My time as Chair of the Board of Christian Service has been extremely rewarding and fulfilling on a personal level. Not only did I have the opportunity to serve with a great group of caring and highly qualified people but collectively we were able to accomplish a lot of great things. With this in mind, I’m pleased to provide a quick recap of another great year. While preparing this report I couldn’t help but be genuinely thrilled and encouraged by all the hard work put forth, and perhaps more importantly, with the overall results we as a Board were able to accomplish in 2009!

We once again focused our attention on promoting/supporting four general mandates on behalf of the First Church family. For clarity, each of these directives is separately listed below along with a partial list of organizations/activities we supported. I think you’ll agree that we responded quite admirably to this challenge…

• Foodshare Mobile Food truck (over 2,700 individuals were provided fresh produce/food this year)

• Horace Bushnell Food Pantry (monetary donation and the delivery of food 2 – 3 times a month)

• Saturday Breakfast program at Horace Bushnell Food Pantry (served second Saturday of every month)

• 4 complete meals provided for needy folks through the "Hands on Hartford" lunches

• Glastonbury Food Pantry

• Annual Turkey Drive (200+ turkeys along with a monetary donation to Foodshare)

• Adult Mission Trip

• SERRV sales during the Christmas season

• Family Mission Immersion Days

• Sponsorship of the church "Green Team"

• Horace Bushnell Food Pantry

• Walk Against Hunger (our First Church team raised an outstanding $1,975 for Foodshare in 2010!)

• Giving trees

• Intercommunity Mental Health

• Justice and Witness Ministry

In addition to the time and money allocated (over $96,000 at the time of this writing), the Board put great emphasis on streamlining our donations and also on updating all relevant written materials.

One of the great pleasures in serving on this Board has been working with the great staff here at First Church. We had the good fortune of having Kate VanDerzee-Glidden as our Board liaison and it was through her regular input, enthusiasm and hard work that many of the projects and causes were made possible (so thanks Kate!).

Last but certainly not least, I would like to personally extend a big THANK YOU to each and every member of the BCS. Words simply can’t express my appreciation to this group of devoted people. Their kindness, compassion and genuine concern for those we served was clearly on display all year long and I consider myself very fortunate to have been a small part of it! Many THANKS to all:

Warmest regards,

John Thompson

BCS Chair

The Glastonbury Interfaith Housing Corporation was formed in 1972 by First of Christ Congregational, Congregational Church of South Glastonbury, Buckingham Congregational Church, St. James, St. Luke’s, St. Paul’s and St. Augustine. Its purpose was to provide housing for senior citizens who cannot afford other for profit senior housing. The building at 193 Welles St. was opened in February 1983 with 110 apartments. There are 110 residents as of March 2010. Two are now over 100 years old. The Barkan Management Company is the property manager for the facility.

The seven sponsoring churches each nominate one member to the Board of Directors who in turn elect other directors who can provide other skills. First Church and the other sponsoring churches each arrange a monthly birthday party for the residents.

For many years the board has provided computers and internet access for the residents and has subsidized bus trips that have been greatly enjoyed by the many residents who participated.

John Kidwell has served as President of the Board and Treasurer since 1999.

The Pastoral Counseling Center terminated operations as of December 31, 2009 and is in the final stages of dissolution. For over thirty years the PCC provided individual, family, marriage and group counseling with a faith perspective. The Reverend Robert S. Henderson served as Director of the Center since shortly after its founding.

John Kidwell served on the board representing First Church since 1995.