Grace in Mission

Community Dinner

 

I would like to take this time to inform all the members of Grace United Methodist Church
of our community dinner.  If it would not have been for Nanette telling us about the community dinner I would not have taken the time to go and see what it was all about......

It has been rewarding for me to serve the people of our community through our community dinner program at Grace United Methodist Church.
 Since my starting at that time we grew from about 30 people to last Wednesday we served 180 people. Several people from our church has volunteered their time to help prepare and serve their community and found it rewarding...If you would be interested in volunteering we would love to have you.....If interested call Ron Vochatzer at 768-6905 or on his cell at 963-0010 and give it a try, you'll be glad you did.......God willing, see you there....

 

Ron Vochatzer

Grace Team travels to Liberia

A team of 13 traveled to Liberia on July 19 and returned home on August 5.  The team consisted of persons from three United Methodist Churches, led by Rev. Dr. Ken Lutgen of Blue Ridge Boulevard UMC in Raytown, MO.  The five persons from Grace UMC were Rev. Nanette Roberts, Cindy Hahn, Kyle Reynolds, Patty Baker and Lois Waters.

The team led workshops for young adults in three locations:  Kakata City, about an hour outside of Monrovia in a program for street girls; in Buchanan to Brighter Future Children Rescue Center to a co-ed group who are ex-combatants and most are homeless; and to Camphor Mission, a United Methodist boarding school and home of a project to work with girls who are trying to escape a tribal lifestyle.

Three teachers in the group led teacher training workshops, while the two pastors in the group led training for District Superintendents.  Other workshops led by the rest of the team were on HIV/AIDS education and prevention, family planning and sex education, self-sustainability, and conflict management.

The reality of what war can do to a country and its citizens was very evident in the students.  Education was suspended for 15 years while the country was in the midst of brutal conflict; infrastructures and families were destroyed.  The students the team worked with were between the ages of 15 and 22 and were learning to read and write.  Most could write their names but few were capable of fluent writing.  They were bright and anxious to learn but had few resources.  Classrooms had chalk boards and desks that seated three to a bench with a board for a desk top.  All notes were copied from the chalk board onto notebook paper.  The school at Camphor Mission had textbooks but they were kept in the school library.

As Grace UMC begins to work toward having a Peace Academy, beginning with 7 year old children, the impact of seeing what a war can do to a society is crucial.  Humankind cannot be kept down, but the reality of life is that it will take a generation to rebuild what formerly was successful and produced a good life for most citizens.  There is currently 85% unemployment, half the population was killed over the span of the war, and few are over the age of 25.  There is no electricity or water system, however the remains of both are evident.

As is usual with Mission Teams, we returned with determination to help as we are able, to assist the church to build a new future.  The force of Jesus Christ was apparent in the programs being produced, the worship attended and the work of UM missionary, Frido Kinkolenge, a former Missioner of Hope from the Congo.  There is hope because of Christ and Christians all over the world.  Hope in a hopeless place is a miracle to behold.  We are grateful to God for letting us see it and the opportunity to participate in building a future for those in Liberia.

Lois Waters
Grace team member

2008 at Center of Grace

United Community Services is doing a survey for the Johnson County human services agencies. They asked me to get the numbers of people that we served at the Center of Grace last year, in certain categories. I wanted to share these with you. 

We helped 26 households with rent and utilities, 126 households with boxes of food, and 2680 households through our clothes closet. When I added it up the number of families that we helped just with through these three programs was 2832. Isn't that amazing and that does not include community dinners, health screenings, ESl or Step Up. WOW. We certainly touch a lot of lives in Jesus' name.

contributed by Pastor Sylvia Romero

Alternative Gift Fair a Success

The 4^th annual Grace UMC alternative gift fair was held at the Ridgeview campus the Sunday morning after Thanksgiving.  More than $10,000 was raised for organizations located here and around the world.  Organizations which benefited include: 10,000 Villages; Heifer Project International; Give Ye Them To Eat, Mexico; Spofford House, Kansas City; Methodist Missions in La Gonave, Haiti; Kansas City Center for Urban Agriculture; and Grace UMC’s own projects: Summer Sack Lunch program, Hispanic Ministries, and the Love Fund, which provides emergency rent and utility assistance to families in Olathe.  Fair Trade coffee and chocolate were also sold, with sales for these products totaling $685.

 

            It is estimated that 150 to 200 persons or families participated in this year’s alternative gift fair.  The Missions Commission would like to say Thanks to one and all for your prayers, presence, gifts, service and stewardship for this important annual event!

 

Contributed by Lisa Rohrbaugh

Flu Shots at Center of Grace!

A donation of flu vaccine was made available to Center of Grace by Olathe Medical Center to give free to those who hadn't yet received the vaccine.  The volunteer nurses, translators and clerks who regularly do Health Screenings on Wednesday evening, signed up to help and people responded in droves.

 

Penny Chura gave about 100 vaccinations on Tuesday morning, December 9, 2008, with help from Monica Gutierrez and Lois Waters.  People from English classes at the Center, Step-Up diploma program, and others passing through the building, formed lines and were excited to have the opportunity.

