Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church - Volunteer of the Month

Volunteer of the Month

Each month we salute a member who has become vitally involved in God's
family by using his or her gifts and time in the fellowship, service, outreach
and education opportunities within and beyond the walls of Fifth Avenue
Presbyterian Church. PREVIOUS MEMBERS OF THE MONTH.

Member of the Month — March/April 2008
George O’Hanlon

George O’Hanlon, undoubtedly among the most faithful members of the usher and greeter team, is February’s volunteer of the month.

“Rain or shine, every Sunday, he’s there – and he's over 80,” said Jacky Radifera, the who leads the usher/greeter team. “He’s an ordinary man doing extraordinary work. Given his integral role in the usher and greeter ministry, he’s known as ‘King George’ among his friends – much like Homer, one name is enough.”

Though some of Mr. O’Hanlon’s volunteer activities keep him out of the public eye, on Sundays, he stands sentinal near the back doors of the sanctuary before services begin.

The role of an usher and greeter is more complicated than it may first appear. Behind the scenes, they attend to all the details, large and small –
everything from posting the hymn numbers to making sure all materials in the sanctuary are ready in the proper amounts and locations – so that the rest of us can simply relax and worship on Sunday. Hymnals and Bibles may need to be redistributed for ease of access; offering envelopes may need to be restocked. It is no small logistical feat (and not light work, either) to move
many hundreds of paper bulletins and dozens of communion and offering plates into position every week, but he and the rest of the crew cheerfully
undertake the task.

And it’s not just Sunday that you’ll find him serving other members of FAPC. O’Hanlon has served on the Board of Deacons, and has assisted in setting up and helping out with the Women’s Club annual fair in the Christian Education Center, as well as the upstairs/downstairs preparations for the Meals on
Heels program. He also has been involved in the Couples Club and volunteered during the coffee hours.

New members are asked to think about ways they can get involved in service and in being served (breathing in, as well as breathing out, God’s love), and
Mr. O’Hanlon has not neglected either part of the equation. Among the ways Mr. O’Hanlon breathes in God’s love at the church, he said that he particularly enjoys the hymn “Amazing Grace,” the rich pageantry
of the Christmas season, and “a lot of fun Saturdays” with his friends from FAPC.

Radifera says it’s not just his faithful attendance that makes him an excellent example of Christ’s call to serve.

“I have been impressed on on the one hand by his personality, his humility, helpful nature and positive constructive approach to work and on the other hand, by his professional expertise,” Radifera said of O’Hanlon, a member of FAPC for about 10 years. “He is also a man of culture and education as well as high ideals. His capacity for hard work has set a good example to young people in our church.”

Respectfully submitted,
Laura Smith

Volunteer of the Month — January/February 2008
Debbie Mullins

From the citrus groves of central Florida to the coffee farms of Guatemala, Debbie Mullins has followed the call of Christ into mission-related
service.

In the process, she has also led many fellow Christians in what she describes as a moral responsibility.

“I feel very strongly that we are meant to serve
people who are less fortunate than ourselves and to be Christ to those who are in need today – partly because I’ve been so blessed in my life,” Debbie says.

A self-proclaimed “cradle Presbyterian,” Debbie says the seeds of her service commitment were sewn during her teenage years in Winter Haven, Florida – a town in the citrus groves between Orlando and Tampa.

“In my growing-up years we had a pastor who really encouraged youth to be involved in mission and think pretty deeply about injustice in the world,” Debbie says.

Those thoughts led to action when she and several other teenagers at her church started a day school on Saturdays for the children of migrant workers picking in the citrus groves. Debbie says the church parents helped talk to the workers to get them interested, but that she and her friends soon took over – providing games, arts and crafts, food and transportation for the children.

After finishing college in Kentucky and graduate school back in Florida, Debbie moved to New York in 1979. She started looking for a church the way any reasonable person might.

“Since I didn’t know my way around, I just looked in the yellow pages for Presbyterian churches,” Debbie says. “FAPC was the only one that listed its coordinates in the yellow book – 55th and Fifth – where I could find them.”
She joined the church in 1980 and soon became involved with The Peacemakers, a predecessor of what is now Advocates for Peace and Justice. During the 1980s, Debbie was active in social justice causes and spent much of her time advocating for nuclear disarmament.

Debbie says she expected, like many non-native New Yorkers, to leave the city after a few years. Nearly 30 years later, though, she has helped lead several outreach committees at Fifth Avenue and served five terms on the session.

In 1996 she helped establish Fifth Avenue’s mission trip committee and became the group’s chair.

