CATALOG OF MISSION GIVING OPPORTUNITIES

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1 St. Peter s and Macedonia U. M. Churches, Ocean City, NJ CATALOG OF MISSION GIVING OPPORTUNITIES PAGE I. WHERE MOST NEEDED...2 II. ST. PETER'S FOOD MINISTRIES Atlantic City Urban Partnership (ACUP)...2 Branches in Rio Grande, NJ...2 Food Cupboard (located on St. Peter's first floor)...3 Hot meals served at God's Kitchen and other meal occasions...3 Sister Jean's Kitchen...3 III. LOCAL MISSIONS in Ocean City Clothes Closet Family Promise Pastor's Emergency Assist Fund IV. REGIONAL MISSIONS Atlantic City Rescue Mission Camden Neighborhood Center Habitat for Humanity Cape May County...6 V. INTERNATIONAL MISSIONS Bibles for Cuba...6 Dental Mission...6 Dominican Republic Mission Missionary Carol Angelo in Guatemala...7 UMCOR (and Malaria)...8 GIFT FORM (to accompany your gift)...9

2 I. Where Most Needed St. Peter's Church supports many and various missions projects to help the hungry and needy persons in our Ocean City and near by communities. We also contribute to numerous regional and International organizations that need financial help. Our church currently supports missionaries in both Guatemala and Africa. From year to year some missions projects need funding more than others. Our Missions Committee at St. Peter's is in a good position to monitor these projects and determine where funding is most needed. The Missions Committee then allocates funding to projects on a where most needed basis. The Missions Committee meets on the first Wednesday night of each month at 6:30pm, and you are invited to attend our monthly meetings. Our missions projects can be viewed in detail on the St. Peter's WEB site at For more information contact Joe Neidinger: jerzesure@yahoo.com II. St. Peter's Food Ministries St. Peter's missions program currently supports 5 Food Ministry Projects: Atlantic City Urban Partnership (ACUP) Branches in Rio Grande, NJ Food Cupboard (located on St. Peter's first floor) Hot meals served at God's Kitchen and other occasions to feed the hungry Sister Jean's Kitchen The Missions Committee meets monthly and will continue to monitor the financial status of each food ministry and will allocate funds to each project as needed. These 5 food projects are described below. Atlantic City Urban Partnership (ACUP) St. Peter's food ministries also include the food outreach programs of the Atlantic City Urban Partnership (ACUP). These efforts to feed the hungry and needy citizens of our community include monthly Saturday meals, winter soup mobile, holiday food baskets, etc. In ACUP we are one of the suburban United Methodist Churches working together to support the community outreach, and we partner with Venice Park UMC, Asbury UMC, and Hamilton Memorial UMC. Your donation will help buy food for a hot lunch or dinner served to hungry persons with faith, fellowship, family, and friendships!! For more information contact: Branches in Rio Grande, NJ The staff and volunteers at the Branches in a store front at the Village Shops minister to the hungry and homeless 6-7 days per week providing meals, shelter from the Page 2

