|
Quote of the Month
"Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can."
John Wesley |
|
|
Missions Around the District with UMCM
 Community UMC in Holiday is taking the lead in organizing community groups to minister to the growing need of the homeless in their community. Part of their planning is a summer VBS for latch-key children who during the summer are left home alone.
 Christ UMC, St. Petersburg is in the planning stage of developing a new Arts Academy for urban kids during the school year. Exposure to the arts and help with homework are prime components as well as a hot meal with their family on Wednesday nights. The staff at UMCM is available to work with your outreach team in planning, implementation and evaluation of your mission endeavors. Together, we truly can build bridges of understanding between individuals, communities and churches and change lives.
If we can assist you in any way please contact Donna Ratzlaff, Executive Director UMCM at 727-442-6881. |
UMCM Ambassador Initiative in Local Church
For over 31 years UMCM has been the mission outreach agency of the Gulf Central District and the Florida Annual Conference. Our goal continues to be to represent our United Methodist Churches through service, advocacy and education to persons with special needs facing adversity in life no matter in what community they may reside.
According to Donna Ratzlaff, Executive Director of UMCM "Pastors know about us and other collaborating community agencies know about us but many of our own United Methodists in the pew know very little about their district mission agency."
The UMCM Board of Directors hopes to help change that through their new UMCM Ambassadors Initiative in the local church. The Board will be seeking a person within each local United Methodist Church to serve as our UMCM Ambassador. The role of the local church Ambassador is to share the work that UMCM is doing in their behalf in communities across our district, keep their congregation and work areas on missions and church and society informed of vital community mission needs and relay back to UMCM local mission projects, needs and opportunities for working together to make a difference in their community.
If you know of a person in your local church that might serve in this capacity for UMCM please contact Barry Greer at 727-442-6881. |
World Renowned Author to Present
Hands-On Workshop
Former Professor and Author-in-Residence at USF Tampa, Dr. Gloria Houston (Ms. Mac) will be presenting a workshop May 12th from 1:30-4:30 PM at Heritage UMC, Countryside on "Sharing your Family Story and Helping Others Share Theirs." Each of us has oral stories about our families, stories that need to be preserved and passed down to our children and grandchildren so our family histories may live on. Dr. Houston will teach us how to transform our oral heritage into the written word and help others do the same.
Dr. Houston is a multi-award winning author and educator, text book writer and writer of many classics including My Great Aunt Arizona, Mountain of Valor (nominated for Newbery Medal) and The Year of The Perfect Christmas Tree. She founded and coordinated a program based on her book that created 31 new businesses and new employment for 1,000 in the struggling community of Spruce Pine, NC. Christmas decorations based on her book and hand made in Spruce Pine adorned the White House Christmas Tree and the Oval Office this past Christmas.
Hear her inspiring story about how one person and one book changed the face of a dying town forever!
Space for the hands-on workshop is limited so call UMCM today at 727-442-6881 to purchase your ticket. Advance tickets are $20 each or $25 at the door. Proceeds from the event will benefit UMCM'S Literacy Services Programs.
Local Churches: Please include this event in your May Newsletters. This is an excellent opportunity for all ages! |
|
|
80 Laughing Children and 37 Drooling Babies
Who do you think uses 3 dozen cookies per day, 1 gallon Soft Soap per month, 4 gallons of juice per day, 100 5 oz. Paper cups, 100 sheets paper towels, 24 diapers and 8 rolls of Toilet Paper per day? We do through our Children's Services program at UMCM which include Children of The World Preschool, PASS-after school tutorial program, Moms and Tots Program and Families Learning Together Program.
Every day 30 children attend our Children of the World Preschool located at Hope Lutheran Church in north St. Petersburg. The preschool is the only one of its kind that ministers to children from around the world who are non or limited English speaking.
Every day 25 bilingual elementary children who are at-risk gather to enhance their academic achievement through PASS, our after-school tutorial program.
Every evening 30 children, ages two through twelve, gather with their parents in our Families Learning Together Program to increase their English and socialization skills and get much-needed help with their homework.
Every month 29 moms and dads and 37 young children gather for creative play, and parenting education in our Moms and Tots Program designed to help parents truly become their child's first teacher.
|
|
October '06 - March '07 Program Report
Click here to find out how we've done in our following ministries...
-
Church in The Community Initiatives
-
Emergency Food Pantries
-
Family Support Services- assistance with rent, utility and personal products
-
Children of The World Preschool
-
Refugee and Immigrant Support Services-Southeast Asian Christian Ministries
-
Literacy Services and Families Learning Together- Teaching in small groups or one on one.
-
ESOL Tutor Trainings (Online and Face-to-Face)
-
Homeless Outreach Support-Street Ministry- Feeding homeless and working poor in downtown St. Petersburg at St. Vincent de Paul Center for Hope seven nights a week.
-
DITTY BAG MINISTRY- Drawstring Bags filled with personal products for adults and children. A joint project of UMCM and District United Methodist Women.
-
District Wide Health and Wholeness-Parish Nursing Programs
- PASS After School Tutorial Program and Computer Technology Lab- Home work help for bi-lingual elementary school children.
|
 Eight Persons from Several Communities Complete Online ESOL Workshop
After a month and a half of hard work, eight persons have earned the ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) Workshop Tutor Certificate and are already at work in a variety of settings. Four others were part-time participants but had to drop out due to health-related and work-related problems.
Two of the workshop graduates will be going to Japan as fulltime ESOL missionaries. Another participant took the workshop prior to starting an ESOL ministry at Tice UMC in North Fort Myers. Several participants already were tutoring and wanted some help re techniques and resources. In all, about five local literacy programs will benefit from this workshop. While the workshop was designed specifically for Pinellas County volunteers, others are welcomed, as long as there is room. One participant was from Jacksonville, two were from the Orlando area, and several were from the Greater Tampa area.
Workshop evaluations were positive and helpful:
"This was a very practical course and was the most useful one I have taken. It is organized very well."
"I found the lessons on pronunciation and stress the most useful, because they really made me rethink my understanding of the English language and how to help someone feel more confident speaking."
"I think this was the most useful workshop/course I've ever taken in the ESL/ABE field."
"Thanks for giving me the opportunity to do something positive in my life."
The workshop was developed and conducted by United Methodist Cooperative Ministries staff, with partial funding from a Florida Department of Education, Division of Community Colleges and Workforce Education, grant. UMCM's community collaboration partner for the project is the Pinellas County School Board.
UMCM's final online workshop of the 06-07 school year begins May 1 and gives participants until June 15 to complete the work. Pre-registered participants include several Pinellas County volunteers plus some people going on short-term missions trips. Persons desiring to join the class should immediately request a registration form from
Marti Lane, UMCM's online trainer. The request MUST be in the form of an email to: marti4lit@verizon.net. Basic computer skills and equipment are needed for the course. While broadband connections make the work more enjoyable, dial-up accounts also work. |
|
Scholarship Help Needed for Summer Camp
Every child deserves a chance at academic success and local churches can make that a reality for a needy child through a donation to UMCM's Summer Reading, Writing, Math and Computer Day Camp. The Day Camp will be held May-June for six weeks at our Union Street site.
The camp is designed to provide a fun learning experience for elementary age children who are at risk of being retained due to low academic achievement in public school. The full cost for the camp per child is $160. We are looking for individuals and groups to help with the cost by providing scholarships of $35, $80 or $160.
In-kind donations of cookies, juice and nutritional snacks are needed as well as volunteers to assist our teachers.
For more information contact Donna at 727-442-6881. Donations may be sent to UMCM marked Summer Camp. | |
|
UMCM
