Westminster’s compassion is local, global

Church marks 100 years with good works from Albany to Africa

Albany ’s Westminster Presbyterian Church, created in 1919, will mark its 100th anniversary this Sunday with Scottish panache, bagpipes and drums playing on State Street at 9:45 a.m. and a 10 a.m. worship ser vice at 262 State St., followed by time to chat and shortbread to munch on afterward.

One of the church’s biggest annual nights is coming up from 5 to 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 9. It ’s African Family Night, a dinner that raises funds for the Westminster’s work in Ghana and Liberia. Along with good food, there’s music and games. The guest speaker is Willie White, former head of Avillage, which partners with Westminster on many initiatives in Albany ’s South End.

Westminster helps bring clean water to Liberian villages. Most recently, it helped provide six toilets and a safe well for one community. In Ghana, the church helped repair the roof of a school in an off-the-grid village.

Register for the event at wpcalbany.org/upcoming-events

The church’s congregation is generous with its time and donations. It has an interfaith food pantry for the needy. Congregation members volunteer to staff and ser ve meals at the Emergency Overf low Homeless Shelter, operated by the Capital Area Council of Churches at First Lutheran Church in Albany (It opens for the season on Nov. 1 to ser ve up to 18 men.)

Church volunteers also host social events and children’s activities for homeless families at the Schuyler Inn in Menands. The church offers free breakfasts to the needy and tutors kids in local schools.

Want to join in? Visit https:// www.wpcalbany.org/ser ve