By Susan Bryant

sbryant@tnonline.com

While many agencies are struggling to help individuals and families in need due to the COVID-19 pandemic, one local church found a unique way to raise funds to benefit three nonprofit agencies.

Peggy Morgan, treasurer of Zion’s Union Church Maxatawny, Berks County, said the congregation participated in what they called a Matching Fund Initiative, an outreach project to benefit Second Harvest Food Bank, Nazareth; Salvation Army, Hamburg, Berks County; and Helping Harvest Food Bank, Reading, Berks County.

“It was suggested by a member of our congregation because this pandemic affected so many of our neighbors and we knew the agencies that were helping them were also struggling,” she said. “We were in a position to help them and wanted to do what we could.

“Community outreach has always been an important aspect of our church.”

The church board agreed on the three agencies they would help.

“We have members from both Berks and Lehigh counties, so we chose a food bank from both counties,” Morgan stated. “The Salvation Army was chosen because its also help many other agencies throughout the county, and we have previously done outreaches for them.”

They agreed on a goal amount, the plans to advertise were put in motion and carried out, and the treasurers took care of the deposits and keeping track of what money came in.

“It was a relatively easy process and it was all done through the mail,” Morgan said. “We set a time frame of three months - May through July - and set a goal of $5,000 to match.

“By the end of June, we were almost at that goal, so we upped the amount we would match to $7,500.

“It was announced, and updates were given on our virtual church service and also explained in our monthly newsletter.”

Members would send in their donations and, unless it was designated to a specific place, the donations were split three ways.

At the end, the totals were tallied and whatever the amount, it was matched and sent out to the three agencies.

“In total, we raised $5,755, which our church matched with monies from our investments, so we donated a total of $11,510,” she stated.

“What makes this so special, we think, is that the whole time we ran this outreach we were not physically attending church to give reminders and such, and yet our generous congregation kept contributing.

“We were so thrilled with the success of this initiative and thankful for the very generous members of our church family who, even in their own struggles, reached out to help.”

“We only hope our story would encourage other groups to help as they are able, because at this uncertain time, we need to be there for each other.”