The
following churches in our Finger Lakes
District have agreed to be drop-off center
for health kids: Sodus,
Newark First, Clifton Springs, Geneva, Penn
Yan, Horseheads, Corning Grace and Bath -
the FIRST shipment will be picked up by Don
Snyder by February 11th. Please
communicate with them as to when and how
pickups will occur. A reminder of what the
health kits should contain:
Items needed for the disaster kits:
Hand Towels (15" x 25" up to 17" x 27", No
kitchen towels please)
Washcloths
Combs (large and sturdy, not pocket-sized
please)
Nail file or fingernail clippers (no emery
boards or toenail clippers please)
Bath-size bar of soap (3 oz. and up)
Toothbrushes (single brushes only in
original wrapper, No child-size brushes
please)
Adhesive plastic strip sterile bandages
1 gallon ziploc plastic bags
2. Clarification on Health Kits
This is the
word that we have received from Greg
Forrester regarding the money aspects of
putting the Health Kits together:
No monies should be placed in the kits but
should be sent separately to the conference
office for forwarding to UMCOR.
The confusion came when toothpaste started
arriving with expiration dates on it and so
a change had to be made. The listing on the
UMCOR bulletin insert (which states $1.50)
is for kits sent directly to UMCOR Sager
Brown, not those that are necessarily
processed at our other HUB locations. All
kits are reprocessed at the HUBs or Mission
Central regardless.
Suggested /requested donations should be sent
separately to the conference office
(PREFERRED): Checks should be made out and
sent to
NCNY Conference, PO Box 1515,
Cicero, NY 13039-1515. Please designate
money purpose in the memo line of the check
(e.g. Health kit shipping and/or
toothpaste). We will see that the money will
be sent on to UMCOR.
$1 donation per kit for shipping
$1 donation per kit for toothpaste
At this
time, please take all donations to the drop
off point(s) within your district.
An innovative model to end poverty
“Operating in communities around the country, each
circle initiative consists of a family working to get out of poverty and
several middle and upper income Allies who befriend them to lend
support. The family is the CIRCLE LEADER, setting direction for
activities. With the help and friendship of their Allies, each family
sets and achieves goals unique to their own needs.” (
www.movethemontain.org)
CNY Bridges & Circles is a program for individuals and
families to make real and permanent change in their lives. But the work
at the community level also sets it apart from other poverty efforts.
Poverty is not Acceptable
Workshop Date March 20, 2010
Presentation by CNY Bridges & Circles Campaign
Sponsored by Finger Lakes District of the United
Methodist Church and PYUMC Social Issues Team
An Innovative Model to end poverty
You can help end poverty in your
community
The United States is one of the richest countries in the
world.
Yet in Yates County,
15.8% of our population lives in poverty.
It is a problem that is measured by
intangible personal stories of family hardship and heartache.
The Bridges &
Circles Campaign partners volunteers with families in need.
Bridges & Circles is a community
based initiative to bring people together to help lift families out of
poverty. Unlike traditional government programs, Bridges & Circles
provides relationships to create a support system for struggling
families. Through their participation, families gain the knowledge and
skills needed to bring themselves out of poverty.
.
Presentation by CNY Bridges and Circles Campaign
Sponsored by:
Finger Lakes District of the UMC
and
Penn Yan United Methodist Church
- Social Issues Ministry Team
March 20, 2010
9:00 am to 12:00 pm
Penn Yan United Methodist Church
Fellowship Hall
Main and Chapel Streets
Penn Yan, N.Y 14527
Registration: $5.00
For additional information Contact:
Jeanne Carley (607) 243-8394
Peggy Beckwith (315) 576-3542
Jan Hafner (315) 536-7632
The Circles
TM
Campaign
Yes, I want to learn more about how to stop poverty in
Yates County.
Please reserve my place for the CNY Bridges & Circles
program on March 20, 2010, at the Penn Yan United Methodist Church from
9:00 am to 12:00 pm.
Name: ________________________
Address: ______________________
______________________________
Phone #: ______________________
Email: ________________________
I have enclosed registration fee
___ cash or
___ check in the amount of $5.00.
Mail your form and fee to:
Penn Yan United Methodist Church
P.O. Box 242
Penn Yan, NY 14527
A significant
part of our work is to advocate for the issues, concerns and
assets of persons of color. Racial and ethnic constituencies
within the church and society offer a wonderful opportunity
to live out God's radically inclusive Pentecost vision and
witness in the world. We educate and advocate to end
structural racism and systemic white supremacy in all its
forms: beliefs, power structures, and cultural norms. The
Social Principles require the self-determination and
development of racial and ethnic persons and communities.
We seek out and
sustain opportunities for education, public policy advocacy
and leadership formation in partnership with African,
Hispanic/Latino American, Asian American, Native American
and Pacific Islander United Methodists. The continuing need
for excellence in leadership and development of potential of
persons of color from all economic classes, from the local
church to the national and international level of The United
Methodist Church requires deliberate, professional training
advocacy and education.
We are
available to help design praxis oriented-participatory
action and reflection-educational experiences and workshops
in Washington, DC on college and university campuses,
seminaries and schools of theology
Mission trip to Red Bird.
