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What the Faithful Can Do - Section 2
To Get You Started:
As Individuals
- Learn the facts about mental illness and share them
- Take one person to your place of worship with you every week
- Volunteer to drive one or two persons to appointments monthly
- Hire a special needs neighbor for a household chore
- Lend your expertise to an activity or help run an event:
--- if you’re a musician, teach an instrument or lead an ensemble
----if you’re a housewife, train one person to cook a meal or iron a shirt
----coach a team in your favorite sport
- Choose a special needs neighbor as a workout partner
- Invite a member of your congregation who is coping with a psychological disorder to share a family dinner----let them help prepare the meal and clean up
- Mentor one person learning a new skill
- Volunteer to raise funds
- Become a NAMI member and lend your support
As a Committee
- Form a study group to learn about mental illness
- Organize car pools to provide transportation for church and appointments
- Plan a series of outings for congregation members and friends who are managing a mental disorder---a hayride in fall, Christmas caroling, bird watching in spring
- Create a phone directory of neighbors coping with mental illness and call regularly to chat or offer support.
- Set up religious instruction or a Bible study group specifically for those with special needs.
- Organize care packages of non-food necessities quarterly
- Collect, monitor and disburse a petty cash fund to meet emergencies
- Set up a community job bank
- Organize athletic teams, games nights, art projects, poetry readings
As a Congregation
- Schedule a NAMI presentation to your entire congregation.
- Adopt a group home or other residential program in your area
--Assess their specific needs and interact regularly
--Fund a specific program, or ongoing expense (Ex: haircuts) for one year
--Sponsor a capital improvement as a long term goal
- Donate a car or van to a particular facility or program
- Fund a scholarship or a work subsidy for on the job training
- Tithe an additional half per cent a year to benefit a specific organization
- Involve people with special needs in as many congregational activities as possible.
- Include an open prayer for those coping with mental illness in every congregational service
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