September 3, 2026: Not content to organize an annual mission trip to help their neighbors in their Pennsylvania community, the members of St. Paul’s United Church of Christ have now established Birdsboro Shares, a network of volunteers to lend a hand year-round.
We first told you in July about this tiny congregation – with about two dozen weekly attendees at church services – on the heels of its annual Mission Trip Birdsboro and Beyond.
In its 13th year, the mission trip sent 142 volunteers to make repairs and improvements at 63 properties throughout the church’s southeastern Pennsylvania community.
The new Birdsboro Shares program will continue that neighborly kindness by alerting others to needs in their community, regardless of church membership, let alone denomination or religious belief, said Stuart Wells, a member of St. Paul’s who is involved with both initiatives.
See a need? Bidsboro Shares
People in the Birdsboro Shares network let organizers know what kind of skills they have or tasks they can do for others, and they are notified when their abilities are requested.
A person doesn’t have to be a member of the network to get help.
In other words, you don’t need to provide a service to request a service, said Pastor Deb Parker-Hill.
For instance, a woman was unable to stand on a chair and use a drill to hang curtain rods, so someone in the network did that for her.
That’s where the service could end. But the woman offered to jump into the exchange, Parker-Hill said.
“It’s not like ‘OK, we did this for you, so now you do something for us,’” Parker-Hill told the Reading Eagle. “It doesn’t work like that. But she, on her own, spontaneously said, ‘You know, I can’t hang curtain rods, but I love to bake. If you ever need baked goods, let me know.’”
Assistance, which is basically favors for strangers, can range from grocery or medication pickup and delivery and transportation to medical appointments to basic household repairs, dog walking, and companionship.
To participate in Birdsboro Shares, you must live locally and then fill out a form on St. Paul’s website: stpaulsbirdsboro.org/birdsboro-shares-mutual-aid-network/.
A recent job of significantly larger proportion was designing and building a wheelchair ramp.
“Christ never said, ‘Build me temples,’” Wells said. “He said, ‘Go, go out.’ So, you know, the point is to be out doing things. You know, there were 12 disciples who changed the world.”
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