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Rural Ministry gearing to serve the needy at holidays

The Chautauqua County Rural Ministry is hosting their Family Sponsorship Program and currently accepting applications.

Danielle McCartney, a senior at the State University of New York at Fredonia majoring in public relations, reached out to the OBSERVER to spread the news of the Rural Ministry’s annual Family Sponsorship Program. “As a student of the public relations capstone this semester, my team and I are currently representing the Chautauqua County Rural Ministry,” she said. “The Rural Ministry has many different programs available to help the local community and is one of the most beneficial organizations to the area.”

McCartney’s capstone course this semester required her and her team to pair up with an organization in the community to help both parties learn more about what public relations is and how to go about it. Given the choice between three local organizations, her and her team chose to represent the Chautauqua County Rural Ministry.

“Our team consists of Emily McGuire, Joseph Sciera, Olivia Taney, Angelea Ruiz, Matt Lauria and myself! The goal of the course is to have us public relations students gain some real hands-on experience by having clients to represent and executing our own promotional plans,” she said. “It also is dual purpose because we get to help out some really amazing local charities, while simultaneously building our own skills.”

Acting as a public resource advocate alongside her group mates for the Chautauqua County Rural Ministry, McCartney offered information to the OBSERVER about the Ministry’s current program, which is held annually. “As the holiday season is quickly approaching, the Rural Ministry is hosting its Family Sponsorship Program. Essentially, families apply to sponsor a family in need for the Christmas season,” McCartney said. “This is a great way for local families in need to receive some much needed holiday cheer, especially during these trying times.”

The official applications opened last week, giving families the opportunity to donate food and Christmas gifts to families in need. To do this, those interested can apply by filling out the form located on the Rural Ministry’s website, https://www.theccrm.org/news, and can email the form to Kathleen Peterson ccrmkp@gmail.com, or return it to the Rural Ministry Offices located at 319 Washington Ave. in Dunkirk by Dec. 14.

Families looking to sign up to receive donated gifts/food are able to apply at the Rural Ministry Offices from 9 a.m. to noon Monday. Families wanting to sign up need to bring proof of residence, proof of income and social security cards for all family members.

“The Family Sponsorship program is one of the many programs run by the Rural Ministry,” McCartney said. “It essentially allows people the opportunity to sponsor a family in need for Christmas.”

Besides helping with this current program, two of the students’ main goals this semester was to create and execute a food drive to donate to the Ministry’s food pantry and spread the word about what they do and stand for.

“We held the food drive for two weeks in November at Fredonia’s campus. The Rural Ministry is always in need of donations, especially now with COVID-19 resulting in so many more people needing help. Our campus food drive was the fundraising component of our promotional plan and allowed us to help stock the Ministry’s food pantry,” McCartney said. “As the Ministry has experienced challenges expanding its outreach and having adequate publicity, our main focus was to spread the word about this organization and encourage people to donate, get involved, or just simply spread the word to those who could benefit from the Ministry’s programs.”

McCartney explained that her love for the Ministry went “beyond the grade” this semester, as she really got to know all of the people who represent the Chautauqua County Rural Ministry.

“This experience has been very meaningful to me personally and for all of my group members. Kathy Peterson and Bridget Majka, Directors of Programs at the Rural Ministry, are two wonderful women with so much kindness in their hearts. The Rural Ministry does so much to help the local area and it feels really good to help out such a genuine organization,” she said. “I am really thankful for organizations like the Rural Ministry because they really do so much good for so many. This year has been so challenging for so many people, so seeing the work the ministry does restores your faith in the world a bit.”

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