08439
June 9, 2008
Health-ministry van plans cross-country trek to General Assembly
Journey to include health screenings, educational programs in six states
Volunteers prepare “MoM” — the mobile health van sponsored by National Health Ministries — for a recent trip. Photo courtesy of National Health Ministries LOUISVILLE — The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s mobile health-education van will hit the road later this week for an eight-day cross-country trek to the denomination’s 218th General Assembly in San Jose, CA.
The shiny 35-foot-long white van is the centerpiece of a ministry of the PC(USA)’s National Health Ministries office called “Mission on the Move” (MoM).
On its way to the Assembly, which starts June 21, MoM will make a series of stops giving Presbyterian churches, presbyteries and other agencies in six states a chance to hold community service programs and health awareness events.
The van is scheduled to depart Louisville for its California-bound journey on Friday (June 13), arriving the next day in Springfield, IL, for a visit to the Salvation Army Social Services Center to provide health screenings for individuals and families in crisis.
MoM will also stop at First Presbyterian Church of Springfield where the van and health education materials will be on display for the congregation.
Then it will be onto Des Moines, IA, where MoM will visit a Sudanese Refugee Ministry at Cottage Grove Presbyterian Church on June 15. The Cottage Grove ministry provides basic necessities such as food, clothing and shelter to Sudanese immigrants who recently arrived in the United States.
MoM staff and volunteers will conduct health screenings with assistance from a translator who speaks Mabaan and Arabic, the native languages of the Sudanese people. MoM will also be on display at the offices of North Central Iowa Presbytery in Waterloo, IA.
MoM will roll into Denver on June 17, where it will be in mission at a shelter for men who are homeless operated by Central Presbyterian Church. The shelter serves men who are preparing to re-enter the workforce through a back-to-work program. MoM will provide health screenings, health information, health risk assessments and community medical clinic referrals.
While in Denver, MoM will be joined by the “Praying Our Way to San Jose” group and continue the trip with them. The group is made up of individuals who are caravanning from Kentucky to the General Assembly, stopping to hold prayer services along the way to San Jose.
There will be stops in Reno, NV, and Ogden, Utah, where MoM staff will address health-related issues while the Praying Our Way to San Jose group addresses spiritual issues.
MoM will arrive in San Jose on June 20 with stops structured to include participation for volunteers who are attending General Assembly.
The dates and locations scheduled for San Jose: June 24 at Town Park Towers, an assisted living facility for adults over the age of 55; June 25 at InnVision, a transitional housing facility for families who are indigent; and June 26 at Sacred Heart, a social services community center in downtown San Jose.
When MoM is not making visits during General Assembly, the van will be located outside the front entrance of the San Jose Convention Center on San Carlos Street (across from the Marriot Hotel). Anyone interested in volunteering for community service with MoM should contact Chandra Kearns by email at Chanrda.kearns@pcusa.org.
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