St. James Community Food Pantry
Mission: To provide non-perishable foods and cleaning supplies to
needy Merrimack families on a bi-weekly basis. Proof of residency and
financial need are required.
Our Food Pantry is available to all Merrimack residents or members of
St. James who are experiencing financial difficulties. We currently are
providing fresh and non-perishable foods and cleaning products to
approximately forty families. If you or someone you know needs our
help, please contact Rev. Marge or Denise Greenleaf, 424-7692 at any
time. Also, we are always looking for volunteers, either for a few
hours on Tuesday mornings, or people with trucks and muscles to do
pick-ups. Be sure to check the
notices on our bulletin board in the parlor for news about fuel
assistance and other financial aids.
Hours: Tuesdays 9AM - 12PM
Donations Accepted in person: Mon - Thu, 8AM - 1PM
Missions & Social Concerns
St. James UMC takes its Mission responsibility very seriously.
Listed below are our currently active Mission projects.
1) "The Ark” - a used clothing boutique for people in our community who
have a financial need. Open Tuesday 9:00am-12 noon; first Friday
each month 6:30 pm-8:30 pm. In addition to serving the Merrimack
community, we also give clothing to the Nashua Children's Home, the
Upper Room, Maine Economic Ministry (an outreach program supported by
the United Methodist Church), and Tolles Mission. We have also
supported a minister in Africa and various individuals with special
needs.
2)
Adopt-A-Platoon
As a mission project, the congregation of St. James Church has adopted 4
soldiers currently deployed to Iraq through a program called
Adopt-A-Platoon. This program was established in 1998 by a group
of serviceperson's mothers to let our soldiers know that we appreciate
the great contribution and sacrifice they are making to preserve freedom
and democracy and to help us all feel safer and protected in our homes.
The program involves sending our "adopted" soldiers cards, letters,
toiletries, clothing, games and snacks on a monthly basis and the
support continues monthly until they return home safely following their
deployment. If you want to know more about this program, visit
their website at
www.adoptaplatoon.org or call Donna Condon at 603-429-0981or
603-315-4708 (cell) or she can be reached by email at
dlcondon96@msn.com.
Here are some ongoing Mission programs that do NOT involve giving money, but
fulfill a wide variety of needs.
3) Knitting Ministry
A) Prayer Shawls - the making and donation of prayer shawls to
those we minister to.
B) Chemo Caps and Helmet Liners
for deployed troops
4)
Sewing Ministry
Comfort Pillows distributed to various
hospitals for their breast cancer patients; and
Pocket Prayers given to anyone in need of prayers.
5) We will continue to
collect the tabs from soda and other cans for the Shriners. The
Shriners are one of two organizations that have hospitals in the U.S.
that people can go to that are free. (The other is St. Jude
Hospital, which is supported by St. James UMW). The Shriners use these tabs to raise money
to support their hospitals.
6) We will continue to
collect used eye glasses for the Lions Club in Merrimack.
7) We will be collecting
empty printer
cartridges for Marguerite’s Place. The Cartridge World’s recycling
program allows them to raise funds for their programs.
8) We will continue to collect
aluminum cans; however,
the profits will be used to support Luis and Ester. (Remember to remove the tabs
so that we can also support the Shriner’s Hospital.) Luis is the young
boy from the Dominican Republic that our Sunday School is sponsoring,
and now Ester, a young girl, has been added to this mission project.
This program was started in Vacation Bible School. Lindsey Finken will continue to be in
charge of the aluminum can program. Heidi Eisermann will be in charge
of the Sunday School Youth Group who will be responsible for the
collection of these cans for recycling. For this responsibility, they
will be given ten percent of the profits. Tithing!!!
9) We will once again be supporting the Heifer
program. This will be funded through Shaw’s receipts. Please bring in
all your original Shaw’s register receipts and we will receive one per
cent of the total sales. Lindsey Finken will be in charge of the
financial part of this program. Please note that the Heifer program
supports people in this country as well as in foreign countries. They
were very helpful to the farmers in this country after hurricane
Katrina. There is also a special bank for change. This bank is on loan
from the Out of the Woods store. It’s a fun thing for children; some
adults might like it too! The change collected will also support the
Heifer project. Our goal at this time is to purchase a flock of
chickens which will cost $20.00.
Recent Mission Projects
Completed
| April 2007 |
HEALTH KITS:
We
collected 187 health kits to be used in times of disaster here
in the U.S. and all over the world. |
| June 2007 |
TOOLS OF
HOPE:
$551 was sent to CWS (Church World Service) to
purchase tools in countries where they are most needed. |
| July 2007 |
VBS:
Raised
$195.11 to sponsor Luis, a boy in the Dominican Republic.
$10.00 a month provides him with an education. |
| August - September
2007 |
A) KNITTING
MINISTRY
Gave prayer shawls to the people of the community of faith of
St. James; gave comfort pillows to Southern N.H. Hospital for
their cancer patients.
B) POCKET PRAYERS
Gave pocket prayers to the congregation and Southern NH Hospital
for the patients who needed to know that someone cared about
them and was praying for them.
C) THE ARK
We
continue to serve the community of Merrimack and various
charities in our area. We also send clothes to the Economic
Ministry in Maine.
D) DEPLOYED
SOLDIERS
We
have sent over 50 more helmet liners and several neck coolers to
our troops in Iraq. |
| October 2007 |
CROP WALK
We raised almost
$2,000 on our walk. We gave $500 to world hunger and $400 to
St. James Food Pantry. The remainder supported our mission
projects. |
| November 2007 |
PHONE CARDS
We sent $395 to
purchase phone cards so that our soldiers overseas can call
home. |
| January 2008 |
Met the Bishop's challenge by supplying 15
Mosquito Nets to be sent to Africa |
June Johnsen, Mission Chair
United Methodist Women
United Methodist Women Meet at 7:30 pm, on the 3 Monday of each month,
from Sept thru June. Our meetings are held at the church, all women are
welcome. The purpose of the United Methodist women as stated in
the Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church, 1988 is:
“The organized unit of United Methodist Women
shall be a community of women whose purpose is to know God and to
experience freedom as whole persons through Jesus Christ; to develop
a creative, supportive fellowship; and to expand concepts of mission
through participation in the global ministries of the church.”
ST. JAMES UMW MISSIONS
The UMW at St. James financially supports the following mission
projects:
Pledge to Mission
Prayer and Self Denial
Thank offering
The food pantry at St. James UMC
Camp Wanakee
St. Jude hospital - monthly support of a
child
The following are supported with money plus
goods:
1) Red Bird Missions - Money and coupons
2) Hattie B. Cooper Community Center - Money; School supplies; Clothing:
underwear, socks, mittens, hats and scarves. Bingo prizes for the
seniors - coupons
3) Rose Haven, a local supported residential care home - Individual door
decorations that we make for the Fall and Spring
4) Meals on Wheels - Money, Tray favors
5) Woman's Prison - Notebooks to use as journals
6) Carenet Pregnancy Center of greater Nashua and Manchester - Money,
Clothing
7) Hospice House - Quarterly tea (held at the Hospice House) for
families who have lost loved ones
during the past six months
The women of the UMW also lend great support to our church mission
projects.
Knitting Ministry: - Prayer shawls, Chemo caps, Helmet liners
Sewing Ministry: - Pocket prayers, Comfort pillows, School kits
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