Our District United Methodist Women collected
sweaters and quilts from all over West Michigan on September 12, 2020. God richly blessed us with an amazing number of sweaters and quilts. One woman made more than 100 sweaters!! Pokagon was the winner this year with 184 sweaters and 4 quilts. Bless everyone that made things for the mission challenge. Wow!! A total of 457 items were sent to the Midwest Mission Distribution Center! God has blessed us with an amazing group of women!! Thanks to everyone who contributed this year: Pokagon, Westwood, Climax, Gobles, Athens, Debbie Bachman, Scotts, Schoolcraft, and Hartford. See more photos and individual totals in the latest issue of The Compass.
As the winner of the challenge, Pokagon chose the mission project for 2021 – all or portions of the Feminine Hygiene Kit and/or fabric face masks for adults or children. The projects made for the Mission Challenge need to use the patterns from Midwest Mission Distribution Center.
District News
District Youth serve in Detroit
Last week, a Mission Team made up of four youth and two adults served at Cass Community Social Services in Detroit. Justice and Zion from Three Rivers: Center Park UMC and Julia and Lincoln from Edwardsburg: Hope UMC were led by Pastor Matt West (Girard) and Corey Sheets (Hope). The team spent time in the kitchen, painted walls, made floor mats out of recycled tires, worked in the shredding room, and did landscaping at one of the tiny homes. They also visited some sights around Detroit including the “Wailing Wall” and had dinner with Cass staff in Little Mexico. The team stayed at Cass Community UMC.
This was the first of what is hoped to be an annual Youth Mission Trip. This District-wide effort allows teens the opportunity to experience mission service, especially for those whose churches may only have a few youth and leaders and resources are limited. Costs for the participants were covered through District Ministry Shares.
Special thanks to Matt West for organizing this trip and for sharing photos throughout the week. More are available on our District Facebook Page.
To learn more about serving at Cass or to express interest in next year’s trip, please email Matt at [email protected].