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Connecting Points from The East Central District
Outreach Newsletter -- December
2007
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Dear
Michelle,
The story is told of a Children's Christmas pageant
where a boy with a mental handicap was chosen to be the
Innkeeper. He practiced his one line over and over,
saying sternly, "There is no room in the
Inn! There is no room in the Inn!" The night of
the play, when Mary and Joseph arrived and asked for shelter,
he remained quiet. He seemed to be agonizing as he kept
staring at them. He was prompted from backstage, "Say
your line." As he looked at pregnant Mary and tired
Joseph his face suddenly broke into a giant smile and he told
them, "You can have my room tonight!" Some
people thought he ruined the play. Most people thought
they had seen a vision of the Kingdom breaking through.
Today, there are
between 2.5 and 3.5 million homeless people in the United
States on any given night. The fastest growing part of
the homeless population is children. Over 600,000
families with 1.35 million children experience
homelessness. In Florida, the lack of affordable
housing and our low wage service economy means many people
lack the income to cover basic costs of health care, housing,
food and transportation. One illness or crisis can put
people on the street.
The Interfaith
Hospitality Network uses the resources already in the
community - church buildings - to offer shelter to homeless
families. Read what churches are doing and how you
can get involved in the article below.
Help make room in the
Inn in 2008!
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Interfaith Hospitality
Network
A coalition of churches in the
New Smyrna Beach area is preparing to start a new Interfaith
Hospitality Network. Churches in Port Orange, Oak Hill,
Samsula and New Symrna Beach are needed as Host Site
Congregations.
IHN is a creative ministry
that provides shelter in local churches for homeless families.
Host churches provide living space for a week at a time on a
rotating basis. Volunteers from the Church and other
nearby churches help with meals, laundry, transportation,
assist children with homework and help meet other
needs. Social Workers access problems faced by the
family and work with the family to make a plan for their
future, including finding a job or entering job training,
financial planning and accessing the services they
need.
Rev. John Powers whose Church
is a part of the Seminole/Orange County IHN says that hosting
these families has had a tremendous impact on the youth of
their congregation. By volunteering to play with the
children or help with a meal, they have learned that poor
people are not so different. They have seen working
parents leave early in the morning and return late at night
from work and they have grown to admire people who work so
hard for minimal pay. The youth have grown to appreciate
their own homes and families and have a depth and maturity to
their faith that other youth do not have.
What can your church do to be
a part of helping homeless families?
To learn more about IHN
and how your Church can help:
Volusia County, contact Chuck
McDonald at (386) 423-1725
Orange and Seminole Counties, go
to [click
here] |
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Hurricane and Tornado Recovery
Projects
Just because the immediate emergency of
the disaster is over doesn't mean the recovery is over
too.
Volusia Interfaith Network in Disaster
(VIND) is coordinating the long term rebuilding effort.
They have 21 cases at various stages of Case Management, 16
are tornado related and 5 are 2004 hurricane
related!
The Volusia County Zoning Office
recently started giving citations to people who still had blue
tarps on their roofs from Hurricane Charley. These
people did not have resources for the repairs and did not know
where to turn for help. In the last four months, VIND has
worked with 20 new 2004 hurricane cases. Half of these
cases have had work completed, allowing these families to move
past the 3 year old damages and finally move their lives
forward.
For the Christmas Day 2006 and the
Ground Hog Day 2007 tornados, VIND has been working on 41
cases. Four were denied and 22 have already been
completed.
If you would like to be a part of the
remaining rebuilding projects or to make financial or supply
donations, contact:
Ellen Wallace Office:
386-255-5510 Fax: 386-255-3590
E-mail:
VINDofficemanager@cfl.rr.com.
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Tornado Anniversaries
A
very important event is coming soon for these survivors... the
anniversary of the tornadoes. The first anniversary of a
traumatic event can be very emotional for many
survivors.
As Project H.O.P.E. (a counseling and support
program) phases out during the month of December they are
working jointly with area churches and organizations to plan
anniversary events to assist the survivors through an
emotional time in their lives. They are also looking for
community members to assist with the anniversary events for
the Ground Hog Day tornado.
Contact Project H.O.P.E. (386)
236-1821 |
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Service of the Longest Night
You are Invited . . . to the Service of
the Longest Night
Finding the light of Christ in the midst
of the darkest night of the year . . . quiet, sacred,
beautiful and uplifting. Harp and piano join with scripture,
prayer and words of hope to touch the depths of heart and soul
with the true message of Christmas. Especially
meaningful to people who are grieving, sick, or just
overwhelmed by holiday busyness . . .
Broadway United Methodist
Church
406 East Amelia Street, Orlando
Wednesday,
December 19 @ 7 p.m.
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United Methodist Volunteers in Mission team
leader training set
United Methodist Volunteers in Mission (UMVIM)
is a fellowship of believers, lay and clergy, men and women,
adults and youth, who step out in faith to serve the needs of
communities around the world and around the corner. The common
characteristic of a UMVIM team member is a desire to serve
others and a willingness to share the Gospel as part of a work
team, medical team, or as individual volunteers.
The Florida Conference
UMVIM team is available to support any team's preparation for
mission. Teams are formed from one church or from several, and
are multi-generational and multi-ethnic. Team
leaders determine the destination, schedule, team size, and
other aspects of their trip at the request of local churches
in areas with need for teams. There are hundreds of mission
opportunities available at the local, conference, national,
and international levels.
If you're ready to take your leadership skills
to the next level, UMVIM team leader trainings have been
scheduled to prepare volunteers to lead Mission Teams. The
training dates are Jan. 11-12, 2008, at the Warren W. Willis
Camp in Fruitland Park; April 11-12, at the Riverside Retreat
in LaBelle; and Oct. 17-18, at Lakewood United Methodist
Church in Jacksonville.
To register, [CLICK HERE]
and follow the link for
training registration. For all trainings, check-in begins at 4
p.m. the first day and ends at 5 p.m. the second day. Cost of
the training is $50 per person and includes one night
accommodations, three meals, and all training
materials.
For more information, contact Sue Macchiarella,
Florida Conference UMVIM Chairperson, at (386) 767-8544, Ext.
103, or email at sue@jesuscovenant.org |
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 Hunger Ministries2008
Citrus Drive
Bring
your Oranges! Bring your grapefruit! Help feed hungry people
from the bounty in your backyard!
It is
time for the Annual Citrus Drive sponsored by the Society of
Saint Andrews. On Saturday, January 19th, you can bring your
extra citrus fruit to the following locations:
- College Park Presbyterian Church
- First UMC, Oviedo
- Grace UMC, Lake Mary
- St.
Luke's UMC, Windermere
Volunteers are needed to staff
the pick up sites or to pick oranges. For more information contact
Amy Powers 407-650-1056.
To
learn about hunger issues and the Society of Saint Andrew
[click here].
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Souper Bowl of Caring by Tracy
Bender
It's not too
late to participate this year!
Participation in the Souper Bowl of
Caring is easy! Simply grab a soup pot and collect donations,
report your collection amount to souperbowl.org, and send 100%
of your donations to the charity of your choice. It's that
easy!
Souper
Bowl of Caring works to mobilize youth during SuperBowl
Weekend to feed hungry people in their communities.
For more information [click
here]. | |
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