Our Community
We sERVE OUR COMMUNITY
Whetstone Elementary School: Each August we donate school supplies like backpacks, lunchboxes, folders, and pencils to Whetstone Elementary School. We hold a Birthday Book Fund Drive for students.
Gaithersburg: Every year CTS partners with the City of Gaithersburg to deliver Thanksgiving baskets to needy families in the Gaithersburg area. A grocery store gift card is included for each family to purchase their own main dish. Members volunteer to provide the other holiday meal items. The baskets are assembled on the Saturday before Thanksgiving.
Gaithersburg HELP: is an all volunteer organization that has been serving the Gaithersburg community for over 50 years. CTS supports Gaithersburg HELP with weekly offerings of food and money. CTS members also have a long history of serving as volunteers for Gaithersburg HELP: as phone coordinators, translators, working at the pantry and even serving as the Executive Director. The mission of Gaithersburg HELP is to provide emergency assistance in the form of food, infant needs, funding help for prescriptions, transportation services and referrals to those in need.
Interfaith Works Homeless Services: provide shelter, critical case management and therapeutic programs for homeless adults in Montgomery County. CTS provides and serves meals for the shelter one week each year. This has been one of the longest running service ministries and provides a wonderful opportunity for face-to-face transformational ministry. Their Community Based Shelter (CBS) provides transitional housing in a shelter environment for single adult women already committed to changing their lives with the support of mental health, medical, and therapeutic programs. Many residents are involved in education and job training programs, or may have jobs. CBS provides the case management structure necessary to help residents recover and move to permanent housing. This 30-bed facility serves close to 80 women annually. We also donate clothes and yard sale gleanings to the Interfaith Works Clothing Center.
The Lamb Center: is a daytime drop-in for the poor and the poor in spirit in Fairfax Virginia, supported by a partnership of local congregations. It is a sanctuary where the poor and the homeless are met by mature Christians whose desire is to love and serve them and share mutual brokenness. CTS has several connections with the Lamb Center. One of our prior members serves as the Director of Operations. From time to time, we invite guests of the Lamb Center to visit, worship with us and share their stories.
Manna Food Center: fights hunger in Montgomery County primarily by collecting and distributing 3 million pounds of food each year to needy individuals and families. CTS supports Manna with a monthly offering of fresh fruits and vegetables through our First Sunday Fresh Pantry campaign. Manna provides a three to five-day supply of perishable and nonperishable food to each individual or family at one of thirteen distribution points in the County. Manna also distributes food to Montgomery County homeless shelters, soup kitchens, group homes, and low-income housing areas. Through Smart Sacks, Manna also distributes backpacks full of kid-friendly food to needy elementary school children so they food on the weekends when there are no school meals.
Montgomery Village Farmers Market: promotes the health, safety and welfare of its 40,000 residents through a wide array of public services. The Montgomery Village Farmers’ Market is a program selected by the Montgomery Village Foundation as a community enhancement in 2011. The second most requested addition to the community. It is a nonprofit corporation, 501(c)(4).
UMAN: The Upper Montgomery Assistance Network’s mission is to provide emergency financial assistance, education, and referral services to people in our community who are at risk of homelessness or are disconnected from vital utility services. CTS supports UMAN with financial contributions from offerings and our annual yard sale.