3 elements, community and counseling when needed. With the rising drug epidemic in Cape May County comes the rise in homelessness. Presently, the Branches is one of the few organizations addressing the reality of this crisis, without judgment, in the spirit of loving one s neighbor. St. Peter s has joined this effort by assisting with meal preparation and delivery. The Branches is a combined outreach effort of St. Mary s Episcopal Church in Stone Harbor and St. Barnabas by-the-sea in Villas, NJ and is partially funded by the St. Mary s This n That Thrift Store adjacent to the center. Food Cupboard The Food Cupboard, located on the first floor of St. Peter s Church, provides free food, paper products, and soap and toiletries to needy persons in Ocean City. It is staffed by volunteers from 9 OC churches which comprise the OC Ecumenical Council. Recipients are usually referred to the Food Cupboard by one of the area churches or the city Welfare Dept. People coming to the Cupboard are given an emergency supply of food every 30 days, according to the size of the family. Food supplies are donated from the community, churches, food drives, and grants or purchased from a wholesale distributor, the South Jersey Food Bank of New Jersey, and area super markets. Hot meals served at God's Kitchen and other meal occasions God s Kitchen is a luncheon at St. Peter s on the last Wednesday of each month which is free and open to all members of the Ocean City community. The intent is to help persons who are hungry for food and/or companionship. For those needing it, a bag sandwich and information on local assistance programs is also provided. God's Kitchen is in its seventh year, and it has been an overwhelming success story from the very beginning with many faithful volunteers helping in this community effort. The average attendance has been 75 to 100 persons each month. At St. Peter's dinners are also served on other occasions during the Fall and Winter months. We continue to feed the hungry at these dinners as needed. Sister Jean s Kitchen A retired chef, Sister Jean Webster opened the kitchen in her home to a homeless man over 20 years ago. Today the operation has grown and continues in her memory providing 600 hungry and homeless people a day with hot meals at the First Presbyterian Church in Atlantic City. The staff at Sister Jean s prefers to call this gathering time The House of Happiness. No one is turned away. In addition to a hot meal, Sister Jean s offers employment counseling and a program designed in conjunction with Joseph House for transitional housing. Lunch is followed by a short worship service. For more information contact: (609) or Page 3

4 III. LOCAL MISSIONS IN OCEAN CITY Clothes Closet: The Clothes Closet provides free clothing to needy persons in Ocean City. Since June, 2009, the Clothes Closet operates out of a permanent building that was built by the City with help from a group of volunteers. Staffed by volunteers from 10 Ocean City churches which comprise the Ecumenical Council, the Clothes Closet has clothes of every type. The clothes are organized into men's, women's, and children's sections. Donated clothes should be either new or cleaned and in good condition. The Clothes Closet is now ready for the winter, but can always use more heavy coats and other cold weather apparel, e.g. scarves and gloves. Some volunteers who staff the clothes closet work to sort and organize donated clothes and hang them on the racks. Still other volunteers greet visitors, confirm their names and addresses, and help them find the clothes they need. For more information contact: Family Promise A nation in which every family has a home, a livelihood, and the chance to build a better future is the vision of Family Promise. Family Promise is a nationwide Interfaith Hospitality Network that was started over 20 years ago in Union, NJ to help homeless families with children. Today it has grown to close to 200 programs throughout the United States. Family Promise s mission is to help homeless and low-income families achieve sustainable independence through a community-based response. Here at St. Peter s UMC we join with other churches in Cape May County to help homeless families from our county. St. Peter s hosts, up to three families, for one week at a time, twice each year. As hosts, we provide housing space within the church, dinners for the families each night and a chance to share some time with them in the evenings. During the day the families spend time at the Family Promise Day Center in North Cape May where they receive full time case-management to assist them with overcoming the causes that led to their homelessness. Volunteers are needed to assist during the weeks Family Promise is at St. Peters. You could volunteer to be a host for the evening, to help provide meals, or to stay at the church overnight. At any time you may donate funds to carry out the vision of Family Promise. For more information - Page 4

5 Pastor s Emergency Assist Fund This fund is designed to help our neighbors who are in need. As the pastors at St. Peter's and Macedonia churches counsel local citizens and church members, they encounter persons who need emergency financial assistance. This fund provides money for utilities, rent, dental and medical needs, food, clothing, etc. Ocean City has a number of people who live on the edge financially. Many are working hard and even a small bump means their needs pile up and threaten to make survival difficult. Every dollar directly helps one of your neighbors. For more information contact Pastor Steve Donat: IV. REGIONAL MISSIONS Atlantic City Rescue Mission The Atlantic City Rescue Mission is a nonprofit, Christian social service ministry that provides life-saving care for the poor and homeless in all of southern New Jersey. People who have no home, no family or friends, or no sense of self-worth receive practical help, counseling, and Christian compassion. Through effective, innovative, Christian-based recovery programs, the Mission brings people out of despair and into a productive, good quality of life within the community. Target Audience: Poor and homeless in southern New Jersey Deinstitutionalized mental patients with no support Individuals addicted to alcohol, drugs, and gambling Dispossessed elderly or disabled For more information contact: Camden Neighborhood Center (now 101 years old) The Neighborhood Center is an outreach of the United Methodist Church in a depressed area of Camden, NJ. The Center operates a soup kitchen, food bank, after school programs for children, tutoring program for children, thrift shop, plus many other programs. The Community Kitchen continues to grow and is now serving between 150 and 200 meals each day. They're feeding the hungry with a lunch program that runs Monday through Friday all year round. They're providing safe and affordable child care (infants through preschool) allowing parents to hold a job. They include an after school program, teen programs and senior citizen programs. They serve as advocates for families in crisis. Their summer enrichment program, which runs 8 weeks, is like a mega-dose of vacation bible school for over 100 inner city kids. Why are they doing all this? As it says in their mission statement, "To be a witness to the love of God and the reconciling power of Jesus Christ in the lives of individuals." For more information contact: Page 5

