District effort challenges churches to stock up for UMCOR
By Karen L. Shaw | Oct. 14, 2010 {1226}
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| Jake and Nate Gobel take a break from helping load supplies onto a truck headed for the United Methodist Committee on Relief Sager Brown disaster supply depot in Baldwin, La. Photo courtesy of Carol Smith. Photo #10-1595. View in photo gallery with longer description. |
Even before the city of Winter Park officially existed, Methodists gathered on Interlachen Avenue to worship together.
In 1886, eight members, seven probationers and the pastor met in borrowed space at Union Congregational Church. They were the organizing group of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Winter Park, founded in 1885.
Two years after the church’s founding, the portion of Florida frontier land known as Winter Park was incorporated as a town.
Now, 125 years later, Winter Park is a city and its Methodist church — renamed First United Methodist Church — has some 2,000 members, and the sanctuary where they meet to worship is their own and still on Interlachen Avenue.
From this base, Project 2010, a yearlong celebration of the church’s 125th anniversary, has spread to embrace dozens of United Methodist congregations in the East Central District and potentially thousands of individuals the world over.
“One of the district goals was to give back to the community and work as a community,” said Laura Toshie, the church’s mission and outreach coordinator.
With that in mind, Winter Park spearheaded the East Central District UMCOR Supply Challenge, a multi-congregation supply drive to support the work of the United Methodist Committee on Relief.
UMCOR works to alleviate human suffering in more than 80 countries, including the United States. It has helped people across the world affected by both natural and man-made disasters — earthquakes, hurricanes, famines, tornadoes, floods and human conflict.
“As part of our 125th anniversary … we wanted to initiate the East Central District UMCOR Supply Challenge … not about (the church), but all of us doing more together than we could separately,” wrote Carol Smith, the church’s director of lay ministry, in an e-mail about the initiative. “It was awesome working as the united church.”
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| Volunteers load cleaning buckets and other supplies onto the truck. Photo courtesy of Carol Smith. Photo #10-1596. View in photo gallery with longer description. |
Twenty-five churches from 15 cities gathered supplies worth more than $35,000 for UMCOR’s Sager Brown Depot in Baldwin, La., headquarters of its relief supply operations.
“It was very successful,” Toshie said. “The truck was filled to the gills.”
The supplies collected included 1,737 health kits — 13 basic necessities for people forced from their homes by human conflict or natural disaster; 80 cleaning buckets, each filled with more than 100 items useful in starting the clean-up after a flood or hurricane; 204 school bags and supplies; 53 sewing kits; 27 birthing kits; 94 layette kits; more than 30 boxes of bulk supplies; and160 empty buckets. A monetary donation of $1,000 also was given to offset the organization’s administrative costs.
“UMCOR is kind of unique,” Toshie said. “One hundred percent of donations go to disaster relief. All the administrative costs of UMCOR are handled by the church.”
Churches delivered their supplies to Trinity United Methodist Church in Orlando Aug. 28. Trinity has about 100 members, and Toshie appreciated the ability of smaller churches to donate supplies and play crucial roles.
