This translation is not completely accurate as it was
automatically generated by a computer.
Powered by
By John Coleman*
1:30 P.M. EST April 23, 2010 | WASHINGTON (UMNS)
Foundry United Methodist Church volunteers load food into vehicles for
transport
to HIV/AIDS clients' homes. UMNS photos by John Coleman.
View in Photo Gallery
Foundry United Methodist Church got a head start on the
denomination’s Change the World campaign with its own Great Day of
Service a week earlier.
Tomorrow and Sunday, United Methodists across the United States and
around the world are participating in nearly 1,000 events in 16
countries. The Change the World weekend coincides with World Malaria Day
on Sunday, April 25.
On April 17, more than 120 volunteers from Foundry fanned out to 13
social service agencies around the city to prepare, package and deliver
meals; stock food pantries; do painting, cleaning and landscaping; visit
and assist elderly residents; and play with developmentally disabled
youth.
“While planning for this Great Day of Service months ago, we learned
about the Change the World campaign and realized that the goals of both
are similar,” said Amihan Jones, a young-adult missionary who
coordinated the event.
“There’s something for everyone to do,” Jones said. “We knew this
would be a good event for people who have been involved in missions for a
long time, and for first-time participants, too. It is a wonderful way
to build our faith community by serving others through missions.”
Several dozen volunteers stocked food banks or packaged and delivered
meals for agencies that serve people living with HIV/AIDS, cancer and
other illnesses. Others helped serve meals at a weekend feeding program
for homeless persons, or did cleaning, painting, gardening and
landscaping at a school, a transitional home for low-income families and
another residence, named Susanna Wesley House, for women undergoing
life transitions.
Mother-daughter team
Tammi Reilly and her 13-year-old daughter, Katelyn, visited a
resident at Emmaus Services for the Aged, and helped clean her room.
Both are active in outreach ministries at Foundry, but this was the
first time they’ve participated in one together.
“Giving back to others is important at all points in our lives,
regardless of age,” Tammi Reilly said. “Churches don’t always have
family mission opportunities; so this was really nice for us to do
together.
Vanessa Smiley helps Jules, 4, bag cookies for
delivery with meals
to social service agencies.
View in Photo Gallery
She plans to go to Haiti with a mission team from Foundry next year,
but not without her daughter.
“We’re a team,” she said.
The church added a global aspect to the day to coincide with a key
focus of the Change the World campaign. Of the hundreds of red “Love
they Neighbor” T-shirts sold for $10, half of the proceeds will go to
the Nothing but Nets anti-malaria campaign, a collaboration of The
United Methodist Church, the U.N. Foundation and the National Basketball
Association. Elizabeth McKee Gore, who directs that campaign, is a
member of Foundry.
Foundry held its first Great Day of Service event last November and
plans an encore this fall.
“We really could take this framework and triple the number of people
and mission opportunities locally and globally by collaborating with
other churches and other faiths on a grander scale,” said Reilly, who
has served on the church’s mission council. “It could begin to change
the world and impact many lives.”
*Coleman is a freelance writer based in Washington.
News media contact: David Briggs, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.
About UMC.org
RSS Feed
Press Center
Contact Us