“The choicest of the first fruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God.”


—EXODUS 23:19 First Fruits


FPCA members and friends reap a bountiful harvest of apples for local mission in the latest Milestone event


A group of 23 members and friends of First Presbyterian filled box upon box with apples on Sunday, October 2, at the latest event in the church’s series of Milestones on the Journey of Discipleship.


In addition to fun and fellowship, the event provided 1,429 pounds of apples— nearly three-quarters of a ton—to a wide range of local mission ministries and partners. Tese included the Conference of Churches’ Daybreak program (which shared with nearby Bethany Church Ministries), Second Harvest Food Bank, Northern Lehigh Food Bank, St. Paul Lutheran Church’s Sunday-morning breakfast, Ripple, the Salvation Army, and Sheridan and Roosevelt Elementary Schools.


Opposite page, top: Jennifer Palaia and her daughters Anna and Amelia find choice apples in the orchard.


Opposite, bottom: Jane Long offers a tempting apple to her husband, Sam. Te event combined fun with scripture-based reflection and community building.


Above: Engraving of the American Crab Apple from Wikimedia Commons. (Bulletin no. 11 by Te Pennsylvania Department of Forestry. Published 1901.)


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Te harvesting group included young and not-so-young, along with three Daybreak participants who caught rides from Center City Allentown with church members able to drive them to the apple-picking site. Te event was held at Schmidt’s Berry Farm, a family farm in New Tripoli that grows a variety of produce (predominantly blueberries) and features several rows of apple trees that were heavy with ripe Gala, Golden Delicious, and Cortland varieties.


Many hands made quick work of picking fruit from the trees amid conversation and laughter. Concluding of the event, Pam Weiss, FPCA’s director of Adult Spiritual Formation, led a brief reflection on apples as a symbol of bounty and our call to dedicate the first fruits of our God-given blessings back to God (see box on next page).


“To me, the aspect of connecting and relationship-building can’t be overemphasized,” says Christine Guenther, who coordinates Milestones events. “I


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