Concord UMC helps neighbors in times of need
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Volunteer Terry Owen cuts a board to make a picnic table at Concord UMC. - Tammy Cheek
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Concord UMC members gathered to make soup kits for Operation Inasmuch. - Tammy Cheek
Concord Methodist Church was on a mission this month with a bevy of 25 projects to help its community during its 12th Annual Mission Blitz.
“It’s a way to honor the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy of serving,” CUMC missions director Jane Currin said. “We had 27 projects going on from Friday, Jan. 16, to Monday, Jan. 19.
“We want to love and serve our neighbors, and a response to Jesus’ love for us, we encourage our members to participate in serving and helping us love our community,” she said.
While 500 signed up, more people came to lend a hand.
“[Friday] night, we had 97 people here, sorting and bagging sweet potatoes for the crop drop, and we had 18 here decorating spider plant pots and gifts for nurses at East Tennessee Children’s Hospital,” Currin said. “They’re making Valentine’s Day cards for [the nurses] later this weekend.
“We packed 40,000 pounds of sweet potatoes into 10-pound bags, and they’re going to 47 pantries and feeding ministries in eight counties and a place in Kentucky,” the director said.
For the children at ETCH, volunteers made a craft activity bag and hygiene toiletry kits.
“Lots of times kids who come in don’t have anything, so they give them a little brush, toothbrush, shampoo and a small deodorant,” Currin said. “Just those small necessities you need when you end up some place unexpected. The hospital can’t afford to provide those things anymore so we make those kits.”
A new project the church included is a wheelchair drive hosted Saturday, Jan. 17, at The Thrift Store, 8843 Kingston Pike. The community was invited to donate new or gently used mobility equipment to support individuals with disabilities locally and around the world.
“This project was made possible through a partnership with Joni and Friends Wheels Around the World, an international organization dedicated to serving people with disabilities and their families through practical help and the message of Christ’s love,” Currin said.
They collected all sizes
and types of manual wheelchairs, wheelchair footrests and parts, rollators, knee scooters, walkers and other mobility aids.
“All donated items will be refurbished or redistributed to individuals who urgently need them, offering restored independence, dignity and mobility to people who might otherwise go without,” she said.
Also on Saturday, church members made Linus blankets at the church, as well as larger blankets.
“Project Linus provides blankets and pillowcases for kids who are in need or have an illness, fire or loss in their lives that they need the comfort of a blanket,” Currin said.
Additionally, volunteers are building picnic tables on the west side of the campus.
“Three will go to Susannah’s House, a housing unit for women and their children who are fighting their addiction,” she said. Another table will go to Helping Mamas, a diaper bank.
And, “we’re filling some little bags for the warming center at Life Harvest, one of the newest centers open,” Currin said.
Another project entails preparing meals for children at Isaiah House, where foster children stay until they are placed, and women at Susannah’s House.
“Tomorrow [Sunday], we make treats for the seniors,” she said. “We’ll visit some seniors in some of the live-in facilities.
And, “we’ll start the Meals of Hope meal packing for Operation Inasmuch,” Currin said. “We’ll pack 20,000 servings of macaroni and cheese today [Saturday] and 20,000 servings of oatmeal with apple-cinnamon bits [Sunday]. Those they just add water.
“And, we’re making our own soup mix Sunday and Monday,” she said. “Tomorrow, we’ll make 1,000 packs of our Tennessee taco soup we make and share with food pantries. Monday, we’ll make a five-bean soup that will also go out to pantries.
“We have a grant from the Siddiqui Foundation,” she said. “We have a grant for $17,000 this year and for next year to provide soup mix to the pantries. It comes with everything to make the meals … [a serving] will serve about eight people.”
Also, they are making a meal for the Grannies at the Wesley House Community Center, doing pre-builds [pre-formed walls] for Loudon Habitat for Humanity, helping pack diapers and feminine products for Helping Mamas, making hygiene kits for United Methodist Committee on Relief in case of natural disasters, putting together cards and goodies to first responders and doing an offering at the church’s altar to be shared with Shepherd of Hope Food Pantry and Wesley House Red Bird Store, Lennonseney UMC Five Loaves food pantry.