6 Habitat for Humanity Cape May County Habitat for Humanity Cape May County has been focusing its construction efforts on the Middle Township community of Whitesboro. Volunteers provide man power that allows the building of homes or the making of renovations at considerably lower costs. More importantly, the volunteering experience transforms lives: both for the volunteers who work alongside Habitat homeowners and for partner families who see people who care enough to help them break the cycle of poverty. St Peter s congregation has been part of their Give a Blessing project by providing 2x4 studs for the next home to be built. It takes approximately 300 studs to build a home. Won t you consider making a donation to help bring people together to build homes, hope & community in Cape May County. Habitat for Humanity Cape May County, is a 501(c)3, nonprofit corporation V. INTERNATIONAL MISSIONS Bibles For Cuba The United Methodist Church has been growing rapidly in Cuba for several years. When a Cuban pastor was asked "What is your church's greatest need", he responded "we need Bibles, we have so few Bibles that they are a treasure". During the past year we donated funds to help his Cuban Methodist church purchase Hispanic Bibles in Havana for a low price. They recently sent us a photo of their members holding their new Bibles for us to see. The Methodist coordinator for Cuban missions projects wrote to us and said: "I have eight churches in Cuba that do not have a sister church in the United States. They get "no" support for anything. Imagine the impact you would have on one or more of these eight churches if you gave them funds to buy Bibles. Most of these eight churches are the smallest and most remote and with the most needs". For more information contact Bill Bender via wbender1@aol.com Dental Mission Dr Bob and Mary Mohr of our congregation have accompanied the Christian Dental Mission team on over 10 international trips over the past 20 years. The Dental Missions has been coordinating volunteer dentists and hygienists on short term dental mission trips to remote areas of developing countries since In addition to providing treatment in areas where people have no access to dental care, the mission teams provide dental and general health education, and also share the Gospel. Dr. Dale Whilden and his wife, Carol, continue this mission, and in 2016 with support from our congregation, sent a team of dental students with the dentists to the mountains of Peru. All contributions will be used 100% for dental supplies, Christian literature, and Bibles for their 2017 mission trip. Christian Dental Missions is a 501(c)(3)non-profit organization. Page 6

7 Dominican Republic Mission Since 2008, St. Peter s has been sharing the love of Jesus by sending mission teams to the rural town of Los Cocos de Jacaqua in the Dominican Republic. The team has built homes, planted trees to assist with reforestation, sponsored children to go to better schools, provided school supplies and hygiene products. They also participated in baseball clinics, conducted evangelism campaigns, and helped to build and support a United Methodist Church in Santiago. In 2016 the mission purchased land in Los Cocos and hope to build a school/community center on the site. The mission project has grown from 5 volunteers the first year, to now over 100 volunteers with teams from St. Peter s and 7 other churches and 2 schools. A team is sent each spring to continue God s work. Please prayerfully consider helping our team make a difference in the lives of these beautiful people. Building Supplies: cinder block ($5); box of nails ($20); can of paint ($30); window ($50); door ($75); cement floor ($300); roof ($300); entire house ($4000); School sponsorship: sponsor one child for $28 a month Thank you for your support and prayers in helping to continue this vital work in the DR. Missionary Carol Angelo in Guatemala to Aselsi Medical Mission Located in the remote mountains of Chichicastenago Guatemala, The Father s Heart Clinic serves people who would not otherwise be able to receive medical care. Carol Angelo RN (a former member of St Peters and Absecon UMC) recently retired her position as director of the clinic but will remain and continue to provide care, ministry, and coordination of the English-speaking volunteers and donations. Clinic programs include: General medical consults Chronic Care Gynecology, Prenatal, and Newborn care Optometry Orthopedics Jesus Little Lambs Center for learning and physically disabled children Evangelism, personal ministry and miracles happen every week in the clinic. Your donation helps Carol and the Aselsi Clinic continue this valuable ministry. For more information visit Aselsi.org Page 7

