Thank You

To all my wonderful friends at First Presbyterian, Many months ago I was severely impacted by Hurricane Ian with incredible damage from flooding. I was blessed in having two adult grandsons in Miami who immediately came to my rescue for two days directly following the flood. Unfortunately I lost most all of the contents of my house. Then a miracle happened! Who appears at my door but Rex with 4 able bodied men saying, “Can we help?” For many weeks those wonderful men and the ladies who wrapped all my china and fragiles plus financial help from all you wonderful members of First Pres came to help me rebuild my life. I just want to say thank you from my entire heart, not just the bottom as they say, for your shower of help both financially as well as physically. God bless you all.

Mariellen Lemasters

Dear FPCN Family,

On March 2 FPCN hosted the Peace River Presbytery for their all day Stated meeting and worship service. Peace River is comprised of 37 churches in Southwest Florida and we had approximately 125 ministers, commissioners and visitors attending. Over 50 volunteers and staff members from our church agreed to help in various areas. There was set-up/tear down, parking attendants, three registration tables, greeters, numerous ushers and communion servers for the worship service, food ordering and preparation for breakfast and lunch and clerks to assist during the business meeting along with administrative support.

Throughout the day, there were smiles and words of kindness as people shared compliments on the beauty of the church and the friendly and warm welcome that was shown to them.

We thank every volunteer and staff member who made this such a successful day and who exhibited the hospitality that we are so well known for. Thank you all for being so special.

Rev. Rex Childs

What a wonderful supportive church we have. So many people from the congregation came forward and loaned me a wheelchair, the iceman ice machine, which became my friend, to the delivery of a prayer shawl (which I have used every day since) and Pastor Craig’s visit at the hospital.

I had pop-in friends visit from the church, flowers delivered from the deacons, many cards, letters, texts, and calls, which helped to let me know so many cared. Thanks to the kitchen crew that sent home with Jerry fancy sandwiches and cookies after a concert, which brought more of the churches’ love into our home away from home.

Let’s not forget God, who created all of you to help and serve, and to the professionalism of the surgeon, that performed the surgery, to the nurses and technicians and the developer of the knee replacement surgery.

Healing takes time and patience, which you must learn. Patience is a learned trait that does not come easy. As each day passes, I notice a different area of healing and progress being made, which reminds me It takes time to heal.

Liz Miller

The Love of God was once again at work as we looked around Spencer Hall on Saturday, March 25. In just two hours the 96 volunteers cheerfully packed 36,096 nutritional meals for Meals of Hope. You may wonder if there is much hunger in our affluent community. One measure of need is that about 70% of our school population is on the free or reduced lunch program.

The Mission Committee wants to express how very grateful we are to all those who were involved. The Christmas Eve offering financed the purchase of the food to pack. Our office and staff participated by preparing announcements and handling phone calls. The custodians cheerfully provided all the furniture needed to set up the tables and they remained smiling as we messed up the normally spotless Spencer Hall.

Young people from Naples High Interact Club were on hand and were able to enthusiastically provide all the supplies we needed and handling the heavy lifting. Thank you for all of our adult church members and guests, some of whom donated Friday afternoon for setup, and to all who donated their Saturday morning to pack and clean up.

Jan Witman