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

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

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

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

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.