Participate in A.M.O.S. (A Mid-Iowa Organizing Strategy), an effective, grassroots organization that mobilizes churches and neighborhoods to deal with social and community issues. Please contact Valerie Miller-Coleman, minister of discipleship, at 515.255.3149 Ext. 16 or vmcoleman@plymouthchurch.com.

Help the H.A.T. put together casseroles for the Salvation Army mobile canteen, which serves breakfast throughout the city during the week. Meets in the Waveland kitchen from 6 - 6:30 p.m. on the second Sunday of each month. Anyone can join in; bring your children. Please contact Plymouth member Jane Hemminger at 515.274.9516, or Valerie Miller-Coleman, minister of discipleship, at 515.255.3149 Ext. 16 or vmcoleman@plymouthchurch.com.

Costumed men, women and children help turn the Plymouth sanctuary into an historic Thanksgiving Day service. The church supplies the costumes. Get fitted in Pilgrim clothing and sing an easy anthem in the choir loft during the service. It’s fun! Please contact Sharon Parker-Lenihan, director of adult music and fine arts, at 515.255.3149 Ext. 23 or splenihan@plymouthchurch.com.

 

Drop off peanut butter, fruit or vegetable juices, spaghetti sauce, dry macaroni or spaghetti, canned fruit, packaged dinners such as Hamburger Helper, soup, rice, canned meat such as tuna, canned meals (chili, stew, ravioli), saltines, canned vegetables, biscuit and muffin mixes, gelatin and infant formula and baby food. Everything goes to the Des Moines Area Religious Council Emergency Food Pantry. Food is collected on the third weekend every month. Or write a check to Plymouth designated for “food pantry.” With donations from food brokers, just $1 can buy seven pounds of Cheerios.

CHURCH OFFICE VOLUNTEERS

Answer the main church office phone and serve as receptionist for people coming to the office. Training is required and provided. Contact Paula Wilkerson, Plymouth office support staff member, at 515.255.3149 Ext. 14 or at pwilkerson@plymouthchurch.com.

CONFIRMATION GUIDES

If you’d like to make a difference in the life of a 7th or 8th grade student, have a willingness to grow in faith, are a team player, and you’re over 18, consider becoming a Confirmation Guide. You’ll attend training sessions before Confirmation begins; meet weekly with a small group of students to share highs and lows, discuss theological issues, and work with your students in the church and the community. Guides can be parents of Confirmation students, but being a parent is not a requirement. Training occurs over the summer, and Confirmation small groups begin meeting in September. Please contact Angie Witmer, minister to young adults and youth, at 515.255.3149 Ext. 22 or atwitmer@plymouthchurch.com.
 

Elderly Iowans with no living relatives need someone to help them make legal and health care decisions. The courts have asked Plymouth members to provide this assistance to Des Moines area residents. Please contact Valerie Miller-Coleman, minister of discipleship, at 515.255.3149 Ext. 16 or vmcoleman@plymouthchurch.com.
 

The Cozy Ministry brings warmth into people’s lives by creating blankets, hats and mittens for adults and children in need. Bernie Lorenz Recovery House for chemically-dependent women, Beacon of Life for women parolees, Broadlawns Hospital, River Woods School and others benefit from our handiwork. Even if you can’t sew, come help iron, cut fabric, tie finished blankets and do other easy tasks. Cozy Ministry meets on the first and fourth Mondays of the month from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at Plymouth. Bring a sack lunch; coffee is provided. Please call Plymouth members Ginny Denman at 515.255.1337 or True Sherman at 515.276.4218. Or just walk in on meeting day and we'll welcome you.

 

Deliver flowers as a greeting from Plymouth to someone’s home or hospital room and enjoy the results: a warm welcome! Large Chancel floral arrangements are broken down into numerous smaller bouquets after the second service on Sundays. Members of the Flower Delivery Team commit to Sundays for one month. Please contact David Ruhe, Senior Minister, at 515.255.3149 or druhe@plymouthchurch.com 

DONATE FLOWERS FOR SUNDAY WORSHIP

Beautify the chancel with a bouquet of flowers from your garden or order from a florist. Unless you have other plans for it, the arrangement is made into smaller bouquets for distribution by the Flower Delivery Team. Please contact Nancy Slotterback at 515.255.3149 or nslotterback@plymouthchurch.com 
 
DONATE FABRIC

Your used sheets, curtains and draperies, or unused cotton or poly fabrics can help the Cozy Ministry provide blankets for adults and children in need. Please call Plymouth members Ginny Denman at 515.255.1337 or True Sherman at 515.276.4218.
 

