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Outreach
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JANUARY LOOSE COIN OFFERING
Welcome Fund
You've probably seen the pink signs on our main doors: Gas Cards. We’re Sorry But Our Gas Voucher Account Has Been Used Up . . .
For the last two months, we have been unable to offer our $20 gas cards because we simply haven‟t had enough money. After giving away over $7,800 in the first ten months of 2011, we stalled.
It is time to get going again. As our community faces continuing hard times, this is one small but very meaningful way we can help people. It‟s hard to look for work if you don‟t have gas.
Facts about our Welcome Fund: Since beginning the fund in January of 2007, we have offered this help to people 52 times („07), 105 („08), 325 („09), 315 („10), and 391 („11). Since we only help an individual a maximum of two times a year, that‟s a lot of people in need being given a hand.
Our neighbors can use help.
Bring 4th Food
This month our Fourth Sunday collection of
nonperishable food items will go to the
Women’s Community
Sunday, January 22.
Old Cell Phones and Ink Cartridges
Don’t throw them away! Bring them to church to the receptacle in the B.K. Smith Room. This is a fundraiser for Faith in Action.
Multi-Purpose Bag
Wouldn’t you like a multi-purpose bag? How about these purposes: protect the environment, proclaim your church affiliation, start conversations, and welcome guests?
Need more details? This summer, we at First United Methodist Church are selling fabric bags, suitable for packing lunches, taking to farmer’s markets, and using again and again. This is the environmental purpose – reducing our use of paper or plastic bags. The bags are printed with our church’s name and website so when you carry them, you identify yourself as a part of this church. Furthermore, the bags are bright red and carry the words "Rethink Church" which may spark any number of questions and conversations.
We’re selling these bags for slightly more than cost: $3 for one or $5 for two. (Special deal! $300 for a gross!) The extra money will subsidize giving these bags with a loaf of bread and some information about our church to first-time guests. There’s the welcome part. Where else can you find bags that serve so many purposes?
Campbell’s Soup Labels for Northcott Neighborhood Center in Milwaukee.
Place your labels in the box on the sink island in the church kitchen.
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“Do not waste time bothering whether you love your neighbor; act as if you do. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him.”
— C.S. Lewis
Equal Exchange Coffee Update
Equal Exchange is a democratically organized worker-owned cooperative, founded in 1986, to pioneer a new model of trade built upon fairness and stronger relationships between farmers and consumers. When you purchase Equal Exchange coffee, tea, chocolate and other products, you help farmers in Latin America, Africa, and Asia to stay on their land, support their families, plan for the future, and care for the environment. The United Methodist Women have been participating in the UMCOR coffee program using Equal Exchange coffee for quite some time.
As food prices have been increasing across the country, prices are now increasing for Equal Exchange products as well. As of January 1, 2012, the new prices will be: Regular (ground, whole bean) $8.00/bag, Decaf (ground and whole bean) $9.00/bag, Flavored (regular and decaf) $9.00/ bag. Hot chocolate will remain $6.00/can, tea (Rooibos plain and vanilla flavored) $4.00/box, and Dark Chocolate Bars $3.00 each.
We also have some regular flavored coffee on sale for $4.00/bag.
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Twelve boxes of yarn and knitting supplies.
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A van load of clothes to be delivered to the City of Hope Ministry Center at Mosinee United Methodist Church. |
A Season of Giving
It has been a season of giving, and I don't just mean Christmas presents. This past month we have collected offerings for the Christmas Dinner and for the humanitarian efforts in Haiti, over and above our usual giving. Moreover, we have taken up some offerings of goods for different projects.
After the Ndjungus, missionaries to Cameroon, spoke in our church in October, we began gathering yarn and other knitting supplies for a shop sponsored by The Methodist Women in Cameroon. All proceeds from that shop are used to fight human trafficking.
We also gathered used clothes to support the new thrift store at the City of Hope Ministry Center at Mosinee United Methodist Church. The City of Hope is the only food pantry in Mosinee and provides other community ministries. This thrift store will not only meet a need but provide some financial support.
