Hilary Marckx Pastor’s Fund has been helping Geyserville residents for 15 years

Hilary Marckx has almost 20 years of experience as pastor of the Geyserville Christian Church, and for 15 of those years his Pastor’s Fund has been helping those in need.

Early in the fall, Marckx starts putting the word out to the community, gathering names of families who are in need of a holiday basket. This information comes from the school secretaries, who know all the families in town with children, and locals who have been helping find families  for over a decade.

Then the community starts helping:  first, the toy drive starts, with toy collection barrels at Bosworth’s Merchantile and GinGilli’s Vintage, and recently the Geyserville Fire Department has also started collecting toys for the Pastor’s Fund.

In December, at both the Chamber of Commerce and Kwianis Club, collections happen in a big way.

The Geyserville Chamber of Commerce collects toys and food, and passes the hat, while Marckx and other church members lead holiday carols at the December chamber dinner. Everyone digs deep.

Continuing the theme at the Kwianis holiday dinner meeting, members personally donate money that then is matched dollar for dollar by the Geyserville Kiwanis. Locals then start helping Marckx put the baskets together at the church. Ryan Petersen takes Marckx to pick up 65 turkeys, used for the food baskets given to each family.

Don’t think this is just for the kids. Hilary Marckx personally goes shopping for the adults as well.  ”Every one gets a little something,” he said.

The Pastor’s Fund is so generously gifted each year that Marckx can help those  in need all year long. Take the single older woman who set up her tent down by the river on her way north. She came back from the grocery store and found all her personal possessions had been stolen. The Pastor’s Fund allowed Marckx to take her shopping to replenish. As she sat in her car, in tears, she shared with the pastor, “I am better off after loosing everything.”

A couple of years ago, a local family finally got back on its feet with jobs and housing when the family car died. The fund was able to pay for a used car to keep this family employed.

“This is a community word-of-mouth project, neighbors helping neighbors,” said Marckx.

If you want to help, contact Pastor Marckx at hilary@45-90.com or 481-3724.