Community Partners: PRISM

PRISM (People Responding In Social Ministry) is a social service agency that helps local families during times of financial hardship. For over 43 years, the volunteers and staff at PRISM have worked with individuals and families in Plymouth, Golden Valley, Robbinsdale, Crystal and New Hope; counseling, educating and stabilizing basic needs to empower them to take an active role in their own solutions. The organization known today as PRISM began as a food shelf in a garage at St. Joseph’s Parish Community in New Hope. According to Marty Gates, one of the founders, from the very beginning, filling stomachs was never the ultimate goal. The volunteers at the Social Action Center (as it was then called) were assigned as mentors to families, working with them on an ongoing basis until they were back on their feet. Even before PRISM was PRISM, the organization walked alongside families, offering support-based programs that encouraged self-sufficiency, PRISM’s mission to this day.

The best way to express the Gospel is to put it in action...When someone comes to you needing food, you can either give them the food and they can walk out the door, or you can sit down and listen to them talk about their life.

- Marty Gates

Today there are 19 Faith Partner churches, including Mount Olivet, working with PRISM to serve those in need, making our communities better!

In addition to the food shelf:

• PRISM has two full-time case workers and brings on social work students as interns to build capacity. It is not uncommon for them to see 200 households per week! Last Monday (9/29) there were 72 families through the door. According to PRISM Executive Director Michelle Ness, the numbers are increasing - PRISM is serving about 30 more families each week than last year at this time.
• PRISM’s Thrift Shop for Change generates $1500-2000 per week. One of the main priorities currently is to increase shoppers through the door in order to grow the revenue from the shop. In the current economic climate, this is hugely important to PRISM. BOGO coupons are available in the Welcome Center and all are encouraged to like the shop on Facebook!
• Families who live in PRISM’s five city service area can access the Birthday Room. For $5 they receive three brand new gifts, paper products (gift wrap, bows, streamers, invitations, etc.), and a free, fully-decorated birthday cake. Families report that without this resource, many would not be able to celebrate their child’s birthday at all.

KidPack: Northport Elementary School

KidPack is a partnership between area elementary schools and churches. KidPack helps insure that a child who relies on school breakfast and lunch during the week will not experience hunger over the weekend, and will return to school on Monday ready to learn! Mount Olivet is in the third year of our partnership with Northport Elementary School in Brooklyn Park, and our supportof KidPack has grown every year. This faith community packs and distributes bags of food every week, filling an important need and being present in our community on a regular basis. We are excited to be part of Northport BEAR country - a community with high expectations for Belonging, being Empathetic, Achieving their highest potential, and showing Respect to all.

Our students look forward to the weekly KidPack they receive, thanks to our partnership with Mount Olivet Church in Plymouth. They come through the line each week with a smile, knowing that they will get a bag filled with food for the weekend and the week ahead. In the process, our students learn about kindness and belonging. They know that there are people outside of school and their family who care about them. KidPack has a profound impact on the students at Northport. Thank you for all you do!                                   - Pam Maile, Program Assistant at Northport

Good Neighbors: Impact at Parkside Apartments

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2Q3Sa4lzNs&w=560&h=315] Dawn shared her story of the impact Mount Olivet is having at Parkside apartments. Last year a small group of Mount Olivet members wanted to connect in community with our neighbors living in the apartment buildings just behind us. Over the year they've hosted events at Parkside and here at Mount Olivet in an effort to help foster community within the apartments, and a neighborly relationship between Mount Olivet and Parkside.

Dawn had never been to Mount Olivet last January when she attended one of our first potlucks at Parkside. She has since joined the Good Neighbors team and has become the go-to community event organizer at Parkside. Her involvement has helped build relationships between apartment neighbors who didn't know each other previously, and to grow the community bond between Mount Olivet and the residents!

