Twenty-seven churches in the Upper Columbia Conference (UCC) were recently honored for their faithfulness in sorting and packing clothing for distribution by ADRA in developing countries. This is a ministry that was started by ADRA’s forerunner, Seventh-day Adventist World Services (SAWS) in the mid-fifties, and was a part of Adventist Community Services (ACS) efforts all over the United States.

The ministry ended in the Upper Columbia Conference this fall when Upper Columbia Academy closed the ADRA depot on their campus and ADRA decided not to open another one on the West Coast. The only remaining ADRA depot is in Indiana.

The ministry of shipping used clothing overseas has been winding down in recent years all across the country for a variety of reasons, including the soaring costs of shipping. Increasingly, it is becoming possible and more cost-effective to purchase new clothes right in the country where they are needed. When that is done, the local economy benefits and the people have clothing more suitable to their climate and culture.

As part of the fall ACS federation meetings held in four locations around the conference, the churches who have recently been active with ADRA received plaques of appreciation. The plaques, unique to UCC, read: "In partnership with Upper Columbia Conference this plaque is presented with deep appreciation to the volunteers of the [name] Seventh-day Adventist Church for their years of service packing countless boxes of clothing used in humanitarian work around the world."

According to the unique needs of each community and as a result of asking for the Lord’s guidance, the ACS centers who had been packing these boxes are finding a wide variety of new outlets for the clothing, and the volunteers who had spent hours every week packing the boxes are finding new opportunities for meaningful service.

Other areas of ACS ministries, such as inner-city and social action programs, health-related outreach projects, disaster response, and tutoring and mentoring, continue to grow. (See the December 2006 GLEANER.)