Mission Memo - Winter 2020


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Mission Memo

Spotlighting Our Local, National & International Outreach

Winter 2020 - 2nd Edition

Welcome

to our first Mission Memo email. The Missions Committee plans to publish a quarterly newsletter to better inform our FUMC Family about our activities and involvement in the community.
This is actually our second edition of the Winter 2020 newsletter which was originally published in PDF format. Besides most of the previous articles, this edition includes a new article about our Christmas Food Baskets. We hope you enjoy this publication and welcome any feedback you may have.

Christmas Food Baskets 2020

This has been a different year than the last few for the collection of food and delivery of our annual food baskets. We deliver food baskets to 3 different groups each year: Harvest Point low income apartments, Family Housing Network, and a few individuals from our own church.

In the past, before 2020 Covid-19, the food baskets for Harvest Point included a variety of food items that would go into a Christmas dinner, a small fun gift, a grocery gift card to Safeway or King Soopers for $25, and a Christmas card from the church. They were delivered to the individual apartments by church members.

This year, I contacted Laurie Jenson, manager of Harvest Point, in late October. She put up a sign-up sheet in the building for those who would be interested in receiving a gift from FUMC. Then in November she provided me with this list of 46 residents. Since we could not deliver the gifts to the residents this year, her daughter volunteered to put them out for us. The smaller bags that I made included a Christmas water bottle ordered on-line from Dollar Tree, with a Safeway gift card inside worth $35, and a Christmas card from FUMC.

For the Family Housing Network, each of 4 families was given Safeway gift cards depending on the size of their family, ranging from $150 to $200 dollars. These were given to the families when their Christmas gifts that were collected for the children, were delivered.

I requested names from Rev. Steve Goodier for church members who could use a Christmas gift. This year he supplied me with 3 names. Gifts for our church members were the same as for Harvest Point, but each included grocery gift cards for $125. I delivered those gifts.

Julie Monroe

KidsPak

KidsPak provides bags containing more than 10 food items for the weekend to food insecure students in the Thompson School District on a weekly basis. With the onset of COVID-19, demand for bags has increased from 400/wk to more than 750/wk. Restrictions have forced KidsPak to modify their bagging procedures and reduced the number of participants. This past September 26th and again on October 10th, FUMC members met at the Loveland Food Share to help pack more than one thousand bags of food for KidsPak!

Angel Tree

Thanks to the generosity of FUMC members, more than 40 families will spend Christmas morning together as the children open gifts donated, wrapped and delivered over these past few weeks. To all who participated, a well deserved thanks!

PHOTO: At Home crew after raking 21 bags of leaves

Mission Starts at Home

This effort, coordinated by Julie Monroe, attempts to pair church members in need of minor home repairs or yardwork with someone from her list of volunteers. Most recently, a crew of 6 gathered to rake leaves collecting a staggering 21 bags. And a few weeks before, a volunteer helped with a kitchen light/fan. If you have a need or you would like to be added to the email list of potential volunteers, be sure to contact Julie.

Christmas Offering

A big thank you to all who made a donation to the Christmas Offering. Just over ten thousand dollars was raised which will be distributed equally to our three designated charities: Food Bank for Larimer County, Community Kitchen and Loveland Salvation Army. Your generosity will be deeply appreciated.

First United Methodist Church

Loveland, CO

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