February Discussion Questions
The community of Scotland has had a number of programs in place to aid the needy for quite some time. The Food Pantry housed at the UCC Church sees a great may patrons. Various community organizations assist in collecting goods for the Pantry. Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts and our churches hold food collection drives. Our local Chapter AE, P.E.O. donated $250.00 as their Christmas philanthropic gift.
The Scotland Life Enrichment for the Elderly has a large collection of wheelchairs, walkers and about every kind of medical equipment on hand. Anything they have can be used by anyone in need for any length of time and at no charge.
Our volunteer transport group is ready to drive anyone unable to take care of their own transportation.
My project is the Good Stuff household furniture, bedding, small appliance. etc. collection to be shared with anyone in need. (no fee involved) The director of the Scotland Food Pantry, Rev. Neumeister and I are working on finding a location in Scotland to combine both projects. We feel that the families who come to the Food Pantry would possibly be interested in taking home some of the household goods to be shared. In order to keep this project up and running for a long time, I want to find unused space in an existing facility which would be donated rent free for the Food Pantry and Good Stuff. Good Stuff is currently quite successful in an unheated vacant store. In order to combine the Food Pantry in the facility it would be necessary to have heat. We are hoping to find such a donated facility as soon as possible.
Our Horizons committees are probably not an exact demographic portrait of Scotland as we have a very large elderly population. However, we do have members who correspond to all of the age and financial segments of our community. The Horizons program has found new leaders who have not previously been a part of local service organizations and through their encouragement we are expecting success in all of our endeavors.
With our projects currently in place to help the needy and the help and promotion received through the Horizons staff with projects in progress to improve our community, we are excited about the future of Scotland.