daughters and her grandchildren, including her autistic grandson, 6-year-old K.,” recalled Vickery. “Linda, L., her sister and their two children attended, making wreaths out of dried flowers, while the children made sticker nativity posters. We have several lovely photos of the multi-generation family, which are treasured, as Linda died in February. We give thanks to God for her life, knowing that she is now at peace.”

Vickery said that as a Matthew 25 congregation, the church is growing in its understanding of what it looks like to live out the call to peacemaking and the Matthew 25 invitation right in their own community.

“We do know that Jesus makes it clear that how we treat the vulnerable is how we treat Jesus,” she said. “Because most of our members are college-educated, literate and middle-class, our laundry outreach has put them in touch with a world whose hardships they’re unaware of. It comes as a shock for people to realize how costly doing your laundry can be and to know that people can’t use their SNAP benefits to buy detergent, cleaning supplies or personal hygiene items. Not being able to keep yourself clean robs people of their dignity. There’s something very restorative about knowing that people will be able to be their best selves. That’s why we call it ‘Fresh Start.’ It’s a chance to start over.”

And, because of the presbytery’s gift to the church from the Peace & Global Witness Offering, the congregation was also given its own “Fresh Start” in that the grant helped the congregation see the ministry in a new light — as something valuable.

“There are many other small churches who want to improve the lives of people in their communities so that the love of God can be made visible through their ministries,” said Vickery. “By giving to the Peace & Global Witness Offering, people can help other small churches make God’s love real — in their town and around the world.”

Give to the Peace & Global Witness Offering to continue this valuable ministry.