United Methodist Women
Susanna Wesley was the mother of John Wesley, who was largely credited, along with his brother Charles Wesley, as founding the Methodist movement. Although she never preached a sermon or published a book or founded a church, she is known as the Mother of Methodism. One of the missions our yearly pledges support through the United Methodist Women is the Susanna Wesley House. The mission of Susanna Wesley House is to assist women in need and their dependent children; to provide a safe, clean home; and to ensure a viable program for the residents to obtain independent living.
Part of our mission work within Havre de Grace United Methodist Church is:
- Our “Souper Bowl” collection of non-perishable food items, which are donated to the Salvation Army and Grace Place.
- We collect donations for the Board of Childcare in Baltimore, MD. The Board of Child Care's mission, as an outreach ministry of The United Methodist Church, is to serve children and families who require physical, emotional, behavioral and social support. If you remember, three years ago our church knitted and crocheted scarves (over 100) and took to the children as Christmas gifts.
- Our church support to the Alpha’s Glory Pregnancy Resource Center in Aberdeen provides change collected in baby bottles. Alpha’s Glory is an outreach ministry of the local churches. It is committed to presenting the gospel of our Lord to women in crisis – both in word and deed. Last year we purchased 25 bibles and 22 Concordance’s and donated those to help with their ministry to women in crisis.
- We also provide support to our Sunday School by sponsoring our annual Halloween Party and collecting money for the United Nations Children’s Fund, or more commonly known as UNICEF, during the month of October. UNICEF works in 190 countries and territories to save and improve children's lives by providing health care and immunizations, clean water and sanitation, nutrition, education, and emergency relief. UNICEF spends 90.4 cents of every dollar we receive on programs that help children.
- November we sponsor our annual Blanket Sunday. The funds collected support the Church World Service (CWS) to purchase and ship blankets within the United States and worldwide. Because CWS buys in large quantities, it can provide a good wool or cotton blend blanket for a modest $5. When possible, blankets are purchased closer to the scene of a disaster, to speed delivery and to spur local economies.
- Every December we host our annual Christmas Cookie Bake Sale and sponsor a local organization for Christmas.
- Our UMW also supports the Church Prayer Circle. This circle has been meeting since World War II, EVERY WEEK. When weather did not permit everyone meeting at the church, all members would pray in their homes at 10:00 for those on our prayer list and those less fortunate. The group meets here at the church every Thursday at 10:00 in Mentzer Parlor. Our membership is getting smaller, from a robust 12 to a dedicated group of 3 or 4. You don’t have to pray out loud but pray for those in need.
Our UMW unit is so grateful to the many generous supporters of our Mission programs during the past years. Your donations and service has helped us to recognize women, children, and youth as leaders and to nurture their gifts. We have been motivated by Christian caring to reach isolated populations of women and girls with life-changing educational and leadership opportunities such as scholarships, workshops, life skills, child development and after-school programs.
* Upcoming Events – Stay Tuned!
School Supply Drive: School Supply Drive: As always, our Church Congregation has gone way over and above in donating to our local schools and to UMCOR. Your very generous donations have helped in supporting our future leaders. We collected 1,548 items (822 items were collected in 2017), which is outlined on the next page. Part of the donations included 17 School Supply Kits for UMCOR. These kits included six unsharpened pencils, one pencil sharpener, one pair of blunt point scissors, one pink eraser, one 12” ruler, one package of 100-200 lines notebook paper, 3ea spiral notebooks, and one 24count box of crayons. Supplies have been delivered to Havre de Grace Elementary and Meadowvale Elementary schools. The supplies for UMCOR have been mailed to the depot in Baldwin, Louisiana. Thank You so very much from the UMW HDG UMC.
FLOWER FUND: The UMW is looking for someone to take over the duty of having flowers coordinated on Sunday’s in our church. You would be responsible for starting the calendar in November/December for individuals to designate their Sunday, collecting the funds, verifying the invoices against arrangements received and coordinating the payment with the UMW Treasurer, and coordinating with Amanda’s Florist for their delivery to the church on Saturday. You would also have the duty of ordering Easter Lilies and Christmas Poinsettias. If you are interested, please see JoAnn Hayes.
Individuals who have signed up to place altar flowers on a Sunday morning must pay for the flowers two weeks in advance or your flowers will not be ordered. This is critical to keep our account with Amanda’s Florist current. Checks should be payable to UMW Flower Fund. Thank you to all who are paying for their flowers on time or in advanced. It is greatly appreciated when time to pay the bill!! Please be sure to return the containers.
ORGANIZING FOR MISSION: Each organization unit of UMW will determine, on the basis of an assessment of its needs, the organizational form required to effectively implement the PURPOSE of the UMW, keeping in mind flexibility of structure and times of meetings. The program of the HDG UMW will provide opportunities for the participation and leadership of all its members, encouraging women to be in mission by growing spiritually, engaging in service and advocacy, educating for change, developing leaders, expanding and nurturing its membership and supporting the organization through Mission Giving.