The Bay Ridge United Church hosted the youth group “LNG” — Leaders of the Next Generation — from Fort George Presbyterian Church in Washington Heights to hear of LNG’s mission trip to the Dominican Republic, which included a visit to Tu Puedes, a school being built near San Cristobel. Bay Ridge United has also visited Tu Puedes.
Angel Cuevas, Glendaly Santos, Digna Carvajal, Oscar Medina and Patricia Hilario spent two-and-a-half hours traveling around the City-Wide Five Boro Bike Tour to get to Bay Ridge. Once there, they provided a video and personal testimonies of their trip to Tu Puedes and Barahona.
The five leaders were joined by Tu Puedes Founder Debra Damiani, her husband Ruben and the school’s principal who told of the efforts of both churches in helping the school. Debra described Bay Ridge United as a cornerstone of the school because, after sending out 150 letters to churches asking for donations, only Bay Ridge United responded with a check for $1,000.
Pastor Jane Donnelly told the Sunday School children that when they got older they would be doing a similar trip.
LNG asked for help in collecting notebooks, pens and pencils, book bags and money to fund their work and Tu Puedes. The Sunday School also held a sidewalk sale to raise funds for Tu Puedes.
Bay Ridge United Church is a joint congregation of the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A. (PCUSA) and the Reformed Church of America (RCA) and is located at 636 Bay Ridge Parkway. Services are every Sunday at 11 a.m.
For more, call the church office at 718-836-4978 or go to their website at http://churches.rca.org/bayridge.
