Serving the Community

In September 2009, Eunice Medwinter started the Bloomfield Backpack Project to make sure the children of Bloomfield had enough to eat over the weekends. It is coordinated by First Church, UCC, in Bloomfield. First Church helps financially and sends teams of volunteers to pack the backpacks with food on the second Thursday of each month.

The CT Foodshare mobile food pantry is a "Farmers Market" style food distribution service, which provides fresh produce and other food to individuals and families in need. A mobile food truck comes to First Church of Christ, Glastonbury every other Wednesday and our volunteers help in the food distribution.

We have an ongoing collection of food items for our neighbors in need. Our donations go to Horace Bushnell Children’s Food Pantry in Hartford, Glastonbury Links Together Backpack Project, Manchester Area Conference of Churches (MACC) and Glastonbury Food Pantry. Drop off your donations in the back lobby or in the Narthex.

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Each Christmas season, First Church sets up giving trees that benefit several organizations. Members of the congregation choose tags and purchase Christmas gifts for children selected by Family Life Education, Covenant to Care, Glastonbury Social Services and  Manchester Area Conference of Churches.

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In 2010, the Board of Christian Service voted to become a member church of MACC. A few times a year we help at their community food pantry, thrift store and soup kitchen.

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Our church partners with the Robert J. O’Brien STEM Academy in East Hartford. We provide material support and staff and volunteer time to the children and staff of O'Brien School. This speaks directly to our beliefs about the inherent dignity, worth and value of every child, and their right to a good education in a region where the local tax base plays an outsized role in the educational support that children receive.

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This ongoing collection in our back lobby provides paper goods and personal care items for families and individual whose limited incomes do not allow the purchase of the necessary household items. The State's food stamp program SNAP does not cover these items. The nonperishable items are given out monthly to Glastonbury residents.

For many years, the Board of Christian Service has collected turkeys and monetary donations from church and community members on the Sunday before Thanksgiving. The turkeys and money are donated to Connecticut Foodshare.

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For more than a decade, First Church has partnered with the Fred. D. Wish Museum School. This partnership has included helping the kindergarten children with basic reading skills, collecting hats and mittens for the students, and other support.

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First Church has a group of skilled “Good Samaritans” willing to help other members who are having trouble finding the right help or resources to perform various “odd” jobs around the house at no cost. Contact the Church Office to see if your household task or project is something the group is willing and able to take on.

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This small group aims to develop and implement initiatives with the goal of fostering a welcoming and supportive environment, as well as providing education about mental health topics to eliminate the stigma surrounding mental health issues.

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This team broadens engagement within our church community in matters relating to white privilege, implicit bias, and the impact of systemic racism through facilitated conversations, book studies, hosting speakers, and getting involved with church and/or community groups with similar goals. We offer ways to put racial justice into action. Long term, we envision FCC, in partnership with the UCC with its long history of commitment to racial justice, to be seen as allies to people of color and a leading voice for racial justice in our community and beyond.

On alternating Wednesdays, when the mobile food pantry is not here at church, we have a team of volunteers who carpool to CT Foodshare's Bloomfield facility for an 8:30-11:30 am shift to help sort and package the produce that is distributed from the mobile food pantry trucks and to various food pantries across the state.

For many years, we have “adopted” two social workers and responded to the needs of the children and families that they work with. We also periodically hold diaper drives to support the families of Covenant to Care.

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Through community organizing, the Greater Hartford Interfaith Action Alliance (GHIAA) advocates for justice in the Greater Hartford region. Local congregational Core Teams work with GHIAA's staff in discerning specific areas of reform in the state and region. We offer opportunities to discuss issues of concern to inform GHIAA’s state legislative agenda and to advocate for creating a more just and loving local community and region.

For decades, we have been partners with Hands On Hartford. Hands On Hartford serves Hartford’s most economically challenged residents in the areas of food, housing and health. Throughout the year, we serve mid-day meals and also provide dinner for our neighbors. There are opportunities to serve the meals and/or donate the food items needed.

We believe in giving people of all ages, including children, the opportunity to serve in the community. Several times per year we offer Mission Immersion Days. All ages go into the community and work with various agencies to help our neighbors in need. We also serve our own members with cards and treats to brighten their day. 

For years, First Church has sponsored church rummage sales. This weekend has grown, and the Super Giant Tag Sale is an event that people enjoy giving to and shopping at. On selected dates throughout the year, we collect items that will then be sold at the fall sale. All the money raised at the Super Giant Tag Sale is given to non-profits that further our mission of making the world a more just and compassionate place.

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