For over 39 years, Reverend Blair Clark Jr., an ordained Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS) minister, and his wife, Kimberley, have dedicated their lives to community outreach and pastoral leadership across congregations ranging from 100 to 3,000 members. Today, their mission of faith and service takes on a deeply personal tone as they partner with Phil’s Friends to deliver comfort, support, and hope to individuals facing cancer treatments.
First connecting with Phil’s Friends in 2022 through their local church, Blair and Kim were instrumental in collecting supplies, packing, and distributing Care Packages to local hospitals near Summerville, Florida. The impact of these Care Packages struck close to home: their youngest son, a nurse at Shands Infusion Center in Gainesville, Florida, helped facilitate partnerships with oncology social workers to ensure patient privacy under HIPAA while delivering essential comfort items directly to those enduring hours of clinic treatment.
For Kim, the mission is profoundly personal. Her late father, also an LCMS minister, passed away from cancer in a hospice care center in Cleveland, Ohio. Reflecting on her family’s journey through grief and the compassionate care provided by hospice workers, Kim recognizes the profound relief that simple, unconditional gestures of love bring during life’s most difficult trials.
“When you are going through the stages of grief, sadness can feel overwhelming,” Kim said. “Then you receive a gentle gesture of love and realize it’s time to be served. That is exactly what these Care Packages do—they serve with no expectation of receiving anything in return.”
Phil’s Friends integrates Christ-centered support with practical relief, offering comfort to believers while creating gentle, non-threatening opportunities to share faith and love with those seeking hope. Beyond patient care, the ministry offers accessible service opportunities for volunteers of all personalities and abilities, allowing introverts and extroverts alike to plug in where their passions lie.
Said Blair, “Seeing the gratitude in the eyes of recipients, the community built among volunteers, and the overwhelming appreciation from clinic patients has been a privilege.”
Care Packages do more than deliver comfort—they create connections. And sometimes those connections come full circle, uniting friends in service in ways only God could orchestrate. That was the case for former co-workers and long-time friends Mary Kanak, 66, and Terry Waszak, 69. Mary first…
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