National and global ministries
Springdale supports ministries that impact the country and the world.
Fair Trade Products
Springdale serves Fair Trade coffee for church gatherings and participates in the Presbyterian Coffee Project.
Jesus calls us to love our neighbor, and this includes the fair treatment of our farmer producers near and far. PCUSA supports trade policies that reduce poverty, protect environmental regulations, and support family farmers and food security. More than 2,000 PCUSA congregations have adopted Fair Trade policies.
Equal Exchange’s Fair Trade coffee, tea, chocolate, almonds, pecans and cranberries are available through their web site Partners for Just Trade offers fair trade crafts from Peru. Opportunities to support Fair Trade are provided through the PCUSA website and the Enough For Everyone ministry.
Habitat for Humanity and www.habitat.org
Springdale has had an ongoing relationship with and commitment to Habitat since the early 1990’s.
Springdale has a strong presence in the Habitat leadership. The Executive Director and the chairperson of the board are Springdale members, and several other members of the board have been with Springdale over the years. Many Springdale members devote many hours working with partner families.Locally, nearly 25 families have benefited from our support.
Habitat has an ongoing relationship with Habitat Guatemala to provide housing. We have directly funded two houses there, and 10 percent of our unrestricted giving to Habitat Louisville goes to Habitat Guatemala. In both 2008 and 2009, several Springdale members helped build houses we funded in Guatemala.
Heifer Project International
HPI is a ministry of sharing—sharing animals, plants, and community gardening expertise with folks around the world. A family may receive a goat which provides milk for the children, cheese for income, and baby goats to share with another family. Children learn about HPI by meeting real animals and adding their contributions to the congregation’s to purchase an “ark” of animals. The elementary children have donated a sheep. Each year one of the options for giving through Alternative Christmas Card is Heifer Project International.
Springdale has responded to God’s call to care for strangers among us, helping refugees from all parts of the world start new lives in Louisville. Working in conjunction with Kentucky Refugee Ministries (KYRM) in Louisville, the congregation co-sponsored eight refugee families through 2010.
Beginning in 2003 with a family who came from a refugee camp in Liberia, SPC’s outreach to refugee families has expanded and grown. We have co-sponsored a family from the persecuted Meskhetian Turkish sect in southern Russia; a Somali family with three young children who fled to Kenya amidst violence and strife; and a family who are members of a persecuted ethnic minority who lived in a camp in Nepal for nearly two decades. Another partner family had been living in a refugee camp in Thailand.
The origins are different but their stories are the same. they come to America to escape actual or feared persecution based on ethnicity, religious or political beliefs. When the families arrive they have very little. We set up an apartment with furniture, household goods, food for the first week, clothing and other everyday items, plus provide rent and utilities for the first three months.
Springdale and Kentucky Refugee Ministries try to help the refugees gain self-sufficiency as quickly as possible, with English classes and job placement services at the top of the list. Springdale members also help with transportation, school registration, and other ways to help teach them the city.
Most importantly, Springdale offers friendship to those who have arrived in a country they have never seen and know little to nothing about the language. If you would like to assist with the next family, we welcome your help – whether it’s a short one-time commitment or something longer.
Living Waters for the World trains and equips mission teams to share the gift of clean sustainable water with communities in need. Springdale supports this ministry of the Synod of Living Waters through their gifts and through their commitment to train and send teams to install water projects in Appalachia. One of our members serves on the Appalachian network board.
Springdale is a partner in the support of Barbara and Larry Moir who are partners in ministry at the Bethel Evangelical Secondary School in Ethiopia.
Mission Trips/USA/Jamaica Exchange
Information about international mission trips and the Springdale USA/Jamaica Exchange program.
Presbyterian Church USA initiatives
PCUSA has several programs to assist people nationally and internationally:
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance -
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance enables congregations and mission partners of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) to witness to the healing love of Christ through caring for communities adversely affected by crisis and catastrophic events.
The Presbyterian Hunger Program (PHP), a ministry of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), works with Presbyterians and other partners to alleviate hunger and eliminate its causes, responding with compassion and justice to poor and hungry people in local communities in the United States and internationally.
Self-Development of People ministries work to provide long-term solutions to community problems around the world.
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