The first several trips that she planned took Fifth Avenue volunteers to the fincas of Guatemala just after the end of the country’s civil war.

Since 1996, the mission trip has led groups to volunteer in Africa, Korea, Jamaica, and Egypt, among other places. On a recent trip to India, Debbie and a group of Fifth Avenue volunteers worked with local villagers and visited a Fifth Avenue-supported project that taught job skills to people left without work when mining stopped abruptly in the Kolar Gold Fields several years ago.

Debbie still is on the mission trip committee, though she is no longer its chair. She will be leading a trip to New Orleans in May, which is one of three Gulf Coast trips planned for the coming year. She says much of the work now being done on Gulf Coast trips involves working on the internal construction of homes – installing things like insulation, wallboard, and flooring – though she added that there are plenty of jobs for people less interested in the stress of manual labor.

When Debbie is not busy this year in her research work at Schering-Plough, she also volunteers for a national low-income housing fund.

“The church should not be passive in getting involved in public affairs,” Debbie says. “We should be beacons for the rest of the world.”

Respectfully Submitted,
Matt Hanson

Volunteer of the Month — November/December 2007
Barbara E. Swarthout

When Barbara Swarthout walked through the doors of Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church one Sunday morning in 1982 at the invitation of a friend, she had no idea of the friendships, fellowship and faith journey that awaited her.

After the visit, Barbara decided to come back. She dipped her toes in by taking some adult education classes, both for the biblical/theological grounding and to meet new people. She ultimately joined the church in 1984 and hasn’t looked back!

Among her many endeavors, Barbara was an elder (Class of 2006), trustee (Class of 2001) and deacon (Class of 1993), as well as member of the associate pastor nominating committee that recommended calls to Drs. Oscar McCloud and Greg Cootsona. She co-chaired Project Angel Tree and participated in mission and church-sponsored trips to Jamaica, Ghana, Japan and the Soviet Union (part of the National Council of Churches celebration of the Millennium of Christianity in the Soviet Union). She increased her volunteer efforts since retiring and currently serves as an elder commissioner to the NYC Presbytery, as Treasurer and chief computer person for the Women’s Association and as a money counter for the finance department.
Barbara will be the first to tell you that her steady involvement and connection with the church became a whole lot more than she imagined or bargained for! Aside from attending Presbyterian Sunday School
periodically as a child, church wasn’t a central focus for Barbara or her parents. She recalls that the invitation to visit FAPC came at the right time in her life.

Barbara reflects, “When I moved to New York in August of 1957, I never expected to stay, remain single, continue working all those years or be so involved with a church. But that is how my life evolved, and here I am – look what God created!” She quotes a favorite line of Dr. Kirkland, FAPC’s senior pastor from 1962-1987, that aptly describes her feelings about the church – “You can’t go it alone in New York.” Barbara says, “This has proved true for me. I don’t have extended family and the church family has supported me in good times and bad, especially during unexpected health crises.”
And Barbara couldn’t feel more blessed. Watching the church grow, evolve and undergo the building renovation in the past 20 years, she notes, “The church has had its ups and downs but it comes back stronger every time and prospers.” With the bicentennial celebration right around the corner, Barbara’s hope for FAPC is that it continues to be a mission church that reaches beyond its walls to serve a community and world in need.
Barbara encourages others to become active and involved as servant leaders, both time-wise and financially. “I pledge because I consider it a duty of membership. I want to give something back to this faith community that enriches my life in countless ways. I believe we must ensure that the church can continue its mission here in the Big Apple and beyond.”

A native of Canandaigua, NY, Barbara moved to New York after earning a B.A. in history with honors from Swarthmore College to pursue a 40-plus year career in data processing, one of the few choices open to women on an equal basis with men at the time. She retired from Merrill Lynch Human Resources Information Systems in October 2000 shortly after becoming a member of ML’s Quarter Century Club.

Barbara loves to crochet and each year donates several afghans, lap robes and baby blankets to the Joy of Christmas bazaar. She shares her apartment with her “girls” – Shadow and Nutmeg – whom she adopted from a cat shelter after retiring, and who continue to frustrate her because they don’t like each other and live in separate rooms!

If you see Barbara in the halls of FAPC, say hello and let yourself be inspired and motivated by our volunteer of the month. Never stop thinking about what you can do to serve a world in need; for, like Barbara, you don’t know what God might have in store for you!

