As it supports and its members participate in a wide variety of local helping missions, First Church also provides opportunity for members to participate in outreach throughout the nation and internationally. High school youth and adults of all ages make a big difference in the life of “strangers” while learning about themselves and their faith as they journey to different sites during the February and April school vacations.

First Church’s mission trip ministry is overseen by a task force that plans, organizes, arranges fund-raising for each year’s trips. Check in at this web site throughout the year to read reports from those who have gone on one of the trips and to learn where the next mission trips will be going.

Overlook Farm Alternative Break Trip – New!

The Mission Trip Task Force is pleased to announce that we have made a reservation for our Middle School “pre-mission trip” experience at Heifer Project’s Overlook Farm in Rutland, MA.  Our group is booked for Monday, July 16^th to Friday, July 20^th, 2012.  This trip is available for rising 6^th to 8^th grade youth and adult chaperones.

Applications for this trip are available on the website or in the church office.  The deposit required to hold your spot is $25 and should be submitted along with your application to Diane Matthes in the church office.

Dominican Trip

For the last five years a group of high school youth and adult chaperones have worked with Orphanage Outreach in the Dominican Republic during the February school vacation. We stay at the Hope of a Child (Esperanza de un Niño) orphanage in Monte Cristi where we have an opportunity to spend time every evening playing with the children of the orphanage.

In addition to our activities with orphanage children, a primary focus of the Orphanage Outreach program is the outreach to the community. During our pre-trip preparation we collect donations of clothing, food, school, hygiene and first aid supplies. Each volunteer transports 100 pounds of donations for the people in the surrounding community.

We also spend part of each day teaching English or health in the public schools.  The rest of the day often includes work projects around the orphanage. In past trips we participated in various construction projects including the addition of the second floor of the orphanage, building bunk beds, clearing land or general clean-up.

South Dakota Trip

For the past three April school vacations the First Church in Nashua, New Hampshire has sponsored an intergenerational mission trip to Pine Ridge, South Dakota to participate in a service/learning experience through Re-member.   Re-member is an independent non-profit agency that works with the Oglala Lakota People, forming lasting relationships and bridging two worlds.

Pine Ridge is one of the poorest communities in the United States. On past trips we have re-roofed homes, built wheelchair ramps, built and installed outhouses, fixed windows and doors, and made homes more secure for families on the reservation.

Each evening we participate in cultural programs that include native speakers, Lakota singing, dancing and craftmaking.

The Pine Ridge 2011 group – ready to go!

Mission Trips Information

The 2012 Mission Trip application is available now.

Applications for the 2012 trips will be accepted for First Church Members starting September 1st, 2011; non-First Church Members can apply for any remaining spaces starting on October 1st.    All applications and scholarship applications are due by October 30th, 2011.

Space is limited; once the available spaces are filled a wait list process will be used.   An application is not considered completed unless it is accompanied by a deposit check – see the form for more details on the deposits.

A limited amount of scholarship aid is available for First Church Members; fill out a Scholarship Application to apply.