One Great Hour of Sharing

The three programs supported by One Great Hour of Sharing - Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, the Presbyterian Hunger Program, and Self-Development of People - all work in different ways to serve individuals and communities in need. From initial disaster response to ongoing community development, their work fits together to provide people with safety, sustenance, and hope.

Each gift to One Great Hour of Sharing supports efforts to relieve hunger through the Presbyterian Hunger Program, promote development through the Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People, and assist in areas of disaster through Presbyterian Disaster Assistance.

One Great Hour of Sharing gifts are received at Prospect on Palm Sunday, using a special offerings envelope, mailing a check to Prospect Church noting OGHS in the memo, or by going online to Prospect's giving page and selecting One Great Hour in the drop down list. Stories of people helped specifically by these gifts will appear in this space in the weeks leading up to April 2nd. "Fish Banks" for children & youth are available in the narthex and a giving calendar is found below to download.

OGHS calendar

.

Download • 157KB

Presbyterian Hunger Program at Work in Florida

Lupe Gonzalo understands all too well the hardscrabble life of a farmworker. She often had to wake up at 4 or 5 o’clock in the morning to travel to a farm, where she was handed a bucket and told to fill that bucket as many times as humanly possible during the day.

“That’s your job,” she said. “That’s what you’re there to do. And when you’re doing this work, sometimes you aren’t given the time to stop, take a break, to drink some water or to just gather yourself.”

While all farmworkers are subject to exploitation, women are especially vulnerable. “For farmworker women, one of the main things that they have faced is sexual harassment and sexual violence in the workplace, which can be verbal but also physical,” Lupe said. “The women don’t really have an option of speaking out for themselves, because often if you do, you run the risk of losing your job. And if you lose that job, you’re not able to put food on your family’s table.”

But Lupe’s and thousands of farmworkers’ lives were made better, thanks to the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), a worker-based human rights organization. CIW is a partner of the Presbyterian Hunger Program, a ministry supported by our gifts to One Great Hour of Sharing.

One Great Hour of Sharing’s purpose of helping neighbors in need around the world remains constant, giving us a tangible way to share God’s love — not only through the ministries of the Presbyterian Hunger Program, but also Presbyterian Disaster Assistance and Self-Development of People.

“For us farmworkers, the support from Presbyterians across the county has meant the world to us,” said Lupe. “It has meant that we don’t feel like we’re alone, and that we’re not just demanding dignity and human rights, but that human rights need to be guaranteed. And we’re walking the walk together. Presbyterians have fasted with us, they’ve marched with us. It has been through collective action that we’ve been able to demand together a new day for farmworkers.”

Self Development of People in Panama

Paola Tognarelli’s connection to Mother Earth is sacred. Just like the bond she now shares with the other women in her life through an organization based in Panama City, Panama, called Women’s Meeting Space.

Women's Meeting Space is a non-governmental organization that advocates for the rights of Panama’s women, both Indigenous and from its poorest communities. It helps the women, primarily heads of household who are unemployed, and their families grow food at home to help them overcome the challenges made worse by the pandemic, including high unemployment. This partner organization receives funding through the Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People (SDOP), which is supported by Presbyterians’ generous gifts to One Great Hour of Sharing.