On February 25, St. Philip will celebrate 60 years of ministry in the Roanoke Valley. (see page 1) Throughout the church’s history, congregation members have seen a need in our area and around the world and have sought a way to fill that need through mission and ministry. From creating a preschool – one of St. Philip’s first ministries – to 20 plus years of blood drives to community holiday meals to support of sister parish in Mponela, Malawi to Elijah’s Backpack, a feeding program that reaches children in five local schools.
In celebration of 60 years of ministry in the Roanoke Valley, the coordinators of Elijah’s Backpack have issued a challenge to the congregation – raise 600 jars of peanut butter in the month of February. That’s 100 jars of peanut butter per decade of service to St. Philip’s neighbors. Each week Elijah’s Backpack serves 64 children in need at Burlington Elementary, Mountain View Elementary, Glen Cove Elementary, Northside Middle, and Minnick School Main Campus. Six hundred jars of peanut butter will help feed these children through the end of the school year.
Beginning February 11 and running through Anniversary Sunday on February 25, you are invited to donate jars of peanut butter to Elijah’s Backpack. There will be a display set up in the Fellowship Hall for you to place your donations. The size peanut butter the ministry uses is 16-ounce jars, any brand. If you have any questions about Elijah’s Backpack or the 600 Jars drive, please speak to Judy Brammer or Nancy Shadix. Elijah’s Backpack also welcomes volunteers to help pack bags.
Let’s have a big tower of 16-ounce jars of peanut butter in the Fellowship Hall as the congregation moves into its 7th decade of ministry. St. Philip is truly a congregation that Lives Like †hat!