The Hands of Christ Duluth Co-op, a local missions ministry supported by Duluth First United Methodist Church, is in need school supplies for school bookbags to be given to local children in need. Needed items include:

• 24-count boxes of crayons;
• colored pencils;
• packs of red, blue, and black pens;
• clear-view pencil pouch with holes for binder;
• one-inch three ring binders;
• wide ruled loose-leaf paper;
• blunt tipped scissors;
• thick washable markers;
• wide ruled composition books;
• wide ruled spiral bound notebooks;
• 3 x 5 index cards;
• post it notes;
• packs of highlighters;
• notebook dividers;
• rulers.

Donated supplies can be left on the stage in the Dorothy L. Rainey Fellowship Hall or in room F147, located on the 1st floor of the Sheldon Family Life Center. Donated supplies are needed by Sunday, July 28th.

Over 100 bookbags, already filled with school supplies by volunteers, will be distributed beginning Monday, July 22nd, and it won’t take long until they are gone. Volunteers will be needed to help fill the additional bookbags with supplies. For more information, please contact Ramona Ricks by e-mail at ramonaricks@att.net.

It is time again for the Family Promise of Gwinnett County’s annual fundraiser, “Night Without a Bed” which will be kicking off on August 1st. Family Promise, a local missions ministry supported by Duluth First United Methodist Church, challenges their supporters and volunteers to be willing to sleep without a bed on the night of August 24th. While embarking on this mission to sleep without a bed, awareness is raised for the on-going issue of family homelessness within Gwinnett County, while raising funds to help us end homelessness one family at a time.

Our own Rev. David Burchett has participated in the “Night Without a Bed” fundraiser for many years. Help David raise funds for this year’s fundraiser. His goal for this year is $15,000. David explains why this cause is very important to him:
I am raising money for Family Promise because I have seen first-hand the impact they have on families in the midst of crisis. With grace and love, Family Promise provides support to families who find themselves in very difficult seasons of their lives. Because of the results I have witnessed, I want to show my support and do everything I can to aid Family Promise in ending homelessness in Gwinnett County.

A new twist this year - the locations where David will sleep upon reaching certain goals will be decided by you! A survey to vote for locations for David to sleep can be found on the Missions Ministry bulletin boards in the hallway across from the Memorial Garden, in the hallway across from the Louise McDaniel Memorial Library (2nd floor of the Sheldon Family Life Center), and in the hallway on the 1st floor of the Sheldon Family Life Center.

Help Pastor David reach his goal to help end family homelessness in Gwinnett County by placing a check in the offering plate with “Night Without A Bed” in the memo line, or by scanning the QR code below. Thank you for your support!

Click on NIGHT WITHOUT A BED to make a donation.

The Wednesday Night Food Drive at Duluth First UMC for the Hands of Christ Duluth Co-op is our weekly mission project, combined with the many Wednesday evening activities offered at the church. Wednesday Night Food Drives will resume on August 7th.

Items requested during the month of August are:

• August 7^th:  Peanut butter and jelly
• August 14^th:  Spaghetti and pasta (not canned)
• August 21^st:  Canned fruit
• August 28^th:  Boxes of macaroni and cheese

Join us for a delicious dinner and fellowship in Hinton Hall, pick up a to-go dinner for your family, join us for any of our Wednesday evening activities, and drop off food items to help other families in need. We thank you for your support.

A growing number of school children in our community rely on free and reduced priced meals at school for their main daily meals.  However, there may not be enough food to go around over the weekend.  The goal of the Happy Sacks mission outreach program is to provide healthy snacks for school children over the weekend.  We pack approximately 150 Happy Sacks each week, which are then delivered to the schools on Friday, and given out by the school counselors to the appropriate children.

For the 2023-24 school year, we packed and delivered 5,087 Happy Sacks. Since the program began in the fall of 2012, we have delivered 35,101 Happy Sacks to children in our community. The need continues to grow as does the cost of filling the bags. The Happy Sacks program is not a part of the church’s regular budget, so we depend on your donations. As we get ready to begin our thirteenth year of the Happy Sacks program, please consider picking up a few extra items the next time you’re at the store or making a financial donation to support the Happy Sacks ministry.

You can help us fill these Happy Sacks by contributing the following items:

• Cheese or peanut butter crackers
• 100% fruit juice boxes (not Capri Sun)
• Non-perishable milk boxes (white milk only)
• Fruit cups
• Applesauce cups
• Dried fruit (individual servings)
• Fruit-filled breakfast bars (Nutri-grain brand)
• Granola bars (Nature Valley Honey & Oat)
• Goldfish, Cheez-its, Combos, pretzels (individual serving bags).

PLEASE, NO CHOCOLATE INGREDIENTS, and all items should be name brands and within expiration dates. Happy Sacks collection bins can be found in the Dorothy L. Rainey Fellowship Hall and by the rear portico doors of the Sheldon Family Life Center.

If you would like to make a financial gift towards Happy Sacks, please click on FINANCIAL GIFT.

If you would like more information, or you would like to volunteer to help pack or deliver sacks, please contact Debbie Johnson by e-mail at dljohnson8957@gmail.com. Thank you for your continued support of this mission!

Crafters, potters, artists, and bakers of all kinds – your talents will be needed in the near future! Saturday, November 9th, and Sunday, November 10th may seem a long time from now, but they really aren’t and it is not too soon to be thinking about our annual missions fundraiser, Bundle Up for Buffalo.