Not shown in the video is her relaying the experiences of many people at Parkside who find themselves lonely and yearning for community. Dawn sees hope in the faces of the people who now recognize her in the hallways and stop to ask when the next community supper or bonfire is coming up. The Good Neighbors group isn't at Parkside to recruit new members or bring them to church; they're living the idea of being community together.

Kidpack: Impact at Northport Elementary

[soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/176597957" params="color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false" width="100%" height="166" iframe="true" /] Pam Maile, Academic Volunteer Coordinator at Northport, visited Mount Olivet and shared stories of the impact that KidPack has had on the children and families of Northport Elementary.

Over 90% of the students at Northport are on, or are eligible for free & reduced lunch. Mount Olivet has partnered with the school and twice a month this faith community packs 1,300 bags of food for the children at Northport to take home on weekends. Every Friday volunteers take 600 bags to distribute to the children at Northport and are greeted by smiles and thank yous.

This opportunity to bechurch & becommunity together with Northport has grown into a wonderful partnership. The team here at Mount Olivet is looking to further strengthen our support of Northport and start coordinating with their need for volunteers to work directly with the children. Stay tuned as more information comes out for those opportunities!

CASYs: Blessed to be a Blessing

[soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/175662693" params="color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false" width="100%" height="166" iframe="true" /] Hannah, Kirsten, and Abby share stories of the blessings they received as students in Linda's confirmation group, and how they pass it on as CASY (Caring Adults Supporting Youth) leaders of their own confirmation groups today.

Words from the Guides, CASYs and Leaders

An unexpected but amazing outcome of being a BE Guide is seeing your own faith and trust in God grow through witnessing the unfettered faith of the kids. Their honest love of God, each other, the Word, and the world reground and re-energize me each Sunday. Plus we have a LOT of fun!

- Lindsay Bondy

My favorite part of BE is when I ask a questions, and lots of hands are raised. It means they’re learning, and that makes me happy!

- Lauren Flynn

Being a CASY this year is even better than I expected - the relationships I’ve formed, the depths of the discussions, the laughter and the fun - the whole is greater than the sum of its parts!

- Allison Nahr

Youth have told me how cool they think it is that people who are not their parents want to hang out with them each week. At the beginning of the year they often seem a bit skeptical of these adults, but in the end they form really special bonds with one another. Their CASY is a safe adult to share with - to laugh with, to let out frustrations to, to ask those faith and big world questions that are sometimes hard to ask mom and dad.    

  - Summer Anthony, Faith Formation specialist

The Impact of our Mentors

Studies show that such relationships are vitally important for our children’s faith. When comparing twentysomethings who remained active in their faith beyond high school and those who “dropped out” of church, a 10-year study completed in 2013 by the Barna Group,  ...uncovered a significant difference between the two. Those who stay were twice as likely to have a close personal friendship with an adult inside the church.

Among those who remain active, the most positive church experiences are relational. The implication is that huge proportions of churchgoing teenagers do not feel relationally accepted in church. This kind of information should be a wake-up call…to churched adults of the necessity of becoming friends with the next generation of believers.

Mount Olivet is blessed with over 65 youth and adult mentors who spend time each week with the children and youth of this faith community, learning, asking questions, and exploring what it means to be the people of God to · geth · er.

 Read more from BARNA Research about Millenials in the church.

Introduction to to·geth·er

[soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/174616628" params="color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false" width="100%" height="166" iframe="true" /] On Sunday, October 26,Tonya and Kathy introduced the idea of to·geth·er and it's significance in the context of stewardship.

Excerpt from the This Week bulletin insert that week:

Over the next few weeks we will explore stewardship as a means to be a community of faith on a journey of generosity.

The people of Mount Olivet are called to find our place in God’s unfolding story by dwelling in God, connecting in community and engaging in our callings. Envision a Christian community sent as the means of God’s grace and work in the world.

This faith community is called to bechurch · becommunity outside the walls of our building and with each other.

Join us in worship to hear stories of our faith community in action and of lives touched and changed