Serving Our Neighbors

Organized in 1874, First Presbyterian has deep ties to the city of San Bernardino and a long history of service to local, regional, national, and global concerns.  These photos and links represent just a few of our community projects.  More information is available on our Facebook Page and by contacting the committee chairs as part of Session Elders or Deacons.

For local agencies that offer help, click here for Resources.

Food Program

Our food program provides emergency food bags on Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 9am to 11 am and distribution of USDA Commodities and other food on the third Saturday of the month from 9am-11am.  If a neighbor needs food, please refer them to our food resources.  These resource lists are in food bags.   You can also give out a Food wallet card when asked for money or food.

Volunteers prepare food for distribution
Volunteers prepare food for distribution
First Pres received the 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award from Feeding America of Riverside and San Bernardino (FARSB) at the “2023 Nourishing the IE Partnership Conference”.   This award “is presented to an organization that has made their community a better place by dedicating their life to supporting those in need. Their community is better because of this organization’s years of contributions.”

 

 

 

 

 

 Symphonie Jeunesse

We are proud to be the practicing home (and often a performance location) for our local junior symphony, Symphonie Jeunesse.

Symphonie Jeunesse playing at 2019 Interfaith Thanksgiving Service
Symphonie Jeunesse playing at 2019 Interfaith Thanksgiving Service

San Bernardino High School

San Bernardino High School  Updraft Program supporting local students through:

  • leadership circles,
  • internships,
  • gardening, and
  • other Cardinal activities.

LifeSkillz circles- Read how we got started in Eric Law’s blog.

2023 LifeSkillz Circle

2023 SBHS Lifeskillz group

 

2019 LifeSkillz Circle

2016 LifeSkillz Circle

LifeSkillz 2016

The students we started with as sophomores graduated in 2016!  So we had to celebrate.Seniors

Earlier in the program, full of promise, willing to take risks…

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Our freshman group determined that cookies equaled comfort and they prepared multiple batches of cookies for the Inland Regional Center, which helps people with developmental disabilities, and was the site of the Dec 2nd, 2015 San Bernardino terrorist attacks.

lifeskilz cookie round 2 lifeskilz cookie round 2_cookies and kids thumbs up
Cookies delivered in February and March.

Our students wrote something so powerful that it was used to sum up this 30 minute LA Times documentary film.

SBHS  Internships:

2023 Interns helped setup our Easter garden, assisted with food distribution and made our facility and grounds welcoming.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2016 interns painting in preparation for the holidays.

interns-painting

Our 2016 interns spent a Saturday in November trimming and cleaning out the shrubbery.  Who knew how many pairs of shoes could hide in there?  And they are still smiling!

interns-fall-2016-at-presbytery

Our First 2 Water Wise interns Lalli & Ernesto paved the way for regular interns from SBHS.  We now cheer them on as graduates from CalState University, Monterey Bay and young professionals.

Water wise landscape interns Lalli and ErnieLalli_Ernesto at work

 

 

 

LabyrinthTools for SBHS students

SBHS interns        Ernie, SBHS intern

Aracely, Jorge, Desteny, Carmen, Ernesto, and Angela
Aracely, Jorge, Desteny, Carmen, Ernesto, and Angela

Interns working on landscaping projects in Dec 2015

Dec 2015 interns front landscaping

Dec 2015 interns

On Property: Water Wise Conservation

Serving our neighbor includes being a good neighbor and a careful steward of environmental resources as we use less water. DSCN1566   OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Beds    Lalli

partnership on SBHS garden box project: Garden Box Project GroupGarden project

 Harvest!

SBHS garden bounty          SBHS corn and beets

Cardinal Senior Breakfast 2016 – ~300  SBHS seniors enjoyed French toast, bacon, and fruit breakfast on their graduation day.

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See our page just on San Bernardino High School  activities.

 Central City Lutheran Mission

First Presbyterian members serve dinner at CCLM
First Presbyterian members serve dinner at CCLM

Clean Water Team

6 men spent a week learning how to build appropriate water systems and then went to Guatemala to install those systems with Living Waters for the World.

Guatemala Living Waters
Guat 8

This is a long term commitment where we go back, check our partners while scoping out the next installation.  We had Rev. Wil Howie from Living Waters of the World out to describe more of the whole history and context.

Rev Wil Howie

Our team went back for the Joan Carpenter memorial water installation in February 2016.

PicCollage

Joan was a founding member of the Mission Committee and inspired the team to undertake these trips.  With the family’s blessing and the congregation’s support, the team placed a special plaque on this installation.

Our Team was back to Guatemala in February of 2017

On November 17, 2022, the FPCSB Water Team celebrated completion of its project begun in October of 2017 to provide safe, clean water for Iglesia Monte Horeb, in Tijuana’s eastern suburb of Mariano Matamoros, and Centro Pedagógico Didaqué, a small private school located there.

Water treated by the clean water system is bottled in 5-gallon “garafones” at Iglesia Monte Horeb for their use and for Colegio Didaqué, and for distribution to the community.

Be… in Christ …Loved. …of Use.