SUGGESTIONS FOR
WHAT YOU CAN DO
PERSONALLY
Holston
Home for Children:
This is one of the most worthy programs in East Tennessee with one of
the greatest challenges. Since 1895, Holston Homes has been guiding and
nurturing children in an atmosphere of love and concern. Brochures are
by the office; or call 1-423-638-4171. Check out the website
www.holstonhome.org for more information.
Camp Wesley Woods:
Help pay for a campership; volunteer one or two weeks during the summer
to work with crafts; give toward the Building Campaign.
Reassurance CONTACT:
Volunteer to call homebound people to check up on them, visit with them
over the phone or reach out to someone who is depressed or lonely. They
will be offering a training session beginning September 15 at Grisby
Chapel United Methodist Church, Farragut. Call the CONTACT office for
more information (1-865-482-5040). They are in dire need of volunteers.
Join Friendship Force
International: This
is a global exchange program among people of different faiths. Go on a
peace making pilgrimage around the world. Brochures are next to the
office; check out their website at www.pilgrimageproject.net or call
1-404-965-4329 (Atlanta, GA).
Read With a Child:
Blount County schools need people to give one hour, one day a week to
read with a student. It works! Statistics show that these children are
doing better in school because of this one-on-one contact. Call Mary
Jane Jones at 984-1212, ext. 2167, or at 681-2771.
Habitat
for Humanity needs
volunteers to work at the Habitat Store helping customers or sorting
donations. Or you can help with the house building – construction,
painting, landscaping, etc. Or you can always donate money.
Mobile Meals
always needs volunteers to take hot meals to the elderly. You can take
your children or your spouse along with you; they love to visit for a
while – they love to see that you care about them as a person. Call
Colleen Brzuchalsi at 983-8411, ext. 27.
Join
UMY, FRINS, UMW, UMM, Knitwits, the College Ministry, or the Mission
Committee here at Broadway. All these groups offer lots of hands-on
mission programs, and you get involved with some wonderful people.
Tell People You Care:
Set a goal for yourself that you will call or write a note to someone to
check on them, visit with them, let them know you care about them, thank
them. It can be a neighbor, someone in the church, perhaps someone you
have met at the doctor’s office or at a club meeting. Start easy – maybe
one or two a week. Work your way up to a person a day.
Change for Children: Make a point of picking up your loose change and putting it in a jar or a sandwich bag. Then just dump it all in one of the cans around the church. That money stays in our conference – in fact, our own School of Hope at Green Meadow UMC has been a recipient several times as has the children’s program at Potter’s House.
Start Your Own
Mission: One young girl began
to collect socks for the homeless, and it became a nationwide program. A young
man started the Coats for the Cold program, and now it has grown so much that
the fire and rescue departments have taken it over.
Volunteer at Adult Education:
Work with an adult on a one-to-one basis and help them with their reading skills
or their computer skills. Do you know that obtaining your GED is a lot harder
than finishing high school to get your diploma? Help an adult who is trying to
help themselves. Volunteer or donate money to pay for their books or the fee to
take the GED. Call 982-8998 or grab Carol Ergenbright after church some Sunday
and talk to her about the program.
Go on a Mission
Trip:
Visit the District
office (the big building behind the Alcoa post office) and find out how to join
a mission team. Make it your vacation – you can see a new part of the world
you’ve never seen before at the same time you are an ambassador for God, for the
United Methodist Church, and for the nation. For instance, there are always
teams going to Latvia or the Sudan, and there is always a VIM team heading to
see Fran Lynch in Alaska.
Teach a Child to Give:
Make it your goal this year to teach your child to give part of their allowance
to the church. Start by putting money in the Sunday school collection. Have them
help you choose cans of vegetables for Can Sunday and have them carry the bag
into the church. Make it their job to gather loose change and put it in the
Change for Children cans around the church. Talk with them about mission;
encourage them to suggest ways their Sunday school class might come up with a
mission idea of their own.
Think Outside the Box:
Is your class always giving the same amount of money each year to the same
mission program? Try expanding to include another program. Increase your giving.
Start your own Family Ark:
Find out about the Heifer Project’s Ark program. It isn’t cheap, but your family
could open a savings account just for the purpose of buying an ark-full of
animals that will be distributed all over the world. Then have a huge Ark Party
when you have reached your goal.
Family Promise, Good Neighbors,
Hospice, Food Connection, Blount County Empty Pantry, Haven House, Children’s
Advocacy Center: the list is
never-ending!