Palms Presbyterian is pleased to announce a new partnership with Mayport Elementary and BEAM (Beaches Emergency Assistance Ministry). Mayport Elementary is a school at the very northern end of our beaches community. It is comprised of children K-5th grade and 94% of those children are on free or reduced lunch. In addition, at least 25% of the children are from military families. The school is in a “food desert” meaning there is no grocery store in the area. During the school year on every early release Wednesday, Palms will provide a team of people to pick up food through BEAM at the 7North food collection location. We will drive the BEAM refrigerated truck to Mayport Elementary, where we will set up a market where families and children can go through the line and fill up a bag of groceries. We need to put together our team.
- 2-3 people who can lift up to 50 lbs. and are comfortable driving a truck (no special license required). The time required for these transport volunteers will be from 12:30-3pm
- 8-10 people who will meet at Mayport Elementary, set up food on tables and help families shop, build relationships, and offer support and care to children, parents, and teachers. The time required for these Mayport Market volunteers will be 1:15-3pm.
- 1 person who will be the coordinator for Mayport Market including emailing team with updates, reminders, etc. This person must attend the training day (July 19) and the run through (August 11), but does not necessarily need to be part of the “hands-on” team. That means this person could be someone with a daytime job who wants to serve, but cannot be present on each early release.
The dates for 2017-18 school year are 8/30, 9/13, 9/27,10/11. 10/25, 11/1, 11/15, 11/29, 12/13, 1/17, 1/31, 2/14, 2/28, 3/14, 4/25, 5/16.
In addition, we will have a training day on July 19 from 12-2:30pm where we will review Palms and Duval County Child Safety Policies, learn more about the program and travel together to Mayport Elementary to hear from their principal, Amy Cline. On August 11 we will have a test-run during Mayport Elementary Orientation from 8:30am -1pm where we will introduce the program to the families and have food available for pick up. We know it might be challenging to commit to every single day, however, our hope is to create a team who will make this program a priority for the school year and schedule around the early release Wednesdays. If you will be absent, it will be the volunteer’s responsibility to make sure that we have enough volunteers for the day. The Serve Ministry is also seeking additional substitute team members for the BEAM Food Pantry in Mayport.
To be part of these exciting opportunities to feed God’s children and build relationships within our community, contact Pastor Laurie at laurie.furr-vancini@palmschurch.org / 246-0594 x 223.