|
The Grace United Methodist Women is an organization that is open to all women who attend Grace United Methodist Church. The local unit is affiliated through the Marion District with units of women worldwide. All women of the church can benefit in this group through fellowship with each other, through study, service, and worship UMW Circle Meetings.
* Deborah Circle - meets the fourth Wednesday in the homes of various members or at the church.
* Naomi Circle - meets the second Thursday at 9:30 am in the homes of various members or at the church.
All of these groups include devotions, programs or lessons, and service projects in their monthly meetings. Fellowship is available through General Meetings four times a year. These currently consist of a fall luncheon in September, evening meetings in December and March, and a carry-in picnic in June at the United Methodist Memorial Home in Warren, where we entertain all home residents who have a connection with Blackford County. At our December and March meetings there is always a speaker on a topic of interest to the women of the church. A mother-daughter banquet is held in May and is always a fun-filled evening in honor of our mothers, daughters and other special women in our lives.
Learning and study is available in many ways through the UMW. Our Marion District meetings, which are held spring and fall, in various locations throughout the district are sources of information, with a book and magazine display and speakers of various women's issues. There is a reading program available with suggested books on a chosen area of interest each year. We as a local unit try to always purchase some of these books, so they are available for women who want to study them. We maintain our local church library and constantly add books to it.
Service is also an important part of our UMW. We serve our church by providing dinners for bereaved families, helping with food, child care, etc. in times of need, serving refreshments at various meetings in our church, and helping to provide funds for needed improvements to our church. We visit with and provide small gifts for church members who are in nursing homes or confined at home.
We serve our community through our membership in Church Women United, which provides monthly birthday parties for the residents of our local nursing homes.
We help support our church's Have-a-Heart Fund which assists people with rent, groceries, utility bills and other needs. We help with our church and community food pantries and the mitten and hat project that our church undertakes every year to accompany the Rotary Club's Coat-a-child program. We serve the church world-wide by supporting missionaries and projects of the United Methodist church in many area with financial aid, goods and materials, and our prayers. We are currently beginning a needlework group in order to provide fellowship while sharing skills with each other and working on mission projects.
We encourage our members in worship by providing devotions, musical programs, prayer, etc. at our meetings and have a prayer chain that can be activated by telephone when anyone in our church or community has a need for prayer. We join with women of other churches in worship on World Day of Prayer and at other times throughout the year.
The funds needed to carry out all these activities are raised primarily by our two Salad-a-ramas each year. Everyone in the church joins us in providing a wonderful assortment of salads and desserts to serve 500 lunch-time meals. We also serve meals to community groups such as Chamber of Commerce, United Fund, Rotary Club, etc. as a service to them and a fund raiser for us. We have also sold various items such as cookbooks and knives to help raise needed funds.
The Grace United Methodist Women are also responsible for overseeing our churches' Helen Lieber Preschool which serves our community by providing a preschool experience for three and four year old children every school year.
|
