A Community of Service

Bridge Communities partners with FCCGE mentors for homeless families to help them work towards self sufficiency. Mentors meet with families once a week to provide advice, encouragement, and support toward their ultimate goal of financial independence. Mentors are always needed.

 

Bridge Mentoring Opportunity 

Our Bridge resident is graduating from the program in just a few weeks! And two of our mentors are leaving Bridge to serve in other ways. Soon FCCGE will have the opportunity to support a new Bridge resident. If you have a few hours every other week to partner with two to three mentors from our church to provide guidance to a family moving from a homeless situation into an apartment, please contact Leslie Dodge .

Contact: Leslie Dodge 630- 248-4335

The Green Team is  dedicated to environmental issues within our church, the wider community and the world, acting on ways to be good stewards of the environment through education, recycling and energy efficiency. We invite everyone who has a passion for caring for God’s creation to come and learn about the work we’re doing to make Glen Ellyn a more sustainable, resilient, and compassionate community. These include efforts to focus on renewable energy and to nurture locally grown produce; if you like to garden, you’ll love what we have in store! Learn about our Eden Project to help feed those in need!

Contact: Tom Rausch or Nancy Bell .

The Garden Ministry plants and maintains the flower beds and other landscaping around the church. We strive to be good stewards of the portion of God’s creation in our care.

ContactNancy Bell

The Glen House Food Pantry collects food for those in need. FCCGE provides two volunteers in the pantry every fourth Friday of the month. September is our church’s designated month to provide food for the pantry and a collection box is available for donations. The pantry’s location is at 55 N. park, Glen Ellyn. Contact: Andy Ginger.

Church Work Days happen twice a year when a group of people who fix, paint, repair and assemble small jobs in classrooms, offices, and other spaces around the church buildin get together to care for our building. If you have a special skill, then we would invite you to share your gift with the church. Watch for special dates in our enewsletter.

The Kitchen Chix provides meals and delectable treats for all of our programs and events. They also serve coffee and treats after Sunday worship and provide receptions for memorial services.

Contact:  Mindy Post

Do You Love to Play with Computers?

A new ministry is born…

The Creator’s Purpose

We are seeking passionate and talented people to build computers. Used PCs, lap-tops, monitors or any other computer-related equipment will be rebuilt, repaired and configured to be repurposed and installed in places of need around the community. Examples could be local career or community centers, schools, libraries and other local businesses. If you have a passion for working with computers and want to use your spiritual gifts to give back to the community, then come join us! Have a computer you’d like to donate? Click here.

 

 Contact : Mike DeFlorio 630.913.2694

 

Onward House Christmas Gifts Every Christmas, FCC members and friends provide Christmas gifts for 200+ children in need. Our relationship with Onward House is decades long and we look forward to helping make families holidays brighter.

Contact: Marge Kovatch

Pads (Public Action to Deliver Shelter)  FCCGE has had a rich history with DuPage PADS and continues to do so. While DuPage PADS has adopted a new structure for caring for our neighbors (no longer using sites like ours to house guests overnight) we continue to remain deeply involved. Contact: Tricia Kerns

 

Rebuilding Together is open to enthusiastic people who enjoy helping others and working with tools. These handy people gather for one Saturday in April for an all-day building blitz on a preselected home in the Chicagoland area.

Contact: Randy Briasco

Heifer International empowers families to turn hunger and poverty into hope and prosperity with agricultural support. Every year at FCCGE, children create animal themed treats to raise funds for this remarkable ministry.

Contact: Catherine Curtis

Precious Blood Ministry of Reconciliation works with at-risk youth in the Back of the Yards neighborhood in Chicago to provide job skills, mentoring, and restorative justice. FCCGE partners with them to provide support and build relationships.

Contact: Chuck Lukavsky

DuPage United First Congregational of Glen Ellyn is a member of  DuPage United, an inclusive, non-profit, non-partisan organization that works to form public relationships, hold elected leaders accountable, and act together to improve the quality of life in our community.Read more.

Contact: Clara Hughes     

Walk-In Ministry  The Walk-In Ministry is a coordinated effort of 16 Glen Ellyn area churches to provide a single source of assistance to individuals and families in need.  Volunteers work in pairs, Monday-Friday from 10:00 am to 12:00 noon, to distribute food certificates, sandwich vouchers, gasoline vouchers, rental/utility assistance, transportation, car repair, lodging and medications to Glen Ellyn residents, members of Glen Ellyn churches and DuPage PADS members in good standing.  This ministry is located at 1st United Methodist Church (424 Forest Ave., Glen Ellyn; 630-469-2862).

Boy Scout Troop 41 FCCGE has proudly sponsored this long-standing troop for many years.  Weekly troop and parent committee meetings are held in Pilgrim Hall.  The annual Troop Pancake Breakfast held here brings many into the church for support and a hearty breakfast.  With much appreciation on both parts, there have been many upgrades and fixes to the church by Scouts working for their Eagle Scout rank.  The troop continues to be available for service projects.  Click here for more information.

 Contact : DJ LaChapelle .

Faith & Life Center: Located on the main floor off of the Lobby, the Faith & Life Center is open on Sunday mornings and weekdays during regular office hours. It contains a wide selection of books for adults on subjects such as personal and family life, social issues, church leadership, devotional life, Bible studies, fiction and biographies.  Many of these titles are not found within the public library system, although we do include bestsellers of spiritual and social justice nature.  The children and youth sections contain a wide selection of books that address spiritual and moral formation with an emphasis on loving relationships, empathy toward others, inclusion and diversity. Special books are available that parents may check-out to read along with their children about difficult to discuss topics such as death and dying, divorce, drug and child abuse, aging and sexuality.  

 Contact : Catherine Curtis,  ( or 630-469-3096 ext. 23).

CREO DuPage CREO DuPage is a pre-college program that matches first-generation college-bound students from Spanish-speaking families with volunteers who help them accomplish academic and career goals during weekly virtual meetings. CREO provides activities, training, and ongoing support. To learn more, visit the CREO websiteFor details on the coaching/mentoring experience:

Contact: FCCGE’s liaison, Maria Metz ( or 630-200-2222).