western new york presbytery

Presbytery of the Peaks/Presbytery of Western New York

Thankful pastor encourages others to apply for PC(USA) loan forgiveness As the Rev. Dana Vaughn was completing her studies at Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond, Virginia, the Presbyterian Mission Agency was innovating several initiatives designed to allow Vaughn—and a new generation of risk-taking pastors like her—to transform the world through their ministries, while freed from the burden of educational debt.

New worshiping community pastor receives seminary debt assistance

As the Rev. Dana Vaughn was completing her studies at Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond, Virginia, the Presbyterian Mission Agency (PMA) was innovating several new initiatives designed to allow Vaughn—and a new generation of risk-taking pastors like her—to change and transform the world through their ministries, all while freed from the burden of educational debt.

Presbytery of Western New York

Being mindful of mission opportunities locally as well as worldwide, we discovered such an opportunity one day when we stumbled upon a group gathered in our local mall, creating tied fleece blankets. The recipient of these blankets was the Southern Tier Child Advocacy Center, which provides multidisciplinary services in cases of child abuse. When children come to the center, the staff provides them with comforting items—a toy, a book, a fleece blanket. What a comfort a fuzzy blanket can be! The idea of creating blankets to benefit the center was brought to the mission committee of First Presbyterian Church of Portville, New York,and voilà! The Fun Fleece Festival was born!