COVID-19 Response & Resources

Partners in Health & Wholeness

An initiative of the NC Council of Churches

PHW Collaborative

Welcome to the PHW Collaborative.  As our name states, we partner with faith communities as they seek to live more healthy, whole, abundant lives. We see the PHW Collaborative Pledge as a commitment to continuing a journey of putting faith into action. The congregations that have participated have done and are doing amazing work. We also facilitate connections and relationships between our congregations to share wisdom, provide support, and build a community around health and wholeness. We aim to recognize depth and sustainability in the good work that congregations of all sizes are doing not only to promote health but to live it out in their communities. Will you join us? 

Re-imagining Health Ministries During COVID: How to keep Health Ministries Engaged

At our houses of worship, things have looked different for a while. Many faith communities and their health ministries have mobilized in unprecedented ways to keep their communities healthy and safe. In that spirit, we would like to offer ideas of how to stay connected while we continue loving our neighbors by keeping our distance. We want to encourage all congregations to keep planning and executing events and programs to keep motivation up. We also hope that the below list can offer ideas for how to stay engaged with the PHW Collaborative and use PHW Mini-Grant funds.

Partners in Health and Wholeness Collaborative Criteria

For congregations joining the Partners in Health and Wholeness Collaborative, we require the following commitments to health and wholeness:

  1. Maintaining tobacco-free buildings on worship grounds.
  2. Serving healthy food and drink options at congregational activities, events, and meetings.
  3. Asking your clergy person or Faith Leader to complete the Clergy Commitment.
  4. Sharing the message of health as a faith issue.
  5. Integrating at least one church-based activity based on one of the five focus areas of the PHW program: tobacco cessation and prevention, healthy eating, increased physical activity, mental health advocacy and education, or healthy aging.

The Partners in Health and Wholeness program is supported by The Duke Endowment. This program supports worshipping communities and congregations across the state of North Carolina.

*We define a worshipping community as a congregation that holds regular religious services in an established place of worship and also has a health ministry or would like to start a health ministry dedicated to the well-being of its members and its surrounding community.

Due to our grant guidelines, we are unable to support non-profit agencies.

For more information and a list of our FAQ’s CLICK HERE.

PHW Submission Process

Attention:

  • You are not able to save and come back to the Pledge form.
  • We recommend you print the form to prepare your responses BEFORE entering them.
  • We also highly recommend you save your answers on a separate document as you fill out the form so that you do not lose your responses if the form closes for any reason.
  • A copy of your pledge submission will be sent to you and your faith leader.
  • ONCE YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY SUBMITTED THE FORM, PLEASE CHECK TO MAKE SURE YOU HAVE RECEIVED A CONFIRMATION EMAIL.

If you would like assistance saving your answers or printing the form, please contact our Program Coordinator, Michelle S. Peedin, at PHWinfo@ncchurches.org or contact one of our PHW team members. Thank you so much for your cooperation!

PHW Collaborative Details and Directions

Once you have submitted the PHW Collaborative Pledge, your congregation will be eligible to apply for an individual mini-grant or a community mini-grant in the February-March cycle, June-July cycle, or October-November cycle. PHW Collaborative Pledges must be received at least 3 weeks before applying for a PHW Mini-Grant. Please note that PHW Collaborative Pledges require a yearly renewal. The Collaborative Pledge will be open from January 15 – November 30.

When filling out the form, please type every name out fully with no abbreviations including congregation names, health lead names, and faith leader names.

Example: St. Maria’s United Methodist Church
NOT: St Marias UMC

This will ensure your Pledge gets added properly to your account. As we continue to expand our network, we hope you will continue to include as much detail as possible in the PHW forms. We ask Health Leads to always answer the 5 W’s: Who, What, When, Where, and Why?

A copy of your pledge submission will be sent to you and your faith leader. ONCE YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY SUBMITTED THE FORM, PLEASE CHECK TO MAKE SURE YOU HAVE RECEIVED A CONFIRMATION EMAIL.

Thank you for your interest in submitting a Health and Wholeness Collaborative Pledge. If you have any questions please contact your regional coordinator or call PHW Program Coordinator, Michelle Peedin, at 919-828-6501 or email PHWinfo@ncchurches.org.