The Clifton Springs United Methodist Church once again will be
sending a mission team to Red Bird Mission in Beverly, Kentucky on
spring break – April 18 – 24, 2010. We have several openings for
youth 15 and up, with your adult leader plus any adults other who
would like to go. The cost is $280 per person which covers food,
housing and basic project supplies at Red Bird. There will be some
extra for travel expense. Projects could be anything from
painting, ramp building, basic carpentry, organizing in the clothing
rooms or counting soup labels. We have 20 spots. 10 of those we
will offer to Finger Lakes District churches. If you have questions
you may contact Lorrie Spence at
revspence@juno.com or 315-462-7192. To apply to go you must
send $140 with the application below to save your spot by February 1st,
2010. The other $140 will be due on April 1st. All fund
raising will be done on your own but we will get together as a group
to plan for travel etc. Praying you come and join us – together we
can do so much more for the Lord.
Adult
attending with youth:_______________________
Please
fill out another application for Adult
Less than 14 percent of
churches updating Find-a-Church profile in New York West Area
United Methodist Communications reports
that less than 14 percent of churches in the New York Area update their
Find-a-Church profile and Bishop Marcus Matthews is encouraging all
congregations to change that statistic.
Fifty-six out of 386 churches in North
Central New York Conference and twenty-nine out of 256 churches in
Western New York Conference have updated their profile.
Find-a-Church is a key component of www.10thousanddoors.org,
a seeker-oriented Web site featured prominently in The United Methodist
Church’s $20 million Rethink Church advertising and welcoming campaign.
Find-a-Church does more
than simply list churches, addresses and phone numbers. Newly enhanced,
it now offers the opportunity for churches to list their ministries,
including event schedules, locations, and special notes. Visitors to
www.10thousanddoors.org are able to search for local churches based
on these offerings.
To that end, the value of the Find-a-Church database relates directly to
the breadth of information that churches self-report on the site. For
the past six months, United Methodist Communications has launched a
major effort to ask churches to update their profiles and keep them
current. “Because a large number of churches still have not done so, I
am sending you this message, encouraging you to update your church’s
profile,” Bishop Matthews notes.
With easy-to-use templates that make entering and updating information a
breeze, it has never been easier to highlight your church’s programs and
unique points of entry from daycare to basketball leagues. Also
available are opportunities to personally welcome visitors to your
congregation, introduce your members, add details about your worship
schedule, and link to your church’s Web site.
Go to
http://archives.umc.org/Directory/login.asp?mid=222&fac to find out
how to update and enhance your church’s Find-a-Church profile. If you
have questions about updating your Find-a-Church information, contact
United Methodist Communications at
FAC@umc.org or
1-800-251-8140.
On Saturday, about 120 people
from across Upper New York
gathered in Liverpool to learn
and dream. See photos on the
Upper New York website and
on the new conference
Facebook page .
The Critical Questions Team on
the Local Church is also using
Facebook to communicate and to
welcome input from around the
Area:
see their page.
Advance specials are projects
located within the bounds of the
annual conference or episcopal
area, whose ministry may extend
beyond the bounds of the
conference. Such ministries are
supported by churches'
second-mile giving to the
designated Advance Special fund.
The application is due the
Conference Secretary of Global
Ministries (CSGM) by
March 1, 2010 in order
to be reviewed and recommended
to be sent for approval at the
organizing session of the new
Annual Conference on June 19,
2010. Fuller information and
instructions are included within
the
application document.
Creating a new "family album"...
From the Communications team:
Send us a “family photo” of the
life of your congregation – be
creative! Include as many people
as possible, in an activity or
setting that expresses something
about your shared life and
ministry!
E-mail photos to Sandy Brands,
Communicator in Troy Conference:
sbrands@troyac.org.
Photos should be of at least
“medium” resolution. Include
contact information including
e-mail and phone, and the name
of the church. Photos will be
used on the web and at
conference gatherings – share
the life of your congregation
with your sisters and brothers
of Upper New York.
Annual Conference which will come
into being in 2010.
Name suggestions for the new
Conference – which brings together United Methodists in the New
York State portions of Troy and
Wyoming Conferences and North Central New York and Western New York
Conferences – were solicited in email blasts, on Conference
websites, at Annual Conference sessions, and in Conference
publications earlier this year.
The suggestions were reviewed by
the Communications Planning Team, which includes members from all
four of the existing conferences. Some proposed names included
metaphors touching on the theological and the geological, including:
Mighty Waters, Living Waters, and Koinonia. Others were more
descriptive geographical names, such as Upper New York, Upstate New
York, and Adirondack.
The Communications team
recommended to the New Area Conference Team that the conference
adopt a geographic name, which does not “lock in” one metaphor, but
leaves open the possibility of attaching ministry-focused tag lines
in keeping with vision and mission. In other words, a simple
Conference name allows for statements such as: Upper New York
Conference - Rethinking Church Together; or Upper New York United Methodists:
Being God’s Love, Living in the Way of Jesus.
New ACT agreed with the team’s
recommendation and asked the communications team to announce Upper
New York as the possible new name and to solicit comments.
The Episcopal
Area to be created from the New York West Area and parts of the
Albany Area has already been named the Upper New York Area. The
College of Bishops of the Northeast Jurisdiction, meeting in July
2008, had the responsibility for naming the Area. The Annual
Conference name, however, will be adopted by the uniting session of
the new Annual Conference, meeting June 19, 2010 at the ON Center in
Syracuse.
The World
Wide Web is Our Parish!
Global
listeners agree,
"Common Good Radio is the Internet radio station that combines faith,
music and scripture for our family's faith centered lifestyle." We are
pleased to announce that new music is added each week.
Just
click on the above radio
player, and after the page loads place the commercial free radio
station on
your desktop as background for fruit of the spirit centered music,
scripture
and stories reaching out in love to all members of your family, 24
hours a day.