Clothing donations are ongoing.
 . Community Book Fair Coming This Spring
FUMC will be hosting our second Community Book Fair in Spring 2012. We are looking for ―gently used‖ books to be donated for all ages ranging from infants through adults. In 2010, we gave away over 5,000 books to our neighbors in the Wausau community. We would like to collect another 5,000 books by the spring. Please help us by donating books as well as encouraging your friends, family and clubs to share their books. You may drop the books at church or contact us at (715) 297-2119 and we will coordinate a pick up.
We will be using Room 101 as a workroom for the Community Book Fair project. We are having a Book Sorting Training Extravaganza on Wednesday, November 2, at 6:15pm. Once you are trained on sorting and tracking books, we would love to have volunteers stop by Room 101 when they have a few moments and help sort books at their leisure. Help us make the Neighborhood Book Drive a success.
AREH Opportunity
Do you even know what those letters that you see on the Monday church calendar stand for? AREH is the Association for the Religious Education of the Handicapped. This organization meets every Monday evening at 6:30pm through the school year, offering music, study, and worship for adults with cognitive disabilities.
Although this ministry was largely started by people of our church and still meets in our Fellowship Hall, it is an ecumenical endeavor. In fact, the current director, Diane Van Eyck, is a member of a different church.
And Diane needs help. She is looking for a co-director to help her manage the administrative side of the program. Diane has the organizational structure down to science, with step-by-step instructions for everything, but she can’t be here every Monday night.
Is this, perhaps, your ministry? To find out more, call Diane @ 715-
355-3039 or Pastor Jerry @ 715-842-2201.
Homebound Communion
Have you ever wondered why sometimes, when we serve Communion in church, there is a basket of individual containers up by the altar? These are prepared Communion kits for members of our church who cannot make it to church every week, or even at all. We deliver these kits once a quarter – January, April, July, and October – and in this way we take church to those who can no longer come to us.
This gift is made possible by Priscilla Cedar and Elsie Waterman, who prepare the kits, and by all the volunteers who deliver them. To many of our homebound members, this is an important part of our care for them.
Do you know someone who would like to receive Communion at home? Are you that person yourself? Would you like to volunteer to deliver Communion? Contact Pastor Jerry and let him know. We are always looking to expand our list and increase our care for each other.
UMW Reading Program Books 2011
EDUCATION FOR MISSION
"Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid" by Jimmy Carter (large print)
"Getting to the Heart of Interfaith: The Eye-Opening, Hope-Filled Friendship of a Pastor, a Rabbi, & a Sheik" by MacKenzie, Falcon, & Rahman
NURTURING FOR COMMUNITY
"Same Kind of Different As Me" by Ron Hall & Denver Moore (large print)
"The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir"by Kao Kalia Yang
SOCIAL ACTION
"The True Cost of Low Prices: The Violence of Globalization" by Gallagher
"The Heart of Racial Justice: How Soul Change Leads to Social Change" by Brenda McNeil and Rick Richardson
SPIRITUAL GROWTH
"Being a Christian in the Wesleyan Tradition: Belonging, Believing, Living, Growing" by John O. Gooch
"If You Know Who You Are You'll Know What To Do: Living with Integrity" by Ronald J. Greer
UMW, Making Mission Practical
Fair Trade - Equal Exchange Coffee. This is a small gesture you can
make to provide fair wages to coffee, tea, and cocoa producers throughout
the world. It can be your personal mission project!
Tanzanian Jubilee Coffee and Café’ Salvador are regular drip grind coffee
and are the most popular. Decaf, drip grind, organic whole bean and flavored coffees are available also, as are organic hot cocoa mix and herbal/organic tea. Supplies are in the cupboard next to the fireplace in the parlor.
Drip grind regular coffee and organic whole bean - $7.00
Decaf and flavored coffees - $8.00
Organic hot cocoa mix - $6.00
Organic/herbal tea - $4.00
To purchase take your product, place the money (check or cash) in a brown envelope (in the cupboard) and put the envelope in the drop slot near the church office.
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