Respectfully submitted,
Courtney A. Judd

Volunteer of the Month —
September/October 2007
Tim Eddy

Growing up as the son of two ministers, Tim Eddy says the idea of service was ingrained in his mind. Now as an adult, Eddy’s volunteer work through FAPC has been an invaluable part of his journey with Christ. “I remember someone telling me around the time I joined the church, ‘Surround yourself with people of deep faith, and that is a way to help yourself along your own faith journey,’” he explains. “So often when
you volunteer, those are the kind of people you meet – people who don’t necessarily wear their faith on their sleeve, but they’re just quiet people of faith who are very impressive.”

Eddy’s biggest volunteer commitment at FAPC is his work at the church’s homeless shelter. He began volunteering in 2002, just as he joined the church, because it seemed like a natural outgrowth of his day job as a project manager for the not-for-profit housing company Phipps Houses. While many shelter volunteers start out as early evening hosts – greeting and socializing with the twelve shelter guests from 7:00 to 8:30 pm – Eddy jumped right into being an overnight host, the volunteer who spends the night and leaves with the men at 6:00 am. “For me it’s a very easy thing to do, and the guys are very appreciative of folks who volunteer their time,” he says. “They understand that it’s not something people have to do.” Eddy points out that the living conditions for the guests and the overnight hosts have dramatically improved as a result of the church’s renovation (overnight hosts have private sleeping quarters, and the shelter now holds twelve men instead of ten) – and since he doesn’t own a TV, Eddy also appreciates the chance to watch the Mets in the shelter lounge with the guests. “There are actually a couple of Yankees fans there, so we have to be very scrupulous when both teams are on, alternating between innings,” he says with a laugh.

The East Harlem native first heard about FAPC from a deacon he met on a Habitat for Humanity build. Having drifted away from organized religion as a teenager, Eddy found himself years later beginning to search for a new faith community. When he heard about the Center for Christian Studies, he picked up a catalog and was instantly inspired. “I was like a kid in a candy store,” he remembers. “There were so many things I wanted to take.” Since becoming a member in 2002, he’s volunteered in other groups including Habitat for Humanity, Meals on Heels, and last year’s mission trip to Pearlington, Mississippi. He currently volunteers twice a month as overnight host at the shelter, though in the summer months – when it’s
harder for the shelter to find volunteers – he tries to come three or four times a month. “I would encourage people to do the early evening hosting, because it’s a good way to break the ice and to get to know more about the shelter,” he says. “It’s a special place and can be very rewarding for people who come to volunteer both as early evening hosts and overnight.” Eddy adds that serving others is one way he’s experienced grace in his faith journey. “Perhaps the most important thing I have learned at FAPC is that we are saved through grace, not by works.”

Respectfully submitted,
Kristen Holmgren

Volunteer of the Month — July/August 2007
Becky Barnes

Proverbs 22:6 gives us the famous line, “[t]rain up a child in the way he should go, and when he is older he will not depart from it,” or in the words of Eugene Peterson’s translation, The Message, “[p]oint your kids in the right direction – when they’re old they won’t be lost.”

Every Sunday, the Family Ministries group offers a plethora of programs for the children and families of FAPC and none of them could take place without the astounding dedication from impressive volunteers like Sunday School teacher Becky Barnes.

Barnes is often the face of the 11:15 am Sunday School program, which is offered to three year olds through fifth graders during both worship services. When asked what an average Sunday in her household was like – which includes both Becky’s husband Ike and three year old son Zach – Becky responded, “there really are no average Sundays.

“When I come to FAPC to teach, there is a certain routine that has been established: my son Zachary helps me to set up the classroom and prepare for the class, then we wait for the children to arrive.” Often this assistance that Zach provides is shortly after the 9:30 session, which he attends. Then Ike will take Zach home while Becky remains to teach at 11:15.

Under the guidance of Becky and other volunteers, children learn and enjoy classic Biblical stories, liturgical themes, elements of reformed worship and Bible literacy. Depending on the Sunday, between 25 and 30 volunteers participate in making these programs run smoothly.

Why does Becky care so much about this ministry? “I want to make a difference, and I believe that I can make a difference through the children. I also feel that, as a member of God’s church (and FAPC), it is my obligation to help the children know and understand God and God’s word.”

Becky also explains that she not only gives, but that she receives so much back from teaching kids on Sunday mornings.

“I enjoy being with the children and enjoy learning from them. They have so many stories to tell and are extremely perceptive at these young ages. In essence, I leave the class on Sundays with a new fulfillment and perspective on life.”

Well Becky, you and all of our other incredible Sunday School teachers give our young students a new perspective on life through your dedication to the love of Christ and teaching God’s Word. We thank you for all of your work, devotion and for pointing all of our children in the right direction.

