Our Whole Community is about Faith & Health

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OWCEatonville’s Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church’s (Macedonia) “Journey to Wellness” program has motivated many worshippers to get up and get moving as well as eat healthier.  Macedonia offers weekly Zumba classes, conducts nutritional seminars and has provided weekly meal plans to help guide individuals in making better food choices.

These programs are just one small part of the efforts of Our Whole Community (OWC), a collaborative of faith communities offering programs to help faith based communities meet their goal of helping members achieve whole person health (mind-body-spirit).  OWC was founded in November 2007 through program and grant support from the Winter Park Health Foundation (WPHF).

“We are extremely grateful for the support from WPHF which has helped us to engage the community in modeling a vision of health & wholeness,” said Tonja Williams, Parish Nurse at Macedonia.  While the original start-up grant ended several years ago, the faith communities involved in Our Whole Community continue to support one another in their efforts to promote health among members.

OWC faith communities identify their congregation’s specific needs, then plan and provide related programs:

New Covenant Church held Breast Cancer Awareness Programs and other mind, body, spirit programs to benefit community and church members.

St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church established a Learning Garden with volunteers providing ongoing maintenance, education programs and providing grow boxes to people in-need.

St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church offered CPR and AED training to 53 school teachers and staff.

First United Methodist Church offered Saving Senior Stories to promote intergenerational dialogue between high school students and senior adults over age 85.  Participants recorded life highlights in a video to be shared during worship services and other special events.