—to share our financial gifts, to share our time, to share our spiritual gifts. We are all blessed with many gifts and your local church Mission Team invites you to share what you can in all the ways you can. Last Sunday, March 11, United Methodist congregations celebrated our ability to share. We participated in UMCOR Sunday, a Sunday designated for giving to our United Methodist Committee on Relief. Throughout the world United Methodists give money to show compassion for those affected by natural disasters, war and dire poverty. If you forgot your checkbook, or were not able to be present, we encourage you to share your financial gifts sometime this month. Checks should have “UMCOR” written on the memo line, but the check should be made out to Christ United Methodist Church.
UMCOR has countless needs, including the need for Cleaning Kits or Flood Buckets. These are in very high demand in the late spring and summer in the United States in communities near rivers. Then in late summer and early fall coastal communities need them after hurricanes strike. Some of the buckets go to other countries. These buckets are packed in advance and sit in warehouses in various places in the United States. Our nearest warehouse is just south of Springfield, IL. The mission team is sponsoring two collections this year. Our lay delegate to annual conference, Peggy Literski, will take a few designated items to annual conference. Our church will be asked to bring specific items, but we don’t have that list yet. Our second collection takes place this summer. One of our mission team members will deliver these when traveling to a family reunion. If one of your gifts is shopping, then we encourage you to purchase these items when they are on sale: reusable cleaning wipes (handi wipes), heavy duty 33-45 gallon trash bags, dust masks, clothes pins, and work gloves made of all leather or made of cotton with a leather palm. Please shop for bargains, but store these purchases at home. We will tell you when to bring your items to church; we have limited storage space at church.
If you believe that God is calling you to be directly involved with “hands-on help”, let either the church office or one of our Mission Team co-chairs (Bonnie Dodge or Maylo Hranac) know. We will give you the contact information for the leader of the United Methodist conference disaster team. Our conference has a team of trained individuals. When disaster strikes in our conference, they are trained to help. When disaster strikes in another part of the United States, some trained volunteers go there to serve.
UMCOR is always one of the last to leave a community when there is a disaster. UMCOR is recognized as being an efficient, transparent, financially responsible charity, by independent rating agencies (charity navigator.com). The dollars collected on UMCOR Sunday enable the United Methodist Committee on Relief to pay all overhead costs for the fiscal year. UMCOR Sunday is over, but you may make your donation anytime this month.
Submitted by Local Mission Team