Compassion & Community
Family Promise
Family Promise is a nonprofit organization committed to helping low-income families achieve lasting independence. It is a program that is truly doing something about homelessness. The strategy of FP is to focus efforts on five programs that work together in a holistic, integrated approach.
Pine Shores is a host congregation and more than 60 volunteers are involved in this critical ministry. If you are interested in learning how to become involved please call the church office at 941-922-1597.
The local Family Promise website is www.familypromisesarasota.org.
The Francis House at Pine Shores
If you have any experience working with the homeless population, you will know that there is a significant unaddressed gap in serving the pregnant/postpartum. While there are several homeless shelters in the area, parameters for service are quite narrow: pregnant women had to be working full time during traditional hours; pregnant women had to have no other children in their custody or have only one child under the age of 2, or pregnant/postpartum women had to settle for overnight emergency shelters where they had to leave the safety of the program walls each morning and find a public place to care for themselves, their newborns, and all other children in their custody. The Pine Shores Community was called in partnership with Family Promise, to change the living situation for the most vulnerable and created Francis House. A home on our property was made available on our property where pregnant/postpartum women and their children can stay in a safe and secure environment for an extended amount of time.
2 Cents a Meal
The “2 Cents a Meal” concept was originated by Presbyterian women in 1976. The funds raised provide an opportunity for groups, families and individuals to participate and help consistently to lessen world hunger. “2 Cents a Meal” is a strategy for raising awareness – and funds – for the fight against hunger. It is an opportunity to invite every member to contribute a few cents at every meal. This simple act is an expression of thanks for what we have each received. It is also a commitment to share our blessings with others. Collectively, it can make a difference.
Pine Shores collects this special offering on the fifth Sundays during the year. It is a simple activity, but many pennies, nickels and dollars add up to close to $10,000 per year and help those in need.
Day4Hope
Day4Hope is a community outreach project in Sarasota and Manatee Counties aimed at uniting the resources of churches, civic groups, fire, police and many other community partners, to serve the children in our school system who are homeless or in economic need so they can begin the first day of school on an even playing field with other children.
It is our hope that this outreach is an opportunity for participant volunteers to share God’s love, for parents and children to leave with an improved sense of self-worth and self-image that will help them feel good about the first day of school.
On Day4Hope, the children will receive:
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Medical Exam
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Eye exam
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Dental check-up, cleaning instructions; fluoride treatment
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Haircut
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School and family portraits
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Gift cards for clothes and shoes totaling $75
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New backpack with school supplies
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Bag of personal care items
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Books and a Bible
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Groceries
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Breakfast, Lunch, Snacks
Super Bowl of Caring
This once-a-year program occurring on Super Bowl Sunday combines cash as well as cans of food and is organized and executed by Pine Shores youth.
Over the past 16 years, Pine Shores has become the largest participant in this program in the United States. Pine Shores Youth have raised over $162,000 and donated over 21,000 food items to hunger-related organizations in our community since 2006.
PSY exceeded its goals for 2019 by collecting 1,956 (goal was 1,900) cans of soup and raised $8,224. For more information please call the church office at (941) 922-1597 or visit https://souperbowl.org.
Farmworker Ministries
Beth-El Farmworker Ministry has a 27-acre site on U.S. Highway 301 about 20 miles south of Tampa. The Ministry serves the nearby rural population. It operates under a covenant among its governing bodies, the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and the Tampa Bay and Peace River Presbyteries of the Presbyterian Church.
Throughout the year Pine Shores actively participates in supporting this ministry. The funds collected in our Care and Share monthly offering and our “2 Cents a Meal” offering go to provide food for the pantry. For more information, we invite you to visit their website at http://beth-el.org/
Misión Peniel Misión Peniel began as a pastoral ministry of charity and service, providing food, clothing, fellowship, and emergency support to farmworkers in Immokalee, Florida in September 2006. At that time it was an extension of Beth-El Farmworker Ministries. When economic constraints made it difficult to continue to support this work through Beth-El Farmworker Ministries, a new covenantal partnership with the Peace River Presbytery of the PCUSA was envisioned and Peace River churches met in the fall of 2013 to determine if sufficient dedicated support was available to continue this work independent of its previous structure but somehow linked to the work and mission of what God is doing in the Peace River Presbytery and the PCUSA.
For more information, we invite you to visit their website at https://www.misionpeniel.com/
Meals on Wheels
Since 1971, Community Mobile Meals of Sarasota County, Inc. (Meals on Wheels) has provided over three million hot nourishing meals to elderly and disabled persons who are unable to provide meals for themselves. Age is not a factor for those needing our services.
Over the past 40 years, the organization has increased in size by several hundred volunteers. Success is attributed to the care and hard work volunteers deliver during the day-to-day operations of the organization.
All new volunteer drivers, desk personnel, and kitchen aids are provided training on their first day by another experienced volunteer. Pine Shore members deliver meals on Fridays.
If you are interested in becoming a driver please call the church office at 922-1597. For more information about Meals on Wheels of Sarasota: click HERE.
Sarasota United for Responsibility and Equity (SURE)
SURE is a faith-based Justice Ministry designed to train volunteer leaders to work with community leaders and public officials to correct inequities in the Sarasota community that adversely affect the poor, under-served, and disadvantaged. They provide hope for equality of opportunity for the future. https://www.suresarasota.org/
Care and Share
Collected the first Sunday of every month to help feed those in need, Care and Share is our monthly mission project that gives donated food and monies to Sarasota’s All Faiths Food Bank.
