Being good stewards of the church can take on many forms.
When the staff at the Greater New Jersey conference office was planning their move to the Mission and Resource Center, they knew there would be functional and valuable furnishings and supplies that would not be moving with them.
“We knew that we would not be able to bring most to the furnishings with us for the move,” said John Cardillo, Treasurer and Director of Finance and Administration, “And we also knew that the furniture and supplies could be put to good use in our churches and agencies.”
Announcements were placed in The Relay and Digest and Lida DeNardo, Executive Assistant in Finance and Administration took charge of setting up tours and keeping inventory of what was available.
Dozens of church leaders took advantage of the free furniture including Montgomery UMC, Hamilton UMC, First UMC Westfield, Good Shephard UMC, Church of the Master in Howell, Park UMC in Bloomfield, St. Paul’s in Ocean Grove, Atlantic Highlands UMC, and C.A.M.P. YDP in Paterson.
“In an effort to spruce up camp, we wanted to clear out some of our more worn furnishings. We didn’t have funding for new furniture,” said Cassandra Ferrigno, Acting Director of Camping and Retreat Ministries. “Being able to use some of the outgoing furniture from Wickapecko Drive was an answer to our prayers.”
“We have also renovated the offices creating clean, organized work spaces and a beautiful new break room for our employees,” added Ferrgino.
“Hamilton UMC was blessed with several file cabinets, desk chairs, office chairs and general office supplies,” said Pastor Jessica Campbell. “The furniture helped transform the Pastor’s office and church office in remarkable ways. Receiving all of these items really helped our congregation replace and upgrade what we had.”
Chair of Trustees at Atlantic Highlands UMC Karen Kaasmann said, “We had just finished some updates in our church when the news of the furniture from the conference move became available.”
Atlantic Highlands was able to put in new kitchen cabinets for their food pantry and upgrade the office furniture for the administrative assistant.
“We’ve transformed our library into a small meeting room by obtaining nice conference chairs,” said Kaasmann.
C.A.M.P. YDP Board Chairperson Patricia Francis was “extremely grateful” for the donated furniture used to help the organization’s mission to improve the overall physical look of the facility. Francis said the donations were “an asset and a blessing.”
“Nothing was wasted in the move,” said Cardillo. “We are thrilled that our move could provide new opportunities for our congregations.”