Missions

 

           Mineral United Methodist Church initiated (during a Charge 2005 planning session) a new Missions Team (committee) which started in 2006. It has become a charge team with members from both churches. Present volunteer members are Barbara B. (chairperson), Laura L., Judy P., Marilyn R., Von R., and Millie M.   The pastor is likewise a member, as she is a member of all our church committees. And we welcome anyone else that would join our mission team to help and reach out to others in the name and love of Christ. Prior to this committee’s formulation, our church mission projects were primarily led by individual church member volunteers, among them, Darrell and Frances A., Marilyn R., Dot P., Nan S., Jim and Kay W. and Barbara B., to name a few. So our church, throughout the years, has been involved with various mission projects. The team has grown and made progress since its formation. In 2007, we formed our first charge mission team which went to the Pine Ridge Indian reservation in South Dakota.

 

            The following is a list of the mission projects that the church currently is specifically and financially supporting for 2008. This list does not contain other numerous mission projects supported by, for example, our women’s group, the UMW. The UMW does donate to some of our church mission projects listed herein, but there are other programs which they support on their own. For example the UMW sponsors a child through The Christian Children’s Fund.

 

            The last page of this overview provides mission programs/projects that we have supported in the past, and we view these as continuing opportunities for our church.

 

  1. Covenant Relation Program-

    A mission program whereby the church makes a covenant with God to financially assist a missionary in a location selected by our church (from a list provided by the Board of Global Ministries). This program is coordinated by the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries that has missionaries in more than 60 countries throughout the world. In late 2002, our church council selected to support Dr. Elma Jocson. At that time, she was working as a missionary burn specialist/surgeon in Tansen, Nepal. At present, she is on a two year study leave in her home country, the Philippines. It is a hands-on training in the discipline of surgery for children, especially newborn babies with congenital defects. She plans to return to the mission field after her two year training, but at this time does not know where she will be.   We have supported Dr. Elma since the beginning of 2003. The covenant is a year-by-year commitment.

 

            Our financial “covenant” for this mission is $2500 yearly. Darrell A. (formerly our church mission leader for this covenant) originally asked each member of our congregation to consider $1.00/week to meet this covenant. In addition to our annual contribution we have helped the Mission Hospital in Nepal to purchase a special X-ray machine to aid in the work there.

 

  2. Louisa Community Cupboard -

       Our church provides canned goods, cereal, etc, for this county sponsored program. Sometime this program is “incorrectly” called the Louisa Food Bank. The County opened this program in 1999 with 75 recipients; today the Cupboard serves 500 families in Louisa County on a regular basis, though more than that are enrolled in the program. About 1000 bags of food are provided monthly. The county uses income guidelines to qualify families for this aid.

 

            Barbara B. takes the food goods donated at our church to the Cupboard located on Resource Lane. In addition to the food donated locally by churches, Food Lion, Farmer’s Food, and Wal-Mart, the county obtains food (USDA) from the Central Virginia Food Bank in Richmond, the primary provider for this county program. There is a basket next to the Narthex table and a shopping cart in the hallway by the adult Sunday school room in which to place any food donations brought to church.

 

           Besides food donations, we are encouraged to also contribute $$ for this program to help purchase freezers, storage facilities, etc, since the number of qualified recipients in the county is continuously increasing. See attachment for more details that Barbara B. provided.

  

  3. Louisa Emergency Food Pantry –

    The food that our church donates for the month of December is directed to this local charity-based program. It is closely related to/coordinated with the above Community Cupboard. Food is bagged at the Pantry and brought to the Cupboard---but the Pantry bags are kept separate and given out only for emergency cases. There are about 20-25 bags monthly distributed by the Pantry for those who are determined to be emergency recipients. Food for this program is not provided by the Central Virginia Food Bank; all food is received from charity based organizations.

   4. Habitat for Humanity -

          In 2005, our church joined with Macedonia and Mt. Pleasant to become participants in a mission program called The Apostles Build Covenant. The three churches agreed to provide $5000 by the end of 2006 to be used toward a Habitat home to be constructed in 2007 in Louisa County. The primary fund raiser for this cause was our spaghetti dinner.

             A number of the UMM and a couple of the women have worked on the Habitat home presently being built near Rt. 22/208. That effort is nearing completion. It is the 3^rd habitat house to be built in Louisa County. 

   5. UMCOR

            UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief) is the global humanitarian aid organization of The United Methodist Church. It works in more than 80 countries worldwide, including the United States. Their mission is to alleviate human suffering—whether caused by war, conflict or natural disaster—with open minds and hearts to all people. They partner with people to rebuild their livelihoods, health, and homes. In times of acute crisis they mobilize aid to stricken areas—emergency supplies, fresh water, and temporary shelter. They stay as long as it takes to implement long-term recovery and rehabilitation.

 

          UMCOR received praise for their timely and continuing work following Katrina. This organization operates continuously as an example of Christ’s mercy and love throughout the world.