Bring non-perishable food items to church on the two weekends before Thanksgiving Sunday. Members of the Plymouth Board of Benevolences sort the food, use it to fill laundry baskets, and on the afternoon of Thanksgiving Sunday, deliver them to low-income families identified by social workers in the Des Moines schools.

 

Help end hunger by giving all or part of an animal through Heifer International, which provides appropriate livestock, training and related services to small-scale farmers and communities worldwide. The animals eventually help an entire community move from poverty to self-reliance. Please contact Valerie Miller-Coleman, minister of discipleship, at 515.255.3149 Ext. 16 or vmcoleman@plymouthchurch.com to place your order via Plymouth. If you want to honor someone by giving an animal in their name, Valerie has nice acknowledgment cards for you to send to your honoree.
 

Sponsor a row of corn grown here in Iowa to help Mayan families in Totonicapan, Guatemala, and families in the Democratic Republic of Congo achieve food security. Just make out a check to Plymouth Church and mark “Fields of Hope” in the memo line. An entire crop row costs $100 to produce. All proceeds go to Foods Resource Bank programs, which are carefully monitored and very efficient. About $5 can provide food security for one person for a whole year. Recently, Plymouth’s Fields of Hope sent $13,000 from our main soybean project, plus $3,000 from the efforts of the FFA to the Foods Resource Bank for Guatemala and Congo. Please contact Valerie Miller-Coleman, minister of discipleship, at 515.255.3149 Ext. 16 or vmcoleman@plymouthchurch.com.

FURNITURE DISTRIBUTION 

Plymouth H.A.T. provides good used furniture to people in need. To donate, please call Plymouth member Jane Hemminger at 515.490.6362. To serve on the furniture pickup crew, please call Plymouth member York Taenzer at 515.288.8984.

 

At the holidays when church attendance increases and people seem most generous, our offerings go to outreach. The Easter offering is dedicated to local charities designated each year. The Thanksgiving offering is dedicated to H.A.T. to help the homeless and agencies that work with them in Des Moines. The Christmas offering is targeted to help needy people and goes to local organizations such as the Food Bank of Iowa and the Plymouth Pastor’s Fund, a discretionary fund to provide assistance to Plymouth members and others with basic human needs.

 

Plymouth works with Habitat for Humanity on the third Saturday of each month. Join other Habitat workers at whatever site help is needed. For work location or other questions, please contact Plymouth member Linda Railsback at 515.255.7818.
 

Plymouth Shawl Knitting Ministry welcomes people of all ages, genders and levels of experience to come make prayer shawls for those in need of comfort. If you know of someone who needs a shawl, or for more information about the Shawl Knitting Ministry, please contact Jean Walker at 515.277.9630 or Janet Jennings at 515.222.0831. 
 
MENTOR A STUDENT

Project Connect, a mentoring program that matches at-risk children with a positive role model in the community, seeks mentors. They meet at one of the Des Moines public schools. Plymouth members are especially encouraged to volunteer at Merrill Middle School, which is near the church. Minimum time commitment is one hour per week for school-based mentors or four hours per week for school/community-based mentors. Please contact Valerie Miller-Coleman, minister of discipleship, at 515.255.3149 Ext. 16 or vmcoleman@plymouthchurch.com.

 

Youths and adults are encouraged to give time, strength and talent by traveling to another state or another country to do mission work. Contact Barb Godwin, director of child and family ministries, at 515.255.3149 Ext. 26 or bgodwin@plymouthchurch.com.
 

This once-a-year offering reaches across numerous Christian denominations to help needy people in the United States and all around the world. OGHS focuses on sustainable communities, responding to disasters, and helping refugees. For example, OGHS provided relief following Hurricane Katrina and help after a Pakistani earthquake. Go to www.churchworldservice.org to find out more about One Great Hour of Sharing and emergency relief.
 
PEACE COMMITTEE

Monitor, respond to and raise peace issues through the Plymouth Peace Committee. Please contact Valerie Miller-Coleman, minister of discipleship, at 515.255.3149 Ext. 16 or vmcoleman@plymouthchurch.com.
 

Think of babies. Think of the homeless. Think of the poor elderly. Then drop off diapers (any size, from newborn to pull-ups), tampons, maxi pads, pantiliners, toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo, combs, disposable razors, shaving cream, deodorant, bar soap, liquid laundry detergent and tissues for our Personal Hygiene Drive. Place these items in the bins on the collection table in the hallway west of Waveland Hall. Or write a check to Plymouth Church and designate it “Personal Hygiene Drive.” Everything collected or purchased goes to agencies that work with homeless people, abused women, and very poor people.

