A Letter from Lindy Nov 9

Hi Pilgrims,

Let me begin by sharing some incredible news. Durham has once again surpassed its Crop Walk goal of $220,000 by raising $221,728! And Pilgrim has once again earned the Golden Sneaker award for small congregations! Not only that, but in the words of the Crop Walk treasurer, “I am pretty sure that again this year Durham will be the #1 walk and Pilgrim UCC will be the #1 team in the country.” 

Take a minute to absorb that recognition! And with the next breath, please celebrate and thank all of our Crop Walk leaders, most especially Ellen Metcalf, who continually champions and challenges Pilgrim to strive for increased goals every year–always pushing us to new heights. In the words of Legally Blonde, Elle Woods, “WE DID IT ! !”

As our minds and hearts continue to hold the vulnerability of our food insecure neighbors, thank you all who have been bringing non-perishable items in droves for our Little Food Pantry. Not only is it currently stocked, but we now have replenishment to keep those shelves full as they deplete. Please keep the food coming to help our neighbors.

Staying on theme, lastly I invite us to lean into an unexpected invitation to help additional neighbors. We learned this week that Hope Valley Elementary started an emergency food drive as SNAP benefits ended, recognizing how many of their families would quickly become vulnerable. In checking in with the school’s social worker, we learned that in their school-wide assessment, 20 families indicated needing assistance to create a Thanksgiving meal for their families.

Hannah, Felix and I put our heads together, drawing in our Board of Christian Service to see how we might help meet this need. We did a little research and learned that Walmart has had a Thanksgiving Meal Basket program since 2022 in which they discount a Thanksgiving meal for 10ish people for around $40-$50.

Knowing our size, and other bequests before us, I reached out to some of our neighboring churches – St. Paul Lutheran, Epworth Methodist, and Westminster Presbyterian–to see if they might partner with us to help these families. With some quick yeses from our friends, we divided the number of families between us, funding 5 per church for a total of $250 each.

So here’s my ask. If there are Pilgrims who feel they can contribute to fund our share, I ask that you do so by directing monies to the Board of Christian Service’s discretionary fund, out of which we will purchase Walmart Gift Cards that the families can use to purchase Thanksgiving Meal Baskets. We will have a link on our website for the next two weeks through which you can contribute. We will deliver the cards to the school on November 17th.

Grateful am I for all of the ways we show up for our neighbors.

grace and peace,

Pastor Lindy

(she/her) why pronouns matter