Monroe Church Walks Shoes Down the Aisle for Hope Ministries

For the last few weeks, the Monroe Presbyterian Church has been the drop off point for the “Share A Pair” project for Hope Ministries. This unique project allowed them to give both new and not-so-new shoes to Hope Ministries as they have plans to do three things with the shoes. First, they will distribute them to Hope Ministries guests and residents.

Secondly, they will sell them at the Hope Bargain Center in Pleasant Hill. The shop allows community members to purchase affordable shoes and gives Hope Ministries an income to continue their ministries with the homeless. Finally, if the shoes are not fit for giving or selling, they will be recycled and the proceeds will again benefit the ministry to the homeless.

On Sunday, March 14, the high school and middle school kids of the Monroe church arranged a portion of the shoes to “walk” the aisle of the sanctuary. While no official count occurred of shoes received, a van load of shoes made its way to Hope Ministries.

Now that’s a lot of shoes!

Pajama’s at Monroe Church are a Hit!

Thirty-five pairs of pajamas are now a part of “Helen’s Pajama Party!”. Through the second half of January, Monroe Presbyterian Church a local group called “The Quality Chicks” joined together to gather pajamas for Helen’s Pajama Party. The brain child of Kelly Sargent, Helen’s Pajama Party seeks to gather 3,000 pairs of pajamas to give to domestic violence shelters in Iowa. The hope is with the gift of these pajamas every woman entering the shelter will be able to receive a new pair of pajamas.

Pictured with the pajamas are Monroe Church members (left to right): Pat Pendroy, Julie Phillipson, Rev. Ann Johnson, Shirley Gilman, and Terri St. Peter.

Monroe Church Helps Warm Students

Through an interesting set of twists and turns, people from Monroe Presbyterian Church learned that the Mitchellville Elementary School has a rate of 60% of students on free and reduced lunch. This fall, Principal Joe Nelson sent out a notice asking if any child needed outerwear for the season. The response was amazing to the invitation to receive warm weather clothing. The distance from Monroe and Mitchellville is short, yet the knowledge of this need was news to the Monroe church members.

Monroe, with a population of about 1,800, and Mitchellville, with a population of 1,700, are approximately 20 miles apart. Both are within the bounds of Des Moines Presbytery and located less than 50 miles east of the city.

On Sunday, Dec. 13, the Sunday School kids did their annual Christmas program. It is a custom to receive a special offering during this service with the funds going to a family or a cause. This year the Christian Education Committee supported having the Mitchellville Elementary Clothing Fund as the recipient of our offering.

Principal Nelson presented a moment for mission on Sunday, Dec. 6 as a part of making the congregation aware of the need in this near-by community. In addition to the monetary offering, members and friends of the church gathered hats, scarves, mittens, other head gear as well as some coats and other warm weather gear.


On Friday morning, Dec. 18, the delivery of the items took place along with a check for just under $300 for the clothing fund. Principal Joe Nelson thanked us profusely for the gifts and told us an amazing fact, “By 3:30 p.m. today, all of these hats, scarves, and mittens will be gone. For some of these kids, this will be one of the few Christmas gifts they receive.” Nelson went on to explain they don’t have any storage for these winter items as there isn’t a need to store them. The items are immediately used.