All proceeds from the Bundle Up for Buffalo fundraiser help our sister church, Seneca Street United Methodist Church in Buffalo, NY, keep the heat on their facility during the winter months which fall from October 2024 through April 2025. This helps provide a safe, warm, after-school location for neighborhood children to go to.

You have been so faithful in prayer for this “pocket of poverty” in the North for many years. Please consider what you can make, and something that others would enjoy purchasing.  For more information, please contact Beth Intondi by e-mail at Beth.intondi@outlook.com or call 404-408-1657. Thank you for your support.

Duluth High School Care Team provides essential items for homeless high school students attending Duluth High School. Our church supports them with gift cards, personal items like shampoo, deodorant and soap that are not often available for the students in the temporary living locations.

Sheltering Arms is a daycare in Gwinnett county providing excellent childcare for lower income families. We support them with funds, gifts for the children at Christmas and other outreach like diaper drives.

Duluth First UMC was one of the founding members of Hands of Christ, a Duluth Cooperative Ministry created more than 20 years ago to help with food insufficiency in the 30096 and 30097 zip codes. In order to be a supporting member and hold a voting seat on the board, a church is required to donate food, complete 50 annual service hours, and contribute $1,200 per year.

How can you help with this ministry?

• Help with the 50-hour service requirement. March is our church’s month to volunteer to work at the Hands of Christ. Volunteers stock pantry shelves, divide bulk food items into smaller packages, and fill orders. An experienced “captain” for the day guides you. Choose to work a 2-hour shift from 10 a.m. to noon, or noon to 2 p.m. on a Monday, Wednesday, or Friday in March. To volunteer please contact Ramona Ricks by e-mail at ramonaricks@att.net.
• Help with food donation by donating food at our Wednesday Night Drive-Thru Dinners or take items directly to the Duluth Co-op on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays between 10 a.m. to noon. Items needed are listed on their website www.duluthco-op.org.
• Help with funding by donating funds to the Hands of Christ by sending a check to Duluth First UMC with Hands of Christ in the memo section, or directly to the Duluth Cooperative Ministry through their website at www.duluthco-op.org.
• Volunteer your time to help the Hands of Christ board with raising community awareness, fundraising, legal advice when needed, as well as ongoing technology assistance.

Rainbow Village provides transitional housing for families with children while also adding programming to focus on family stability, well-being, financial management, education and training. The program also offers career and employment assistance for the resident.

Click on VIRTUAL TOUR take a virtual tour of the Rainbow Village campus.

Family Promise of Gwinnett County program offers temporary housing for the homeless in Gwinnett county. A circle of churches supports the effort by providing a place each week for up to four families to live. The church provides meals and social time each evening.

Good Samaritan Health Centers of Gwinnett demonstrate the love of Christ by providing quality and affordable healthcare and dental services to residents of Gwinnett County. It is designed to serve the poor and uninsured to make certain they have access to healthcare when needed.

Friends of Refugees is located in the Clarkston area to support the community of diverse refugees that arrive in the Atlanta Area. They support new arrivals with finding homes and jobs along with understanding new customs and living in the United States. Many of them have escaped from very dangerous conditions and find a place of peace and hope here.

Wellroot Family Services (formerly called The United Methodist Children’s Home) is a United Methodist Church agency that helps to provide a safe loving environment for children and young adults in the foster care system. They assist in locating foster parents, providing transitional and independent living and family housing for homelessness with a safety net of skills to attain self-sufficiency.

As the humanitarian relief and development arm of The United Methodist Church, the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) provides humanitarian relief and disaster response in the United States and internationally. UMCOR has been onsite of locations recently affected by Hurricane Ian. UMCOR comes alongside those who suffer from natural or human-caused disasters – be it famine, hurricane, war, flood, fire or other events—to alleviate suffering and to be a source of help and hope for those left most vulnerable.

UMCOR’s efforts are targeted in places where natural disasters, war, or conflict have done so much damage that communities are unable to recover on their own. In addition, UMCOR helps communities in the United States and abroad prepare for emergencies and to reduce the risk of disasters through a roster of training programs.

UMCOR is also involved in global development work. Specific programs address issues of health, sanitation, poverty, sustainable agriculture, nutrition, and food security. Many development problems are interrelated, so UMCOR uses integrated solutions to address their root causes. UMCOR seeks to empower local hospitals, schools, churches, and other stakeholders by enhancing their capacity to address these issues.

100% of your donation goes directly to UMCOR! The proceeds from our recent Ministry of Music & Worship Arts “Oh Happy Day” Concerts went to UMCOR. For more information about UMCOR or to make an online donation, please click on UMCOR.

Seneca Street United Methodist Church is located in Buffalo, NY.  We have supported this church since 2005 with a variety of means to help the children of the Seneca-Babcock neighborhood.  An adult mission team travels there during the summer to help with the first week of reading camp that includes providing book bags for each child filled with school supplies.  Additionally, a youth team travels to lead vacation Bible school and in the fall the church raises funds to help with heating bills through the Bundle Up for Buffalo craft fair.

The Reverend Charlene Kay Fuino Foundation Elementary School in Liberia offers an education to children in the Kpelle Town community. The school, part of the United Methodist Church and was begun as a project with their pastor Sam Sumo Gaywen with Rev. C. Kay Fuino, typically educates about 60 children in pre-school through sixth grade. Since it’s beginning we have provided funds to purchase land, build the school, pay the teachers, and feed the children during the pandemic.

If you would like to give to this online, click on ONLINE GIVING and select MISCELLANEOUS GIVING from the online giving options.