Opportunities for Service

Community Meal

Every Tuesday, 5:00–5:45pm

We serve a free sit-down meal to approximately 125–150 guests every Tuesday evening from 5:00pm to 5:45pm. Everybody in the community is invited to attend. The meal usually consists of a vegetable, salad, entree, dessert, and a choice of beverage. Inviting the whole community provides a way for all of us to share a meal and conversation together. Everyone is welcome here!

Volunteers are always welcome and encouraged to help with food preparation, serving, and cleanup after the meal. We invite you to donate your time, energy, and experience. Our volunteers say they feel rewarded many times over for the help they provide in making a difference in the lives of others.

You can sign up in one-hour time blocks for however many hours fit your schedule on any particular day.

  • Shift 1, 12–4pm — Prepare, cook, and assemble food for the meal, set tables, and help with other dinner prep as needed.
  • Shift 2, 4–7pm — Serve meals in the dining room, run dishes back to the kitchen, serve beverages, and assist with cleanup. This is a fast-paced, community-engaging shift.

If you or anyone you know would like to be a part of this vital and much-needed ministry, whether just for one week or on an ongoing basis, you can sign up using our Sign Up Genius forms (there’s a separate one for each week), or contact our Community Meal Coordinator, Katie Kukol Wright (meal@upcbgm.org or 607-722-4219). First-time volunteers also need to submit our Volunteer Application (online, or fill out the paper version available at the church).

Sewing Group

Wednesdays, 9am–12pm

The Sewing Group works diligently year-round to make the many items that are donated each year. From left to right: Jean Hill, Jan Hoover, and Ann Cobb.

The Sewing Group meets every week in the Upper Lounge on the 2nd floor, working to create crib-size or lap quilts, decorative pillows, and walker “carry bags,” as well as knitted hats, sweaters, mittens, scarves, and baby items. Our donations are given to:

  • Charities including Mom’s House, the YWCA, Rescue Mission, Birthright, Meals on Wheels, and Camp Sunshine (for children with terminal cancer);
  • Care facilities including Willow Point, Fairview Good Shepherd, United Methodist Homes (Elizabeth Church & St. Louise Manor), Hilltop, Bridgewater, and Absolute Care;
  • Our homebound members;
  • Folks who are part of our “UPC lobby” community;
  • and newborns in our congregation receive a quilt gift.

Anyone interested is encouraged to join them on Wednesday mornings starting at 9am. Bring a sandwich to enjoy lunch during fellowship at 12 noon. No special sewing skills are needed for cutting squares, design layout, pinning, tying, setting the table for lunch, or heating water for tea. Sewing machine and hand hemming skills are a plus.

Care & Share Project

2nd Thursday of every month, 9:30am–12:30pm

This program provides personal care/hygiene items to individuals and families who hold Broome County, New York State Benefit Identification cards and receive SNAP benefits. The purpose of the Care & Share Project is to help each household supplement products that cannot be purchased with SNAP benefits. We continue the effort to encourage recipients of the Care & Share program to supply their own bags to take items home.

All hands welcome!

Thank you to all those who continue to support this program. We gladly accept donations of any of the products that we distribute through this program: bars of soap, shampoo, deodorant, razors, laundry and dishwashing detergents, toilet paper, dental supplies, and sanitary napkins/tampons.

Ann Garcia handles intake of the clients of our Care & Share project. Her record-keeping is essential in showing how much demand there is for various items, so we can be prepared for the distribution day each month.

Suzie Northrop Raboy and Kathy Kopp gather up items to give to clients of our Care & Share project.

You can bring products to the church during our regular hours: 8am–8pm Monday through Friday, or Sunday mornings between 9am and noon. We welcome donations of any size from sample size to jumbo, but regular-sized products are preferred for ease of handling.

You can also contribute financially by cash or check (pay to the order of United Presbyterian Church, with Care & Share in the memo line) or through our online giving site.

For more information, or to volunteer, contact the office (office@upcbgm.org or 607-722-4219) or sign up at upcbgm.org/serve-others/volunteer-at-upc.

An anonymous thank you note that we received at the August Care & Share distribution day:

Thank you for being Christ-like!

Church friends,

Special thanks to the church and volunteers who help out with free supply day. This is a huge help to my family as I am recovering from surgery and out of work. — A friend in Christ