Caring Ministry of First Presbyterian Church of York

The Caring Ministry is a local mission outreach of First Presbyterian Church of York whose purpose is to live out the love of God by enriching the lives of our neighbors in need. The Caring Ministry does not discriminate nor does it require the neighbors we serve to have any religious affiliations. We are open and accepting of ANYONE who needs assistance. We welcome ALL of our neighbors in the York community and beyond by committing our resources to assisting those who are without. The Caring Ministry and its services have evolved over the years after initially receiving a bequest from Frank Smith to establish a ministry to benefit the underserved in York City. Currently, the Caring Ministry has several programs to help individuals.

The Ruth Kammer Food Pantry is an in-person food shopping experience for our neighbors who self-declare a need for food assistance. Neighbors have the opportunity to select from a variety of fresh and shelf stable foods including fruit, vegetables, proteins, milk, cheese, eggs, bread, grains, and a few sweet treats. Providing our neighbors with the opportunity to select their food items empowers the individual to choose desired foods and reduces the unnecessary food waste of less desirable or duplicate food choices. The Caring Ministry also distributes emergency snack bags of food. Some neighbors need immediate food assistance and/or are unable to store a larger quantity of food. Therefore, the emergency snack bags of food - including a water bottle; cereal, protein, or granola bar (both soft and hard in texture); a fruit cup; and/or a bag of snacks - provides neighbors with something to eat now and again later on in the day.

In addition to our food resources, the Caring Ministry supports new babies and their caregivers as they visit our Babies' Room - formerly known as the Mothers and Babies Room. The Babies' Room offers a selection of Newborn to 2T/24 month clothing, diapers, wipes, and other baby items. After the child has outgrown the clothing sizes, we transition the caregivers to a monthly allotment of diapers and wipes to continue helping the neighbors, as needed. If our neighbors are having difficulties paying their gas and/or electric bills, the Caring Ministry partners with Met-Ed and Columbia Gas to assist our neighbors in completing the applications to apply for payment assistance programs. The Caring Ministry does not offer financial assistance to our neighbors, but rather serves as the connector or conduit between the utility companies and the neighbors. On top of the aforementioned programs, the Caring Ministry offers bus passes to individuals, who have started a job in the past two weeks, and prescription medication assistance to individuals needing some help paying for a medication. 

Throughout all of these programs, the Caring Ministry strives to demonstrate an atmosphere of empathy, kindness, comfort, care, support, and hope. To date, we are giving neighbors immediate and/or temporary assistance, but we ultimately hope to give neighbors the tools and resources to become more self-sufficient and empowered to take care of themselves and grow physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and economically.