Fifth Avenue Presbyterian also offers both a Kindership (newborns through two-year olds) and a youth program (Junior and Senior High). If you would like to get involved with one of these programs, please contact Director of Family Ministries Jacob Bolton at jbolton@fapc.org or 212.247.0490.

Respectfully submitted,
Jacob Bolton

Volunteer of the Month — May/June 2007
Profile of Maxine Foshay
Maxine Valentine Foshay has been involved in many
interesting and diverse activities, especially volunteer work.

She was born in New York City and then raised for a while in Europe where her father wrote for newspapers. Maxine graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in England.

After returning to the United States, Maxine worked in fundraising for such organizations as the American Cancer Society and Asthmatic Children’s Foundation and served as a volunteer at the Stage Door Canteen in New York.

She has been a volunteer at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center for 30 years, and that length of service is due to the power of prayer – her mother had been diagnosed with colon cancer many years ago. “At that time I said to God, ‘if you cure my mother, I will work with cancer.’ My mother lived 35 more years. That is why I have volunteered so long at Memorial,” Maxine says.

Later on, Maxine also faced the disease. “I am a breast cancer survivor. I am very proud of that. I work in the breast clinic at the center. When I work at the hospital, many people ask me why I volunteer. It is wonderful that I can say to a cancer person that my mother lived all those years through prayer. Answers to prayers have been my profound experiences.”
Maxine joined FAPC in 1998 – she was introduced to the church by friends of her and her husband. Her initial activities consisted of helping at the Annual Bazaar and teaching English to foreign students over a two-year period.
Soon after, Maxine was elected as a deacon, actively serving on the board until spring of 2006. “As a Deacon, I chaired the events committee – I had prior public relations and benefits experience – for two years. I also served on the worship committee, the visitors committee and the deacon’s nominating committee.”

During the past three years, Maxine says that it has been “my great pleasure to be the hostess in my home for the Small Group Ministry, which is run by David Liu. I serve dinner every Thursday, and it is followed by a Bible study session. It is a very wonderful experience and very dear to my heart. It is a great way to get to know people and the Bible,” she says.
Maxine also keeps busy at the church by being a new member angel, helping those who have recently joined FAPC to get acclimated with the many activities and opportunities here. Maxine decided to help out in that area because of her experience with her own angel.

Maxine considers FAPC to be her family. She feels fortunate to have such a place as FAPC in her life.

Maxine also has done a lot of volunteering for British organizations in the United States. For that work, she received the Medal of the British Empire from the Queen.

Respectfully submitted,
Daniel M. Hall

Volunteer of the Month — March/April 2007
Lillian Jackson
Romans exhorts us to rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. And that is what Lillian Jackson, a member of FAPC since 2000, does in her role not only as a longtime Stephen Minister, but in every
facet of her life.

“I’ve always been a listener; I might be sitting on the subway or at a lunch counter, and people gravitate
toward me, or start talking to me about troubles,” Lillian says. “In my daily devotions, I ask the Lord to use me as his instrument.”

Stephen Ministers receive extensive training to provide confidential
one-on-one care to a member of the congregation who is going through life challenges such as sickness, grief, relationship problems, a death in the family, financial difficulties, or spiritual crises. They also provide assistance to the pastoral staff in visiting members and other outreach. Over the years, Lillian has worked with five “care receivers” one-on-one through the Stephen Ministry program, and has prayed with many people who come to the altar after worship on Sundays.

“Stephen Ministers work through a process to help broken individuals become whole again,” Lillian says. “It might take two weeks, and it might take three years, but you work toward goals until the person signals that you should move on to something else,” Lillian says.

In prayerful work toward those goals, Lillian says she feels blessed to be part of a healing process.

“As a caregiver I cannot emphasize enough what a privilege and honor it is to sit and listen and serve as God’s presence,” she says. “Day by day, I know I’m not walking alone, but the Lord is walking with me and that’s what this relationship turns out to be. Stephen Ministers are the caregivers, but you know that God, the ultimate healer, is always there with you. It makes that circle complete.”

Lillian first came to FAPC in 1995 after she strolled past the church during her lunch hour from a nearby office. She noticed an announcement for the Lenten series, and started attending. The welcoming feeling of the people and the church’s myriad programs and opportunities – especially for single people – kept her coming back.

In 2000, she became a member, began training for Stephen Ministry, and eventually was elected to the Board of Deacons.

Lillian’s commitment to service goes all the way back to childhood.
She grew up with her parents and two brothers and two sisters in Lawnside, N.J., where her family was active in the Mt. Pisgah African Methodist Episcopal Church. Her mother – who died when Lillian was a child – instilled in her five children the importance of service from a very young age, and it stuck. “To be in service to the Lord is automatic,” Lillian says. “When I give I receive so much more than I give, and I don’t have any time to mope around and say this or that isn’t going right in my life.”

