March 19, 2020 Update - The church office will not be staffed for regular business hours at this time. Phone messages, emails, mail, etc. will be checked regularly.  See below for ways that you can help in our community.

March 16, 2020

We know that all of you have been making difficult decisions each day about how to engage with the world during these uncertain times. It is a challenge to decide how to best protect ourselves, those we love, and the most vulnerable among us, while also feeling a desire to keep living our lives. 

These difficult decisions are also happening among our church leadership. We do not want anyone to be in danger from exposure to the coronavirus, and so we have cancelled face-to-face activities, including worship, at this time. We are listening to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the North Carolina Bishop of the ELCA, and the Presiding Bishop of the ELCA as sources of information.

Beginning tomorrow, we will offer online messages six days a week. These will include Sunday sermons and children’s sermons, music, devotions, questions to ponder, prayers and devotions, and Friday Faithprints. We hope you will feel connected to your church family in these ways. They will be posted on Realm, Facebook, and YouTube each day by noon. We can’t be together in person, but we can still be together.

In addition, the office will be staffed by Verna and Mike during regular office hours, and you may bring in food for North Raleigh Ministries or drop off your offering during these hours. The rest of the staff will be working from home and coming into the office as necessary. Know that we are available by cell phone, text, and email when you need to talk, just as if you were to come to the office.

Please know that we trust God to guide us through these unchartered waters, for God has been doing that since the beginning of creation. Our prayers are with all of you as we know you are lifting up your sisters and brothers to God’s care, mercy, and love.

- Pastor Louise and Pastor Marsha

Ways to Help Our Community and Community Partners

Good Shepherd Is Here for You. How Can We Help?

You know that our pastors are available to talk with you and pray with you when you need it. Did you also know that members of the Good Shepherd community are available to help? Whether you need someone to pick up your groceries or a prescription, if you are looking for a youth to read to your child through FaceTime or Skype while you work, or if there is something else that you need, contact us at info@gslchurch.org. And, if you can help, let us know. If you have friends in need who are not online, send their information and we will work to get them connected.  

Family Promise

Family Promise is committed to transforming the lives of families experiencing temporary homelessness by providing support services and moving them into safe, affordable, permanent housing. Any size gift provides concrete help to a family in need.

• $10 provides one day of food for one person in their emergency shelter.

• $20 provides one night of emergency shelter for one person.

• $50 provides one week of housing for a family in their transitional housing program.

• $200 provides one month of housing for a family in their transitional housing program.

You can make a cash donation here. Learn more about Family Promise here.

GSLC April Food Barrel - Urban Ministries of Wake County

Since 1981, Urban Ministries of Wake County has responded to our neighbors in crisis by providing basic needs – food, medicine and shelter. Their clients come for help with necessities that many of us take for granted. They come when food and funds have run out, when untreated illness threatens their family stability or even their life. They come when “home” has slipped away, leaving them to wonder where they’ll sleep or how they’ll make a meal. Urban Ministries responds to the immediate need with love, patience, concern and respect. Beyond the crisis, they invite clients to consider what might need to change for them to enjoy a stable life.

Urban Ministries’ food pantry provides a week’s groceries to as many as 50 families each weekday. Last year, their volunteers distributed 270 tons of food and served more than 20,000 adults and 10,000 hungry children. The self-service pantry model reduces food waste and affords greater dignity to those served. While the crisis is hunger, the opportunity is for health through nutrition. It begins by sourcing and providing fresh produce–including their own three volunteer-run gardens.

Due to the COVID-19 situation, they are currently not accepting food donations but the need is still there. The good news is they are still buying food from the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina at $.19/lb. The price from the food bank translates into more bang for a donor's buck since they can’t buy food at the grocery store for that price.

You can donate to Urban Ministries by going to www.urbanmin.org/donate. Any size donation is welcome. Please write in the additional comments space, "GSLC food drive" or something similar, so they can track our impact to let us know how much we have raised and how much food that equates to.

Meals on Wheels (MOW)

Meals on Wheels  delivers 1400 meals a day to shut-ins in Wake County. However, as of March 20, MOW did their last hot meal delivery for the foreseeable future. Beginning Tuesday, March 31, MOW will attempt to deliver 5 frozen meals once a week to all 1400 participants in Wake County.  

The following frozen meal delivery pick-up locations will need volunteer support: Rolesville, Wendell, Knightdale, Zebulon, Cary,  Morrisville, Wake Forest, Fuquay Varina, and Garner. 

If you are a current volunteer, please contact your site manager to let them know if you can help. If you are not a current volunteer, and would like to help, please fill out the official Meals on Wheels of Wake County Volunteer Application. Also, email joselle@wakemow.org to be put on the email update list. Learn more about Meals on Wheels here.

North Raleigh Ministries

When a crisis hits, local charities and the vulnerable members of our society, like the low-income clients of North Raleigh Ministries (NRM), can really struggle to get by. At this time, NRM has had to close its thrift shop (although they are still accepting donations to the thrift shop), so financial support and food donations are critical. 

• $50 provides a week's worth of nutritious food.
• $200 provides a month's worth of nutritious food.
• $600 fills one of NRM's freezers for a month.

Click here to donate directly to the NRM Food Pantry, or click here to learn more about the many ways you can support NRM at this time.