 

               To contact UMCOR: By phone:     1-800-554-8583                                    By check:      at your local church, or mail to:

                                                                            UMCOR
                                                                            PO Box 9068
                                                                            New York, NY 10087-9068

   

6. Angel Tree Program –

 

In 2002 our church entered into a covenant with The Prison Angel Tree Program to provide 5 children (or possibly more) with Christmas gifts from their incarcerated parent. The program is coordinated through the United Methodist Virginia Conference.   We work with a number of different prisons. Kay W. presently heads up this project. We indicate the number of children we are able to help and are then given the names. Kay calls to find out gift suggestions as well as clothing sizes, etc. She then makes the purchases and, with the help of other women of the church, wraps them all. They are then delivered to the children’s residence. Typically the children live with and are raised by the grandparents.

            In the last few years, we have collected between $800 and $900/year for this program.

 

 

           The Lakota Native Americans of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, Pine Ridge, South Dakota, are in need of “just about everything” to improve their quality of life. Unemployment on the reservation is a major problem, resulting in food and housing shortages throughout the area. The housing units there are in disrepair and mostly overcrowded. Many units house up to three generations.
            Stan Y. and his granddaughter, Megan F. were volunteer “missionaries” from our church and traveled to the reservation in 2006, along with Earl and Millie M. from Mt. Pleasant.   They went with a mission team from Church of the Good Shepherd in Vienna, VA. These folks paid for their transportation, food, and lodging (their tents). Their participation fee was $500 for the first family member and $450 for the second. In addition, each member was asked to raise $400 minimum for the supplies to be used in their work projects at the reservation.
            In 2007, we had two groups going on trips. Megan went again, this time with her mom, Michelle. They again went with the team from Vienna. Earl and Millie lead a team from our charge, our first ever charge mission trip! In addition to Earl and Millie, Doug and Maren S. from Mt. Pleasant and Barbara B. and Marilyn R. from Mineral as well as four others from outside our charge made up our 10 member team.   Mineral UMC contributed $1000 to each of these trips.

      The following Mission Projects are some of those which our church has supported in past years and are areas of opportunity for our continued support.  At the present time our mission committee has no financial goals planned for these, and to my knowledge our church has not budgeted any finances in 2008 for these.

 

1.People to People International-

People to People is an international program founded in1956 by Dwight D. Eisenhower. The purpose is to enhance international understanding and friendship by exchanging ideas and experiences among peoples of different countries with diverse cultures. The furtherance of world peace was most likely “Ike’s” intent when he initiated this program.

Katie W., Sammi L., and Courtney J. have served as student ambassadors from the USA in this program.

 

2. All God’s Children Camp –
We have provided volunteer camp counselors (mentors) for this program in past years. The children there are children of incarcerated parents. Marilyn R. can provide more detail to anyone interested. She has attended this camp in the past. 

 
3. Camp Rainbow -

         The children at this camp are mentally challenged. It is held 2 weeks each summer, one week in July and one week in August. Volunteers are needed. Scholarships are also needed. It cost $450/week for a child to attend. Dot P. volunteered for a number of years at this camp.

 

 4. Epworth Manor –
This is an apartment complex in Louisa built by the Methodist Housing Foundation with help from HUD about 1978. The 61 apartments are available for handicapped and low income elderly people for independent living.  Some residents have lived there since it opened. Unfortunately Methodist churches in the area have not been very involved in the needs at Epworth. A small group from MUMC did plant some flowers and shrubs in 2003 and a few helped residents there after a fire.  In 2007, the UMM built two shelters in order to provide a shaded area for residents to sit. Volunteers are needed for transportation to local stores and doctor’s appointments. There are plans to refurbish the existing apartments, build a larger community room, and add 22 new apartments. If you’re interested in assisting in any way at Epworth, you may contact Tawana Holland at 967-1696.

 

5. Red Cross – We have continuously supported this worldwide aid organization in times of human disasters and need. 

  

Final Remarks:   Given the previous list of mission projects, everyone can be in mission in some way. Think about where you fit in and what you would like to do. Pray about it. God will help you decide. Then do it! The mission team is always open to your suggestions, opinions, feelings, and availability.

 

Louisa Community Cupboard & Louisa Emergency Food Pantry

 

There are two agencies in Louisa County that collect food. The Louisa Community Cupboard is a county funded program. They have about 500 families enlisted in their program and they give out 1000 bags of food per month to these families. This is where I bring the food we collect in church. They obtain food from the Richmond Food Bank – this is their primary source of food. They receive food twice a month from the Food Bank.  The amount of food received from the food bank has decreased greatly in the past couple of years. There used to be enough food from the Food Bank to put 11 or 12 items in each bag.  They are now getting only 3 or 4 items plus 1 frozen meat item so they are relying more on donations from the community.

 

 The Food Pantry also collects food and is a charity-based organization. The food our church collects during December goes to the pantry. The pantry fills bags and brings them to the Cupboard for distribution. They are kept separate from the Cupboard’s bags and are given out on an emergency basis only. A person can get no more than one emergency bag of food every three months. However, the Cupboard will try to enroll them in their program if there is a need there. There are about 20-25 bags of food from the pantry given out on an emergency basis each month.

 
If any person or organization wants to donate food, I would recommend they donate to the cupboard. Any canned or dry food is OK. Canned meats, chunky soups, and stews are especially good. Frozen foods are also OK. They have a number of freezers. If you are thinking about donating a fairly large amount of food, the middle of the month or the 2nd or 3rd week of the month would be the best time to bring it there.  Most people pick up their food near the beginning of the month so by the 2nd week there is more room to store extra food.   The phone number for the cupboard is 540-967-1510.  

 Barbara B.