Indeed, she keeps very busy with service in addition to Stephen Ministries. Lillian is also the facilitator for the weekly Midtown East Bible study group – active for the last five years. She’s served as an usher/greeter and new member angel, has attended CCS classes, been part of the Fifth Avenue Fellowship Club, and is chaplain for the steering committee. Outside of FAPC’s walls, she is on the Board of Directors for the Alumni Association at New York University, her alma mater.

Lillian, who lives in Fort Lee, N.J., and works as a specialist for applications software for The TriZetto Group, a healthcare technology provider, says her
avocations include writing poetry (she’s been working on a book for six years), and a new commitment to exercise, including yoga every morning. Her workouts, she says, “remind me I’m alive” and help get her
physically and mentally alert for daily early-morning devotions at her kitchen table, where a big Bible permanently resides.

“My devotions make me calm and focused and remind me that I’m going into the day on faith,” Lillian says. “I’ve started on my day and put my armor on; then I’m able to reach out to others.”

Respectfully submitted,
Erin Schulte

Volunteer of the Month — January/February 2007
Ken Henderson, Vital FAPC Leader,
Served as Elder, Deacon, Trustee
Ken Henderson has been a important part of Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, since he and his wife Kathy joined in 1980. In various roles – clerk of Session, president of the Board of Trustees, treasurer, and chair of several committees – he has shown the kind of leadership that has been vital to this church.

He was born in Atlanta, GA and grew up in nearby Griffin. He met Kathy at Auburn University, where he got his B.A. in 1976. That was also the year they were married at the First Baptist Church in LaFayette, Alabama. Shortly afterward the couple moved to New York City where in 1979 Ken got his JD at NYU’s School of Law. Daughter Christine was born in 1986, and son Jack in 1989. Chris is a junior at Emory University, and Jack a senior at Trinity School.

Ken’s law career began with jobs at two New York firms. He is now a partner in the firm of Bryan Cave LLP (previously Robinson Silverman Pearce Aronsohn & Berman) where he has been since 1987. His job requires a lot of his time, but in the rare moments that he has for recreation he enjoys spending time with the family, traveling, going to the theatre with Kathy (an editor at Broadway.com), sailing, gardening, and the occasional fishing trip.

The Hendersons joined Marble Collegiate Church shortly after they arrived in New York, but were introduced to FAPC by a work colleague of Kathy’s. Ken says, “After just one Sunday in this sanctuary hearing Dr. Bryant Kirkland preach and experiencing FAPC’s welcoming atmosphere, we were hooked and joined shortly therafter. Chris and Jack were both in the Sunday school program. The Christmas pageants were a high point – we really like to look back at photos of Jack playing a shepherd or a king or the innkeeper and Chris as Mary or an angel. The church has been a central part of their lives since the day they were born. Both were baptized here, Chris by Dr. Kirkland and Jack by Dr. Boyd, and both went through the excellent confirmation class.” Chris became a member in 1999 and Jack in 2002.

Not long after Ken and Kathy joined the church, Dr. Ken Jones invited them to get involved in the Urban Involvement Commission, a group that focused on outreach in the city. Ken ultimately served as chair. He was elected to the Board of Deacons in 1983 and ended his term as vice-moderator. He then became an elder, and was Clerk of Session in 1989-91. He was elected to be an elder again in 1999, and chaired the budget committee. He was also elected twice to be a trustee, serving as president and treasurer. Other comittees on which Ken has served include the Strategic Planning Committee and Campaign 21.

As he told me, “For some reason, I have found myself at the center of several difficult seasons for FAPC. I was Clerk of Session when The Rev. Dr. Maurice Boyd resigned and during the battles that ensued. We survived that one, learned a lot about what matters to us as a church, and we prospered. I have had the privilege of acting as one of Dr. Tewell’s legal advocates during the recent Presbytery proceedings. I believe now that we will also make it through this difficult time and Fifth Avenue will be stronger as a result.

“Kathy and I found a home at FAPC more than 25 years ago. It is much more than the services, or the building, or the music or the Sunday school. We are part of a family, and something much larger than ourselves. FAPC is a great institution that we are all privileged to be a part of. We benefit from the work of our predecessors, and I believe each of us has a responsibility to make our church better and stronger than it was when we joined.” That is a responsibility Ken Henderson has taken very seriously!

Respectfully submitted,
Bob Brennan

Members of the Month