Steve Hill, our lay leader and head of the Administrative Council, recently applied for, and ultimately received, a $2,000 grant to provide Greater Portland Family Promise clients with monthly supplies of diapers.

The grant was a Mustard Seed Migration Grant awarded by Global Ministries and the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UNCOR). The focus of UMCOR’s grants is to “provide support for refugees and migrants around the world, seeking to fulfill the biblical mandate to ‘love thy neighbor’ and ‘welcome the stranger’ “.

Steve said he had read about the grants a “year or more ago” in different publications and found it to be intriguing. Then last month, he said it popped up again and he realized “maybe somebody’s trying to speak to me”.

On a Thursday, with the help of Pastor Kathleen Decker Szakas, he sent in an application. Three days later, word came that a full $2,000 was being awarded to the Cape Elizabeth United Methodist Church for its on-going connections with Family Promise!

Last week, Steve went out and purchased $150 worth of diapers to be used at Family Promise’s monthly food and supplies distribution to approximately 35 families at Portland’s St. Luke’s Episcopal Church. He delivered the diapers to Linda Anderson (pictured with Steve above), who is on the Family Promise Board and coordinates its diaper distribution.

This monthly distribution will continue until the $2,000 grant is expended.

“My hope is to find a way for us to sustain this after the grant is used up,” Steve said. “I’m hoping we can get a buy-in from people in the church. It could become the first joint Lighthouse Parish mission project.”

Congratulations, Steve!