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Every child and every family should have a home—a place of security and safety.

Home is very basic to who we are. It’s a place of security. A place of retreat and retrenching. A place to claim as our own, with all its quirks and familiarities, unique in all the world. 

Being without a home impacts nearly every aspect of what we think of as basic to family. For families living on the margins and in cycles of poverty, being without a home is a very real and constant threat. 

We don’t have to look far in the Bible to know that God understands our drive and desire for home. God led the displaced Israelites through the desert to achieve their hearts’ desire of a permanent home. God wants for all people to have a place of safety and security. “Then my people will live in a peaceful dwelling, in secure homes, in carefree resting places,” says Isaiah 32:18.

Every child deserves a place they can call home. Our congregation offers many ways you can reach out to neighbors to help them find the security and peace of home.

Home Campaign supports:

If you would like to financially support our "HOME" ministries, please select "Home23" in the drop-down menu on our E-giving page.

 

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    Family Promise
    Eliminating homelessness in Greater Indianapolis with an Apartment Shelter Program, Diversion Program, and AfterCare.

    Formerly known as Interfaith Hospitality Network (IHN), Family Promise works to eliminate homelessness in Greater Indianapolis. The Apartment Shelter Program has expanded to house 24 families, and the Diversion Program works with 20 families at a time. In addition, the AfterCare program provides follow-up case management and workshops for two years after clients secure housing.

    Second Presbyterian Church was the title sponsor of the 23rd annual Home Sweet Home event in September 2022. Sponsorships, the silent auction, dessert auction, wine pull, and tickets sales brought in net proceeds of approximately $123,606, enabling Family Promise to say "Yes, we can help" to many more families in the coming months.

    Learn more at fpgi.org.

    Contact:
    Lisa Enright
    (317) 253-6461
    LEnright@SecondChurch.org

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    Habitat For Humanity
    Providing safe and affordable housing for families in our community.

    Greater Indy Habitat brings people together people to provide safe, affordable housing for families in our community. For more than 35 years, Second has partnered with Greater Indy Habitat for Humanity to sponsor an annual interfaith build and participate in other Habitat activities throughout the year.

    If you would like to contribute to this important work in our community, please designate "Habitat for Humanity" in your donation to Second.

     

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    NeighborLink Indianapolis
    Providing free home repair services to low-income seniors and individuals with disabilities in Marion County.

    NeighborLink Indianapolis provides critical home repairs for homeowners 62 and older or with a disability living in Marion County at or below 150% of the Federal Poverty line. They provide these repairs at no cost to the homeowner so they may age in place safely.

    NeighborLink Indianapolis has served more than 3,000 people in Marion County and completed over 4,000 home repairs since it began in 2013. By providing these services, they are helping low-income homeowners stabilize their home for their own ability to age in place and in an affordable space (the home they already own), as well as provide an asset to their future generations rather than a burden.

    Learn more about the homeowners we serve.

    NeighborLink Indianapolis helps fill the gap within the social services space for owner occupied home repairs. As gap fillers, they partner with other home repair-oriented organizations like SAWS and Habitat for Humanity to ensure homeowners are able to be helped.

    Watch a video about volunteering with NeighborLink.

    Whether you’re handy, or just have a heart to serve, there are a variety of volunteer opportunities with NeighborLink. Shifts are flexible, generally in three-hour segments, great for groups, and opportunities are available early April to early November. Groups are customized experiences, generally book four-six weeks out and can include youth 12-17 years old with accompanying adult supervision, providing an opportunity for families and youth groups to volunteer. Visit NeighborLink’s website at nlindy.org to sign up for a shift or schedule a group to volunteer.

    NeighborLink Indianapolis is a mission partner identified by Second’s Task Force on Local Partnership Ministries in 2020. The task force was established to consider new opportunities for mission work in our local community, Washington Township, and to consider ways to adapt existing mission projects so that they focus more directly on our local community.

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    SAWs Ramp Building
    Impacting the lives for low-income and disabled individuals, one ramp at a time.

    Help build a ramp and change a life!

    Volunteer opportunities are available for ramp builds. No experience or tools are required! SAWs will provide the leadership and the materials. We just ask that you are willing to learn and serve others. Youth age 12 and up are welcome to volunteer with a parent/guardian. This is the perfect service project for a family with older children.

    Volunteer opportunities are posted each month online at SAWSRamps.volunteerhub.com. They are available on a first come, first serve basis and are open to anyone interested.

    SAWs© is a nonprofit, volunteer organization founded in 2003. Originally started in Indianapolis, our organization serves clients across Indiana, as well as Arizona and Virginia. We specialize in building wooden wheelchair ramps for low-income, permanently disabled individuals. With the support of our donors and volunteers, lives are changed one ramp at a time, and, in less than six hours, we transform a client’s life FOREVER.

