The Good Neighbors food program has been providing meals to needy persons in the community for over 25 years. Two Thursday’s per month we have three teams (cooks, delivery drivers, and dessert makers) prepare and deliver anywhere from 100-125 meals. There are several teams for each job so that volunteers typically work only one Thursday per month. This ministry takes many volunteers to be successful, so if you would like to be a part of our Good Neighbor team, you can call the church office and we will put you in touch with Kate Alsbrook. Kate is our current coordinator for this ministry.
Prayer Shawl Ministry
Formed in 2006, the Prayer Shawl Ministry is made up of a group of ladies, all ages with different backgrounds and life situations, coming together as one. We meet the 2nd Monday of each month at 10:00 a.m. in the Fellowship Sunday School Class located on the second floor of the church. The meetings are about 1 ½ hrs long. We begin with prayer, have a short devotional, then lift up names of those needing shawls and tell of those that have been given. We have given away 1,571 prayer shawls as of March 2022, not only in our community, but all over the USA.
We pray, laugh, cry, plan, and yes, we hug!!! After blessing the
knitted and crocheted shawls brought in that month with prayer,
we continue our fellowship by going to a local eatery for lunch. You are not required to know how to knit or crochet. We will
teach you if you would like to learn. We even have several ladies who come just for fellowship. COME JOIN US!
F.U.E.L. Program
The F.U.E.L. (Full Uv Emmaus Love) Program, sometimes
referred to as a Backpack Program is a program to feed needy children over the weekend. This program was started by Gretchen Angus in 2006 when her husband served as a pastor here. When Gretchen was a Guidance Counselor at Bobby Ray Elementary, she saw that lots of children would come to school on Monday and look like they had not had much to eat over the weekend. She asked First United Methodist to sponsor a program to pack bags of food where she could put into the backpacks of these children on Friday. She also worked until she had sponsors to put this program into every school.
Steve Miller and volunteers currently pack 36 bags per week for Bobby Ray Elementary. Each bag contains 8-10 items which include several snacks from each food group. This is an expensive program and donations are greatly needed. This program is under the direction of the mission team.
FUMC under the direction of Melinda Miller is also doing the F.U.E.L. program at the Middle School. Steve Miller handles the purchasing of supplies for both schools. The Interact Club does the packing at the Middle School and we currently purchase enough to pack about 36 bags per week.
Breakfast Rotary Ministry
For the past many years, volunteers from First United Methodist Church have met in the fellowship hall on Tuesday mornings to cook breakfast and clean up for the McMinnville Breakfast Rotary Club. Proceeds from this important ministry are returned to the church to help provide for unforeseen maintenance expense for our historic 125 year old building. This ministry allows our church to be actively involved in our community. If you would like to volunteer, please contact Dennis Kronlage at 931-808-9893.