| INTERNATIONAL
MISSIONS
Many of you have been asking for Green Parrot
Coffee. We had been unable to purchase any during the past
couple of months due to the political situation in Honduras.
We have now been informed that we will be able to begin receiving
Green Parrot Coffee again, and will notify you in the Sunday
bulletin when it arrives.
While we are happy to be able to obtain Green Parrot again,
the political situation in Honduras is certainly not resolved.
The following is taken from April issue of the Fellow Man
International Newsletter:
“The political crisis for Honduras is far from over.
The devastating consequences of last year’s coup have
left many in Honduras wondering if the country can recover.
With foreign investment down more than fifty percent, many
important sources of factory work have dried up. This
has left the young people of Honduras with very few options
for making a living wage.”
The article goes on to briefly explain the two sides to the
issue, but the bottom line is that Hondurans lack legitimate
sources of employment for its young work force. The
political crisis resulted in a loss of international aid monies
that were designated to help improve the Honduran infrastructure.
However, the good news is that the international community
still supports humanitarian aid, but the overall situation
is of great concern.
One way we can help is to continue to support the work of
Fellow Man International by purchasing Green Parrot Coffee.
The work FMI does with the small farmers in Honduras has a
major impact on the people in the villages and allows them
to continue to pursue ways to be more self-sustaining.
During the months of June, July and August, the International
Missions Team will continue to sell Fair Trade Coffee, both
Green Parrot and that obtained through Equal Exchange, a division
of UMCOR. However, rather than being available on Sundays
between services, you may purchase your coffee, as well as
tea and drinking chocolate, Monday-Friday at the church office
during regular office hours.
If you have any questions, please contact Nona Larson (enonal@msn.com)
or Jackie Douglass (jackied.coaz@gmail.com). Thank you
for your ongoing support of our international mission’s
projects.
Gold Canyon United Methodist Church Food Bank
The Gold Canyon United Methodist Church’s Food Bank
is a mission that was created to serve the needs of the people
in our local community. We are open from 8:30 AM until noon,
Monday through Friday. We have an all volunteer staff which
currently numbers 38 people. The volunteers commit to daily
shifts as their schedules allow.
Some times we have special volunteers such as the Girl Scout
Troop 1450 from Peralta Trails Elementary School. Their volunteer
effort this summer began by first learning about good nutrition
and how to shop wisely. They then donated a majority of their
cookie sales profit and went shopping for the food bank. The
scouts took it one step further and worked food bank shifts.
They checked expiration dates, stocked shelves, packed bags
and helped clients take the bags to their cars. All the food
bank recipients couldn’t help but smile when these young
ladies went the extra mile to help them. They were energetic
and have a wonderful grasp of what it means to serve their
community.
The Food Bank depends on donations from church members, local
service organizations and businesses, and the Gold Canyon
community. This effort helps us to be successful with our
ministry. Another opportunity to donate has been created with
the support of the many concerts and community activities
that take place at the church. Instead of charging admission,
in most cases a donation to the food bank is requested. This
effort really helps us maintain our inventory needs. We encourage
your attendance at all of our concerts.
With today’s economy and unemployment situation our
needs are drastically increasing. We serve Gold Canyon, Apache
Junction, Superior, Mesa, Queen Valley, Queen Creek and others.
At present over 475 families are assisted by this ministry.
We provide assistance to the homeless as well, packing special
items that are easy to transport and open.
Although our resources are limited, we try to meet the needs
of our clients and consider their dogs and cats, too. We gratefully
accept donations from the public of any (in date) canned or
dry food products. We also need paper products, personal hygiene
items, cleaning products and diapers. We thank all who support
us and allow us to serve.
Jeff Downing and Dan Gray - Managers
PRAYER SHAWL MINISTRY
The Prayer Shawl Ministry is celebrating its first year of
serving Gold Canyon UMC. Eight ladies are busy clicking knitting
needles and crochet hooks to create lovely, soft, and colorful
shawls for members of our church. We meet two mornings a month
to exchange patterns and yarn, pray over completed shawls,
and visit.
