On April 3, 2020, Rev. Kega Nasios, Program Director for the Glendale Mission & Ministry Center (GMMC) of Glendale, Arizona, received word that the center had been selected to receive a $2,000 grant from OneAZ Credit Union.
In announcing the award Jason Kerrick, OneAZ Credit Union Workplace Banking Manager for the Central Region said,
“We value our relationship with your organization and look to continue to cultivate an even greater partnership with you in the coming years. Community involvement and giving is a big part of what we believe in and who we are,” he noted, “so we are thrilled to be able to aid the GMMC during this (COVID-19) crisis.”
Located northwest of Phoenix, west of I-17 and north of I-10, the Glendale Mission & Ministry Center, former home of the First Christian Church of Glendale, now provides a food pantry, clothing bank and more to its community. Since the church gathered for its final worship service on October 15, 2017, to celebrate more than one hundred years of ministry the center — a collaborative vision of First Christian Church Glendale, the Christian Church in Arizona, and Disciples Church Extension Fund (DCEF) — has worked creatively to help those in need by enhancing established ministries and starting new ones.
From its three-acre, five-building campus, GMMC now serves nearly a thousand free lunches a month, while distributing more than one hundred emergency food bags during the same time period. In addition, the center gives out hygiene kits and emergency clothing. It also supports various local non-profit organizations with meeting and office space, and provides a holy place of worship to three nesting congregations; Iglesia Cristiana Hispana de Glendale, Discipolos de Cristo; Iglesia Cristo Sion; and Living Faith Ministry, International.
Catholic Charities also runs a much-needed Head Start Program from a portable classroom on the GMMC campus. As developed by the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, Head Start provides comprehensive early childhood education, health, nutrition, and parent involvement services to low-income children and their families.
“We feel so privileged to be able to serve our community in a variety of ways,“ says Rev. Nasios. “Our thanks go out to OneAZ Credit Union for their generous support of our ministry. It really couldn’t come at a better time or for a better cause.”