Each year United Methodists gather for an annual conference, and we at CUMC send an annual delegate and the pastor to several days of meetings. Besides representing our church on issues and policies, conducting business, meeting in worship and praying for people and world issues…they also bring our gifts for others.
This year Peggy Literski will be representing our church, and she will be bringing three types of gifts. She’ll have tubes of toothpaste (2.5 ounces or more) and individual toothbrushes (one toothbrush per package), and she’ll have a check for the United Methodist Global Aids Fund. Each year our conference bishop selects one appeal, and this year our bishop, Sally Dyck, has chosen the United Methodist Global Aids Fund.
The toothpaste and toothbrushes will be sent to the Midwest Mission Center in Chatham, Illinois. They will be part of a personal dignity kit and be given to those in need because of poverty or natural disasters. Last year they distributed 30,278 kits. Our district, known as the Elgin district, will be collecting toothpaste and toothbrushes. The other five districts are collecting the other essentials of the personal dignity kits (hand towels, washcloths, nail clippers, razors, bars of soap, shampoo and combs).
The Midwest Mission Center is located just south of Springfield in close proximity to three different interstates. Nearly all of the donations remain in the United States. Last year the Midwest Mission Center had 189 shipments inside the United States and 17 shipments to other countries.
There are 65 churches in the Elgin District and together we are aiming for 1,500 individually boxed toothbrushes and 1,500 boxes of toothpaste of 2.5 ounces or more. Our goal at CUMC is 25-30 toothbrushes and 25-30 toothpaste items. So, watch for sales, and see if your household can contribute one or both of these items. Be sure to bring this to the church during May.
The Bishop’s goal for our conference for the United Methodist Global Aids Fund is $45,000-$50,000 from all churches in our conference. Twenty-five percent of the funds raised will remain in this conference. The Northern Illinois Conference stretches from the Wisconsin border to I-80. According to the Aids Foundation of Chicago, over 43,000 people in Illinois live with HIV/AIDS. The majority of those with HIV/AIDS live in the Northern Illinois Conference.
We encourage you to pray about what you are able to contribute to this year’s Bishop Appeal for HIV/AIDS. If you have friends or family members affected by this, you might make a donation in their honor (or memory). If you are not able to contribute, then we encourage you to pray that those who are able actually remember to contribute. And, we encourage all of you (contributors and non-contributors) to pray that those affected directly and indirectly are healed.
Monetary donations for the Bishop’s Appeal for HIV/AIDS may be paid by check. The memo line needs to clearly state “HIV/AIDS” or “Bishop’s Appeal”. Checks need to be mailed or delivered to the church (or given in the offering) by Sunday, May 21st. We need to have the money by this date because the following weekend is Memorial Day weekend.
CUMC Mission Team