Green Grant Recipients Selected

CRWRC Newsroom | December 3, 2009

First CRC in Vancouver, BC uses its Garden of Eatin' to reach out to the community and teach about sustainable eating.

CRWRC, together with the Christian Reformed Office of Social Justice, is pleased to announce that First CRC of Grand Haven, Michigan, and First CRC of Vancouver, British Columbia, are the winners of our second annual Green Congregation Grant.  To win the competitive $500 prize, the congregations had to submit proposals that showed how they were already involved in “effective and replicable ‘greening’” in their education, lifestyle, or theological programs and explain how they’d use the $500 to increase that effort.

First CRC of Grand Haven first embraced environmental projects a decade ago when it joined forces with a local, non-profit agency to provide used, donated appliances to those who need them. The success of the Appliance Ministry led to organized recycling programs for pop cans, water bottles, and toner and ink cartridges. In 2008, they began their most visible and aggressive environmental program, their Metal Recycle Ministry.

Staffed wholly by volunteers, the Metal Recycle Ministry picks up all types of metal throughout the community and delivers it to a recycling plant. As of October 2009, the congregation estimates it has recycled approximately 172,665 pounds of scrap metal that would otherwise have gone to a landfill.

"Almost every week volunteers receive a comment similar to, 'Your church is doing this? Churches don’t usually do this type of work to benefit the community!'" says a First CRC member. "Never underestimate the impact of ‘doing good’ in your community."

The $500 grant will be used to continue and improve the Metal Recycle Ministry.

In Canada, First CRC of Vancouver received $500 for their 'Garden of Eatin' project.  This is a community garden devoted to neighborhood outreach and sustainable gardening practices.

The produce is used to host an annual community feast, and gardeners are also given the opportunity to donate their produce to a local soup kitchen. According to church members, the garden has just been the tip of the iceberg.  The success of the garden helped the church initiate a sermon series and adult education class on Christian stewardship, serving fair trade coffee and reducing the use of disposable items (such as paper plates and cups) at church functions, a church-wide recycling program, and the installation of a bike rack.

"The garden has begun to help us, the greater church body and the neighborhood, to explore our use of food, where it comes from, and who the people are that produce it. It has also drawn us closer together…as a point of conversation and connection to some of the deeper issues in life, and our awe for the Creator."

First CRC of Vancouver will use the grant money for a storage bench that gardeners can use to store their tools when they are not using them.  The bench will also provide a place for people to sit and chat while enjoying the garden.

CRWRC and OSJ offer a Green Grant every year in an attempt to draw together a network of churches involved in creation care that have access to each other’s resources and ideas. 

"Some churches have already been making changes to their facilities, worship, and lifestyles in order to care for God’s creation," says Kate Kooyman, Congregational Justice Mobilizer for the CRC’s Office of Social Justice and the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee. "We want those congregations to share their experiences and resources as well as encourage others to get involved in combating very real threats to the creation that God calls us as Christians to keep."

“Around the world, poverty and environmental degradation go hand in hand,” said Beth DeGraff, Justice Contact for CRWRC.  “CRWRC is working with thousands of communities to help them improve their creation stewardship in order to also increase their food and income production.  We want to replicate that care for God’s creation in our own churches.”

Grant submissions and links to other creation care materials for individuals, congregations, and institutions can be accessed at www.crcjustice.org.