Terwana Brown, president of the Chester Valley Ministers Association (CVMA), began their May meeting with this story: “We received a donation from a family who opened their electric bill, and it was higher than expected. Their thoughts turned to folks who will struggle to pay this kind of increase, so they donated to the Good Neighbor Fund.”
Good Neighbor Fund is a program of the Chester Valley Ministers Association, which supports our neighbors in need. Community members are referred by the Department of Social Services (DSS) for help with rent (eviction prevention), utilities, prescriptions, transportation, short-term childcare, and emergency housing. The referred community members have demonstrated needs that cannot be fully met by DSS. The Good Neighbor Fund partners with The Samaritan Group to support these referrals all year round. The need for assistance is increasing substantially. Financial support from the Good Neighbor Fund for community members in need has doubled in the last 5 years, and increased by 30% in just the last year.
The Chester Valley Ministers Association, an association of individuals from non-profit organizations and interfaith communities, administers the Good Neighbor Fund (GNF). We are thankful for the individual donations and grants received from the United Way of Kent County, the Rotary Club, Chestertown Elks Lodge #2474, Knights of Columbus, Chester Lodge #115, the Women & Girls Fund, and local churches.
We are volunteers who have been serving the community since 2008. If you would like to volunteer, please contact [email protected]. Volunteers are needed Tuesdays from 9:30-noon at the First United Methodist Church, 105 N. Mill Street, Chestertown, MD
All contributions are administered to support people in need.
Our officers are:
Terwana Brown, President, Kent Attainable Housing, Mt. Olive AME
Rev. Amy Yarnall, Vice President, Christ First UMC
Niara Wilson, Secretary, Community Health Outreach Worker
Jen Rickert, Treasurer, Community Member
Chester Valley Ministers Association meetings are open to the public for all to attend. We meet at Christ First United Methodist Church 401 High Street, Chestertown, MD on the first Tuesdays of the month, in the Christ building of the campus. Our next meeting is 9:30 a.m. on June 5, and will resume monthly meetings after the summer on September 4.
More information may be found on these websites:
https://chestervalleyministers.org/good-neighbor-fund
https://www.samaritangroupofkentcounty.org/
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