PLYMOUTH GREEN TEAM
Plymouth is joining other religious groups in a grass-roots effort to reduce global warming one household at a time called Plymouth Green Team. We bring in speakers, collect your burnt-out fluorescent tubes and compact fluorescent bulbs for proper disposal, and have an informational table in Waveland Hall during fellowship time twice a month. To become a part of the program, contact Valerie Miller-Coleman, minister of discipleship, at 515.255.3149 Ext. 16 or vmcoleman@plymouthchurch.com.

 

The Plymouth Prayer Chain is a quiet yet powerful team of people who pray each day (at home or work), lifting to God the names of Plymouth members and loved ones who request prayers. To become a member or add a name to the chain, please contact Anthony Livolsi, associate minister, at 515.255.3149 or alivolsi@plymouthchurch.com. 

Hand out flyers inside the Dahl’s grocery store on Ingersoll Avenue. The flyers encourage people to donate food to the Des Moines Area Religious Council (DMARC) Emergency Food Pantry. Our goal is to have Plymouth members at the store the first and second Saturdays of each month from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. This is an easy service activity for confirmation groups, parents and kids and anyone who wants to help hungry people. Please contact the Food Pantry at 515.277.6969. 
 

Each spring, for one weekend, we rehabilitate homes for the elderly and people with disabilities. If you are 14 or older and can use a paint brush, clean up a yard, wash windows, or if you have construction-related skills, you can make a real difference in the lives of these homeowners. For more information about Rebuilding Together, please contact Valerie Miller-Coleman, minister of discipleship, at 515.255.3149 Ext. 16 or vmcoleman@plymouthchurch.com.
 

Plymouth has been involved in resettling refugees since the 1970s, when Iowa welcomed large numbers of Southeast Asians following the Vietnam War. Since then, Plymouth has assisted families from Laos, Bosnia, Kosovo and Afghanistan to become established in Des Moines. If you would like to assist with a refugee resettlement effort, please contact Valerie Miller-Coleman, minister of discipleship, at 515.255.3149 Ext. 16 or vmcoleman@plymouthchurch.com.

 

Help beautify worship by creating banners and other artwork to hang in the sanctuary and chancel. Please contact Plymouth member Barb Miller at 515.255.6059 or Sharon Parker-Lenihan, director of adult music and fine arts, at 515.255.3149 Ext. 23 or splenihan@plymouthchurch.com.
 

Help H.A.T. feed the homeless and hungry by picking up donated bread and pastries and delivering them to shelters. Please call Plymouth member Anne Koch Gaer at 515.274.6750.

STEPHEN MINISTRY

Stephen Ministry offers one-on-one Christian care to people who are facing a life challenge. If you become a Stephen Minister, you will be part of a skilled, genuinely caring and fun group of people. If you need a Stephen Minister, you will find a highly trained lay minister whose focus is listening to you with compassion and caring. To learn more, call Plymouth member Bev Burns at 515.224.9571. 
 

Provide child care during the Sunday worship services, or during the week for various events and meetings. Contact Plymouth member Holly Matykowski at 515.278.8810.

TEACH CHURCH SCHOOL

Sign up to teach children and youth during a three-month session. Curriculum is provided. Please contact Barb Godwin at 515.255.3149 Ext. 26 or bgodwin@plymouthchurch.com.

Help non-English speaking adults practice a new language. Please contact Valerie Miller-Coleman, minister of discipleship, at 515.255.3149 Ext. 16 or vmcoleman@plymouthchurch.com.
 

Visiting Ministry Team members bring sunshine to one or more homebound people monthly. The team meets every other month for continuing education and camaraderie. Join the team when you can and serve as long as you are willing and able. For more information, contact Valerie Miller-Coleman at 515.255.3149 Ext. 16 or vmcoleman@plymouthchurch.com.
  

A group of nature lovers meets at 10 a.m. on the first Saturday each month in the parking lot of Brown’s Woods. They assume various duties, which might include spreading wood chips on a trail, removing invasive species, or collecting trash. Volunteers should dress appropriately for ticks, mosquitoes, and poison ivy. Children are welcome if supervised by an adult. For more information or to volunteer, please contact Plymouth member Pam Childers at 515.251.6364 or pchilders@aea11.k12.ia.us.