8 UMCOR The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) was founded more than 60 years ago to assist immigrants and refugees who are in great need of help because of poverty, war, medical crises and civil strife. Today this tradition continues. UMCOR s work reaches people in more than 80 countries, including the USA. We provide humanitarian relief when war, conflict, or natural disaster disrupt life to an extent that communities are unable to recover on their own. Imagine No Malaria In Sub-Saharan Africa, malaria kills a child every two minutes. When people hurt, United Methodists help! Our Bishop John Schol has launched a mission initiative to save these children from dying of malaria. To date our Methodist churches in New Jersey have raised $900,000 and saved 90,000 children from malaria death. The UMCOR work in Malaria has made significant strides in Africa particularly where Malaria continues to remain the key reason for hospitalization and one of the top killers of children under the age of 5 years and pregnant women. Imagine No Malaria is a ministry aimed at raising $200 million toward the elimination of malaria deaths in Africa. A comprehensive system of education, communication, and treatment, has been developed in partnership with the African Conferences to establish a multilevel means of targeting the disease. The key pillars of the Initiative will continue to focus on the distribution of treated mosquito nets, improved education about malaria, establishment of community-based malaria control programs, conducting outreach through local means and the media, and the revitalization of hospitals and clinics across the continent. Your donation of only $10 will save the life of one child from Malaria death. For more information contact: Page 8

9 Missions Gift Form Please use this form to make your gifts. St. Peter s United Methodist Church You can place your gift in the offering plate 501 E. 8 th Street on Sunday mornings or mail it to St. Peter s. Ocean City, NJ Name Address City, State, Zip Enclosed is my Missions donation in the total amount of $ Please check the project boxes below and enter the amounts you want to give: I. [ ] WHERE MOST NEEDED $ II. ST. PETER'S FOOD MINISTRIES [ ] Branches in Rio Grande, NJ [ ] God's Kitchen and ACUP $ [ ] Food Cupboard $ [ ] Sister Jean's Kitchen $ [ ] Where Food is Most Needed $ III. LOCAL MISSIONS IN OCEAN CITY [ ] Clothes Closet $ [ ] Family Promise $ [ ] Pastor's Emergency Fund $ IV. REGIONAL MISSIONS [ ] Atlantic City Rescue Mission $ [ ] Camden Neighborhood Center $ [ ] Habitat for Humanity Cape May County $ V. INTERNATIONAL MISSIONS [ ] Bibles for Cuba $ [ ] Dominican Republic Mission $ [ ] Missionary Carol Angelo in Guatemala $ [ ] Dental Mission $ [ ] UMCOR (and Malaria) $ Page 9

We are in mission and ministry in the name of Christ for the transformation of lives and the redemption of the community; that the hurting may be healed, that the hungry may be fed, that the

10 We are in mission and ministry in the name of Christ for the transformation of lives and the redemption of the community; that the hurting may be healed, that the hungry may be fed, that the lost may be found, that the Shalom of God may come upon the earth. St. Peter s and Macedonia U. M. Churches, Ocean City, NJ Missions and Church into the World Committee December, 2016 Page 10

What Is Mission? The Children's Home

What Is Mission? The Children's Home The Children's Home A Nonprofit Organization Providing Special Education, Residential and Emergency Shelter Services Located in Mount Holly, Burlington County, and Ewing Township, Mercer County, New Jersey