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"You Are Now Entering the Mission Field..."  We have posted this above our main entrance/exit as a reminder that as we leave the church we are called to serve the world. We are most notably involved in two major outreach projects in Fairborn and nearby downtown Dayton. We are also very intentional about our giving as a part of our life in the church.

Our partnership with Fairborn Primary School has connected the church with the largest school of this type in five states. Over the past three years of this partnership we have engaged in more than 30 different ways of bettering the lives of Fairborn's students. Nearly a majority of the 1700 students receive some form of federal subsidy for meals and supplies. We bolster that support with large gifts from the church that come in the form of needed resources and in-kind giving. Many of our members are invited into the school to build direct relationships as we help in school activities from tutoring to directing children toward the right bus in the afternoon. We have even brought a traveling children's science exhibit from the Columbus Center for Science and Industry (COSI) to the primary school for several years providing a unique, fun, and special learning experience. Our congregation has been blessed in having the chance to shepherd these children through this most important of life stages.

For a bit more of an urban twist, we also work very closely with Dayton's overnight homeless shelter in two locations run by St. Vincent de Paul. We proudly procure, cook, and serve one meal for as many as 400 guests one night per month. This is a very large effort both voluntarily and logistically to provide consistent support for this ministry. Our volunteers have learned to navigate a commercial kitchen making large pots and pans full of food that would dwarf the average household stove. We have regular teams that organize quarterly so that no one person does all of the "heavy lifting". In this combined effort, we have organizers that help get everything done from making brownies to buying lettuce. When the St. Vincent ovens broke, we went to the congregation for funds to repair it and received the money needed in only one Sunday. This is an example of the commitment of First Presbyterian Church to serve those in need. As we provide this service, we have been able to build the occasional relationship with regular guests as well. These relationships go straight to the heart our purpose as Christians and why we strive to serve others having first known the love of Jesus Christ.

We are a giving congregation. We start with the first fruits dedicating 10% of our church's budget for outreach ministries. We also give gifts well in excess of that amount of money every year to meet the needs of people in our community and the organizations that service them. Giving is one of the strongest attributes of our congregation as our members are dedicated to reaching beyond themselves and showing commitment to the belief that God has blessed us richly, so we respond by gifts in faith. We make contributions to more than ten other organizations like our local Fairborn FISH food pantryl and, of course, the national and international missions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).