Community Service & Volunteer Opportunities

The little church that does big things!

Here you will find any service and volunteer opportunities we may have at any given time by clicking the current links below. Check back often as things get added or updated or watch weekly bulletins for any upcoming opportunities. 

Church Garden

Our small garden provides tomatoes, cucumbers, beans and other fresh produce to St. Joseph’s Food Pantry. Anyone is welcome to help with watering and harvesting.

LaGrave on First

Volunteers provide supper on weekends and holidays for about 30 residents of LaGrave on First, an apartment building welcoming persons who have been homeless. Family of God organizes over 100 community volunteers who provide meals for the residents. We cook 4-5 times each month, providing a full meal for neighbors who live in this Housing First facility. Pizza night is the first Sunday of each month and the second Friday we celebrate birthdays at LaGrave. We also raise funds to supplement food donations so that each meal can be nutritious - meat, fruit, vegetables - and include dessert. If you would like to cook, provide salad or dessert, or help in any way with this project, contact us at grandcitiesfog@gmail.com. When health safety allows, we serve supper in person at 6:00 pm each evening. Other nights the staff steps in to serve.

Fill the totes

Each fall we join the Fill the Tote project which provides back-up clothing to East Grand Forks elementary schools and Head Start. Bring child-sized sweat pants, underwear, socks, scarves, mittens/gloves, hats and snow pants to the church any time during the month of September. They will be shared with the schools before snow flies.

noisy offering

Each Sunday our children collect loose change which makes a joyful noise. These funds are available to respond to emergency requests. For example, we learned of a New American family who was having trouble with SNAP assistance because of COVID-19 unemployment/reemployment. So we used $200 from the Noisy Offering to buy a gift card to help them with groceries. Your small change does big work!

Spectra Health

Our member Kayla Hochstetler is the director of the social workers at Spectra Health. We have provided housing assistance to several of their clients to allow them to rent an apartment or to avoid eviction. We now have a Community Assistance fund which members support, allowing us to respond quickly to housing and other emergencies in our community.

Grand Forks Housing Authority

We have donated $600 to the Grand Forks Housing Authority to refurbish used computers and give them to families who didn’t have computer access during the shelter-in-place times. If you have a computer five years old or less which you would like to donate, please contact us at grandcitiesfog@gmail.com.

Quilts and craft

Our craft group provides quilts to Valley Senior Living and other nonprofit organizations throughout the year. We make craft items for silent auctions at Northlands Rescue Mission, Valley Senior Living, and Huntington’s Disease fundraiser each year.

Two members make miniature baby blankets for Altru Health System’s chaplains to give, along with a teddy bear, to women who experience miscarriage or stillbirth.

Juvenile Detention Center

Through one of our members, we share books, puzzles, movies, and treats with the Juvenile Detention Center. We use the Noisy Offering to be sure each client receives a birthday card and canteen money on their birthday and small gifts at special holidays. When Covid restrictions allow, our member does weekly activities with youth to give them something to look forward to.

food boxes for Northwest Minnesota Seniors

On the third Wednesday of each month from 10:30 - 11:45 a.m. we join volunteers at North Country Food Bank in East Grand Forks. In about an hour we can fill over 200 boxes of food to be distributed through senior centers across NW Minnesota. Call 218-791-8687 for details.

Love Feast

Each June we take our turn serving the Love Feast at Zion United Methodist Church. Love Feast provides supper to over 200 people in Grand Forks on the last Tuesday of each month. This year we served sloppy joes, chips, coleslaw, and cupcakes. Service was drive-through because of Covid 19 restrictions and our youth did a super job of running meals to the cars in line.