At First Church we understand that we truly are the body of Christ, and our outreach missions reflect our belief in showing kindness and compassion to all of God’s creation. There are countless ways to get involved in the outreach work of First Church — whether you want to serve hot meals to your neighbors or build houses for those who desperately need them, your hands are needed here! First Church Outreach is involved in helping people who struggle with food insecurity and homelessness, and we are particularly involved in working for equity and social justice.
Outreach Team
Harvest Pack • March 8, 2025, snow date March 15
Harvest Meal Packing Event 2025
Saturday, March 8 from 10 to 1:30. (Snow date March 15) Join your friends and neighbors to pack meals to be sent to those in need. It is an incredible way to generate positive energy, foster pride in working together for the benefit of others and have fun! Come by yourself or with a friend and join a team to pack meals for a few hours. We’ll feed you a pizza lunch for all your hard work. Recommended donation is $10 per family. Use Cash or Venmo for your donation!
Greater Hartford Interfaith Action Alliance (GHIAA)
Latest News on GHIAA’s top three priorities this year.
For questions, sign-up information, etc., contact Linda Bronstein (lindadiane275@gmail.com) or Terry Schmitt (terryschmittwh@gmail.com).
Fiscal Policy/Moral Budget – A bill has been introduced which would make some changes to the “fiscal guardrails,” and Gov. Lamont has proposed a different change. GHIAA staff is analyzing the proposals, and will advise us on how we can help.
Just Cause Eviction Protections – The legislature’s Housing Committee has voted to support the concept of expanding these protections to everyone. The committee will draft a bill to do that, and hold a public hearing in Feb. or March.
Combating Racial and Religious Hate – GHIAA and Hartford International University (formerly the Hartford Seminary) will offer a free 4-session monthly series of workshops, starting Tuesday, Feb. 25, 6:30-8:30pm. Register at CLJCT.org/BUDS.
Judy, Bob, Jeanne and Carol all smiles at the March 2024 Loaves and Fishes prep. Yes Bob has a couple of black eyes; they look worse than they are; he checked out fine, and he didn’t let that stop him from helping on this day.
Loaves and Fishes, a local soup kitchen, provides warm meals and a safe place to eat for Hartford residents. Once a month, on the 4th Tuesday at 10 a.m., First Church volunteers work with Loaves and Fishes staff to serve a hot meal at Immanual Congregational Church. First Church members and friends also regularly donate grocery items for Loaves and Fishes’ “meals-to-go” program.
Covenant to Care, We support this partner by asking Congregation to fill Easter Baskets in the spring, fill backpacks in the fall, and Thanksgiving baskets for the holidays.
Communications Team. The Communications team is a branch of the Outreach Ministry, and is charged with spotlighting what goes on here at First Church. We employ many avenues to communicate and market our mission and events to the community and to our membership. In addition to digital messaging we design banners, signs, flyers, newspaper ads and good old word of mouth!
As the world of social media and publicity evolves, we do our best to evolve with it! Church members who have an interest in marketing are invited to check out the Communications Team!