Looking for a chance to give back to the community?  Get in touch with our Mission Committee!

Partnership Descriptions

Children Up – an Elmhurst organization started by a former York High School Teacher committed to strengthening the spirit of the people of northern Uganda, partnering with schools and organizations with the same mission in mind. EPC sponsors 2 students through this organization.  You can donate money through Simple Give or by using the Mission envelopes in the pews. If interested, please click here to check out their organization.

Elmhurst-Yorkfield Food Pantry – charitable distribution of food for the relief of hunger to our neighbors in need residing in the communities surrounding us, including Elmhurst, Addison, Bensenville, Berkeley, Hillside, Lombard, Oak Brook and Villa Park. Donate non-perishable foods, paper products, toiletries and coupons in the shopping carts in the Nelson White Room. You can also volunteer at the food pantry and donate money. If interested, please click here to check out their organization.

Elmhurst Walk-In Assistance Network – designed to offer emergency assistance to clients who find themselves in a difficult situation. Financial assistance includes rental/mortgage assistance; utility bill assistance; access to Immaculate Conception Food Pantry as well as information on other local food pantries and clothing closets; some clothing and food vouchers; one-time only car repair; gas vouchers for assistance getting to work, a job interview, or doctor’s appointment; prescription help. Assistance goes directly to the service provider.  No cash is kept on the premises.  If interested, please click here to check out their organization.

Erie Neighborhood House – a not-for-profit organization that reaches 5,000 people annually, empowering them to build better lives while strengthening their communities. Erie House offers Chicago’s Latino and diverse low-income residents a range of community-based education programs. During Advent, EPC members donate gifts to the children served by Erie House. If interested, please click here to check out their organization.

Out of the Closet – a charity that collects donations of clothing, accessories, and beauty products for transgender/nonbinary/gender nonconforming individuals from ages 8-80+. EPC currently is a drop-off location to collect clothes and donations for the organization. They host pop-up closets throughout the suburbs and the city of Chicago for transgender/nonbinary/gender nonconforming individuals to shop for free.

New Deliverance Church – as a mission partner, EPC supports their Diaper Ministry, participates in their worship, and welcomes them to EPC worship annually.  Our relationship with New Deliverance Church has been growing for many years.

Guines Iglesia Presbyterian, Cuba – the Presbyterian Church in Guines, Cuba is our sister church.  We have a relationship with the church, the pastor, and the Havana Presbytery.  Several members of EPC have visited the church in Cuba to share fellowship and educational & medical supplies.  We also support them with financial donations that allow them to have a running well and many of the basic necessities of living. If you are interested in learning more about our sister church, you can click here to visit Pastor Abel Padilla's Facebook page. Click here to learn more about the "governing body" that guides our partnership with that particular congregation in Guines.

Elmhurst Pride Collective – EPC partners with Elmhurst Pride Collective annually to make possible Family Pridefest hosted in the Summer. We show our proud support through these various projects and events. If you wish to learn more how we work with the Elmhurst Pride Collective, please continue reading the "PRIDE" portion.

DuPage Pads – a not-for-profit organization that provides interim housing in DuPage County.  For many years, when the site rotated between churches nightly, Elmhurst Presbyterian was a PADS site that hosted guests one night a week. Since PADS now serves those without homes in a more extended stay hotel model, we continue to give a financial donation in support of their great work. If interested, please click here to check out their organization.

Pride

EPC proudly holds an annual Family Pridefest to show our support. Interested in volunteering for this event? Please click here. We partner with Elmhurst Pride Collective to make this event possible. Click here to learn more about them and visit their website. 

Elmhurst Family Pride Fest: Years Past 

Committee Description

The mission advocacy team actively leads EPC in outreach to the world. We promote a variety of causes to support through benevolent giving, donations, and volunteering. The goal of our Mission Committee is to communicate with and educate our congregation about mission opportunities, as well as organize and execute mission events. We reach out to as many people as possible within our community, our country, and as far as we are able to reach around the world. We seek to actively participate in God’s work here at EPC and throughout the world. The needs of people around the world change from minute to minute. It is important for our committee to be aware of these needs so that we may communicate to our church how best we can reach out to our world. Our committee communicates with our congregation through the Focus on Mission during worship services, the monthly newsletters, Facebook, e-notes, Remind messages, and the Sunday bulletins. We keep the congregation up-to-date on mission projects, special needs in disaster areas, special offerings, and all of our local mission outreach programs.

• to continue our partnerships locally and abroad and continue our traditional annual commitments/missions
• to explore strengthening our relationships with added efforts potentially in our Cuba partnership, in our relationship with our Guatemalan neighbors, and/or with New Deliverance Church
• to fill our committee with members and friends who are called to do mission work
• to maintain a balance of mission work in regard to who we serve (local, PCUSA, and global) and how we serve (donation of goods or money, spending time or labor)

Matthew 25 church in pcusa

Matthew 25:31–46 calls all of us to actively engage in the world around us, so our faith comes alive and we wake up to new possibilities. Convicted by this passage, both the 222nd and 223rd General Assemblies (2016 and 2018) exhorted the PC(USA) to act boldly and compassionately to see our neighbors through Jesus’ eyes and serve those who are marginalized or in need — people who are hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, imprisoned, strangers, poor or oppressed in other ways and in need of welcoming.

As a faith community, we joined with White Field Partners to purchase and distribute Days for Girls kits at Bishop Baughman Methodist Church School in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Throughout 2023 Lent, Elmhurst Presbyterian Church members collected their spare money and dedicated it to this mission. Then White Field Partners sent educators to the school along with the kits we bought. The young girls were given the kits and learned about their reproductive health from local educators.

For more information about these organizations, to recommend other organizations for the committee to consider, or to volunteer, please contact Anna Lu at .