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    Umoja Partnership
    Transforming Communities One Child at a Time

    Providing shelter for vulnerable children and their families in western Kenya

    Umoja Partnership works with orphaned and vulnerable children in western Kenya. When a beneficiary's family needs shelter, the community gathers to build a semi-permanent home with a tin roof, wood frame, and mud walls made from clay made onsite. 

    For more than fourteen years, members of Second have joined with other faith groups in Indianapolis to support the work of the Umoja Partnership in western Kenya. The Kenyan staff provides food, shelter, empowerment programs, and education fees for orphaned and vulnerable children.

    Second is a founding member of Umoja Partnership, an interfaith organization dedicated to transforming communities one child at a time. Formerly known as Global Interfaith Partnership, Umoja is a partnership of many faiths, from different cultures, on two continents, united in service to change lives by keeping children in school. You can learn more at UmojaPartnership.org. 

     

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    Northside Mission Ministry
    Utility and Rent Assistance

    Utility and Rent Assistance

    The Utility and Rent Assistance Program (URAP) partners with the Fay Bicard Glick Community Center and the Washington Township Trustee Office to offer emergency financial intervention. In these “gap” situations, a little assistance goes a long way, often preventing a family from losing their housing or having their power shut off. Our partners provide vital case management with URAP families to ensure long term stability.

    Northside Ministry cares for the poor and those experiencing hardship in Washington Township by building relationships to develop food security, to work toward economic stability, and to participate fully in the life of the community.

    Check out this profile of Northside Mission Ministries in Responsive Congregations, a publication of the Project on Religion and Urban Culture 2.0, a joint initiative of the Polis Center and IU School of Liberal Arts. You'll see how the Holy Spirit has moved within our congregation to shape this vital ministry "To create transformational change in the place that Second Church has called home for nearly two centuries, among people who—members or not—belong to its community."

    Located on the northeast corner of Second Presbyterian Church, Northside Food Pantry is open to Washington Township residents on the following days:

    • Tuesdays, 12:30-3 p.m.
    • Wednesdays, 4-6:30 p.m.
    • Saturdays, 10 a.m.-Noon

    If you would like to help at the pantry, please sign up online. We are limited to ten volunteers per shift, so we are managing our volunteers closely with SignUpGenius. In addition to food pantry hours, volunteers are needed to unload deliveries and stock shelves.

    For more information or to volunteer, contact Lisa Enright.

     

     

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    Advocacy: Speak Out for Others 

    Add your voice to Second's work addressing both hunger and housing issues right here in our community and across the country.

    Why do we do this work? As Christians we are called to speak out on behalf of others. Read Rev. Chris Henry's article No More "Playing Church" and watch the conversation between Rev. Chris Henry and Jim Morris, president and CEO of Greater Indy Habitat for Humanity.  

    Add your voice to Second's work addressing both hunger and housing issues right here in our community (a church for the city!) and across the country. We'll equip you with helpful information, as well as offer tools to help you contact your state and national government representatives.

    Advocate for Action

    So much of our mission work involves being the hands and feet of Christ, providing food for our neighbors, building and repairing homes. Advocacy Days allow us to amplify the voice of Christ as well, speaking out for those in need.

    This work is nonpartisan. We are all called to bear the burdens of others and walk alongside our neighbors. Writing to our representatives is an opportunity to address the roots of housing and hunger issues, getting to the factors that perpetuate the problems.

    Thank you for putting your faith into action by using your voice to advocate for others. Follow these three easy steps to speak out:

    1.  Educate yourself about the issues and current legislation being considered.

    2.  Gather names and addresses for your representatives.

    Not sure who your representative is? Find out here. When you enter your address into this website, you'll learn who your state and national representatives are.

    3.  Write a letter stating what is on your heart.

    Sample Letter Format:

    Address your letter to "The Honorable (name of member of Congress)"

    Paragraph 1: Establish importance of this topic.

    "Hunger is an important issue to me because..." (state why hunger is an important issue to you)

    Examples:

    • "My faith calls me to action..."
    • "I have faced hunger in my life..."
    • "I know people who odn't know where their next meal is coming from..."
    • "I work at a food pantry..."

    Paragraph 2: Call to action

    "You are facing legislation..."

    • List current legislation this Congressperson should be considering.
    • Tell the Congressperson how you would like them to vote on these issues. 
    • Let them know that you vote based on thes issue and that you will be watching to see what they do.

    Sign your letter:

    Your constituent,
    Name
    Full address (to establish yourself as their constituent)

    Thank you to Jeff and Cathie Reese for providing the food security research and these letter writing tips! Thank you to Rev. Tyler Brinks for researching housing legislation in Indiana!