 

Wednesday evening, December 10, nurses Stephanie Buss, Lisa Pope and Diane Diedrich lined people up in a meeting room at Center of Grace while Elizabeth Canabal and Kim Noeth took names and organized the crowd for the vaccinations.  While it seemed like organized chaos, over 100 more people received vaccinations against influenza.  Nurse Lisa Pope said, "I told my family all I did was swab, stick, swab, stick continuously for over an hour.  It was great."

 

While all this was happening in a meeting room, adjacent in Fellowship Hall, over 150 people were being fed by Community Dinners.  Center of Grace is not only a 'happening place,' it is a safe haven and blessing for hundreds of people. 

 

Another round of vaccinations may be coming up in the future, pending publicity and organization.  We'll keep you posted!

Contributed by Lois Waters

Round-Up for Hunger - 2008

The Bishop's Round-Up for Hunger drive at Grace was successful another year! 

 

Missions Commission combined the donations of money for food given between the Kansas East Conference Round-Up for Hunger and food grants for food pantries in our area.  Sunday School classes and individuals contributed layettes, health kits and school kits with a few odds and ends of diapers and baby items for good measure.  The contributions taken to Round-Up were as follows:

 

Food Brought to round-up                         $1150
Food Distributed locally                              1780
Layettes  (11)                                            $330        

Disposable Diapers  (1)                                $20     
Health Kits   (16)                                       $320    

School Kits   (15)                                        $225    

Cash for scholarships in Mexico,

Haiti, and food grants in Kansas                $1000

Total                                                        $4825

 

Many youth from throughout the Conference spent the night in Lawrence to learn about hunger issues, and generally have fun at a lock-in.  Two youth from Grace attended.  The morning of Round-Up, November 15, 2008, they gathered at the Fairgrounds in Lawrence and as the cars, trucks and pick-ups lined up to contribute their churches' donations, the youth and sponsors unloaded each one as they passed through the barns, only taking minutes to do the job.  Goods were divided between United Methodist agencies who had sent trucks to pick up the boxes to take home and distribute to the people who need them most. 

 

Communion is especially meaningful as the Bishop blesses the communion elements and the donations brought to help the poor.  The youth sing and help with communion along with the persons who have brought donations.

 

Final count of donations from all the 300+ churches in the Conference is not available yet as of this writing, but will be greater than $250,000.  Thank you to all who have helped by giving to the poor.

 

Center of Grace Open House

On Saturday, October 11th, Center of Grace held an Open House.  It was a wonderful day to celebrate the mission and ministries of the Center.  There were carnival games, crafts, free food, give aways, health screenings, glaucoma screenings, skin cancer screenings, agency information and much, much more.  Groups represented included Grace United Methodist Church, Iglesia Centro de Gracia, Johnson County Adult Education, Migrant Even Start, Step Up, Pathway to Hope, MainStreet USA, Olathe Medical Center, Health Partnership Clinic, Olathe School District, Community Dinner, Creighton University Glaucoma Outreach,Hispanic Coalition, Clothing Closet, Office of  Health and Human Services, Office of the Public Health Service, Office of Minority Health, Office of Women's Health, Center on Medicare and Medicaid Services, Office of Civil Rights, and Social Security Administration.  There were ambassadors available to give tours and youth from Grace United Methodist Church helping with the games.  The day offered educational opportunities for individuals to find out what was available to them through the outreach of the church.  We give thanks to the countless volunteers and all who helped make the day a great success.  Thank you for your continued support of the Center of Grace.  If you would like more information on ways in which you can be involved either in service or utilizing the services of the Center of Grace, please call 913-764-1353.


contributed by Pastor Shelly Petz

Grace Team prepares for trip to Haiti

Grace’s Haiti Mission team will leave on Nov 7 for the island of LaGonave, Haiti.  The team of six will be doing construction work while in Haiti.  Pastor Shirley and Joe Edgerton recently visited with the team and helped to prepare them for the mission.  The Edgerton’s are long term volunteers on LaGonave with the GBGM of the UMC.  Haiti, before the hurricane season was already the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphereand since the hurricane season began, the poorest of the poor are hungrier than usual, without work, some without housing due to hurricane damage.  The fisherman are having a difficult time as the fish were damaged from the storms, the farmers whose crops are few under good circumstances are now mostly without as the crops were washed away in the storms, schools have yet to open.  Shirley shared some most needed items with the team-pencils, pens, spiral notebooks, TUMS or generic equivalent, work gloves.  If you would like to donate any of the items, please bring them to the donation box on the lower level and mark them clearly “Haiti”. 

Please have donations to the Church prior to October 31, 2008. 

The team will return home on November 14, 2008. 

Food and Fellowship

Wednesday Night Community Dinner

Our community dinner at Center of Grace started a few years ago and has increased every year since it has started. I remember when I started we had maybe 30 people at the most, last week we served 120 plus. So you see there is, very definitely, a need to serve our community. This is a free dinner, for the most part, but we do take donations from those who feel they want to donate. We are always looking for help from our church members to help prepare and serve our meals. If you feel like you would like to come and help us and have fun at the same time please call Ron Vochatzer at 913 768-6905. If you are still undecided come try one of our meals and make up your own mind.