Hands of Christ

Good morning!

The mission of Hands of Christ is to bring Presbyterian Church (USA) congregations together to meet the basic needs of children, showing them Christ’s love.

We do this the three weeks before schools starts by providing clothes and school supplies to children K-4 through 8th grade. Since 2003 we have served over 60,000 children.

I want to tell you about just one of them.

Friday night at the Charleston Atlantic Presbytery office in North Charleston, my task was to be the greeter and the outside crowd control.

As each family reached the door I say something like the following:

Welcome to Hands of Christ. We will get you inside in just a moment. We will get you masked up due to the virus and then you will move to the registration desk. After that we will match your child up with a shopping buddy, give them a paper bag, and together they will shop for clothes and school supplies. At the end you will get a Bible story book.

When we first opened the doors, the line outside was about twenty families long and as new families kept arriving at about the rate I was letting each family in. After about thirty minutes one little blonde haired, blue-eyed girl, about second grade I would guess, was now at the front of the line with two women, one of whom I suspected was her mother. I went through my little speech. One of the women then turned to the other and started talking. It caught my ear. It sounded Russian. So I said, “Dobray den. Myna zavoot Jim”. The two women turned to me and looked shocked. I asked, “Where are you from?” “Ukraine” “How long have you been here?” “Three months”

Being able to help little Anastasia, given the ordeal that she has left behind, melted my heart.

I want to invite you to have your heart melted, too, to come volunteer, this coming Friday at 4PM or Saturday at 10PM at Second Presbyterian Church or at one of our other sites.

More info may be found at www.handsofchrist.net or handsofchrist.net@gmail.com. Thank you.

A Minute for Mission at Mount Pleasant Presbyterian Church, Sunday July 31, 2022