The shawls are stored in the home of Karen Brown and at the
church, and are delivered by our members and the pastor. They
are given to people who are dealing with cancer and other
illnesses, as well as people who have recently lost a spouse,
and those who have problems with life and need comfort and
love shown to them. It is our hope that the recipient will
feel the prayers and love whenever they wrap themselves in
their shawl. It is like a hug from Gold Canyon UMC.
Recently we received a generous donation of $25 from Connie
Dunning, which has been used to purchase enough yarn to make
two more shawls.
Soon most of us will be returning to our homes in the Midwest
or Canada, and we will be leaving several dozen shawls here
to help our church family who is in need of our care, to be
delivered by Pastor Fred. If anyone knows of a member who
would like to receive a shawl, please contact Nancy Miller
at 480-882-3226, or Pastor Fred after April 15th. For more
information about this ministry and participation, please
contact Nancy, whose Iowa email address is fnmiller@iowatelecom.net.
Current UMCOR Emergencies
To donate to UMCOR on behalf of the following emergency, please
write your check to GCUMC and write “UMCOR Advance ######
(fill in the appropriate number)” on the memo line.
100% of your donation will go to those affected by the emergency.
Haiti Emergency
International Disaster Response
UMCOR Advance #418325
For more ways to help, or to donate online, go to: http://new.gbgm-umc.org/mcor/
Helping Myanmar
An alternative avenue for giving to help in Myanmar, which
may be a more immediate help than funding from UMCOR is through
an individual at the International School Yangon. Jim Taylor
is the Myanmar director for International Development Enterprises
(IDE) website: www.ideorg.org. He has been working closely
with the Director of the International School at Yangon, Dennis
Mackinnon. They have a good infrastructure already set up
to deliver relief directly to those in need. If you are interested
in making a donation to Myanmar and feel assured that it will
go directly to those in need, an account has been set up in
a Bangkok Bank. The information for transferring funds is
as follows:
Bangkok Bank
Account Name:
International Development
Enterprises Stiftung
Account Number:
840-101-0017-538638-001
Collecting Donations for the Justa Center
Some of you may remember our speaker, Rev. Scott Ritchey
from the Justa Center, on UMW Sunday in May. If you
are not familiar with the Justa Center, I encourage you to
visit their website at www.azhomeless.org. It gives
a very concise description of the work being done at this
wonderful shelter for homeless seniors in Phoenix. We
are, at this time, collecting supplies for the Justa Center.
They are in need of eye glasses, coffee, sugar and non-dairy
creamer. Please bring your donations to the church and
we will deliver them at the CED Annual Meeting on October
11th. Thank you for your support!
Update on Habitat for Humanity – Fall Project
Unfortunately, we have been unable to participate in a Habitat
for Humanity project this winter. We hoped to be able to rehabilitate
an existing home in Apache Junction, but so far Habitat has
not been able to find a veteran family to qualify for this
opportunity.
So, we are looking forward to being part of building a new
home again next fall, as our church coalition has done for
the last several years. The build site will be in Apache Junction.
It will begin in September and last for about 15 weeks. We
know this is early for our winter visitors to participate,
but some of the other churches in our coalition have more
year-round members and will be able to shoulder the load for
the first few weeks until we have more people.
We would like to encourage you to make a financial gift to
this worthwhile effort before you go home for the summer.
We have raised $1400 so far, and hope to raise at least $5000
by September. Any amount would be appreciated. Please note
“Habitat for Humanity” in the memo of your check.
If you would like to be added to our list of volunteers, please
call or email us.
We will keep you posted as plans develop. Thanks so much
for your ongoing support of this ministry.
Joe and Maureen Morton
602-284-2826
MoandJoeM@aol.com
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