4A When the Office of Creative


Ministries staff conceived the idea for SERVE 2011, they thought that rather than trying to tell churches what to do, it would be better if they came up with ways on their own to serve their local commu- nities in mission. This lead to a varied list of projects occurring in all parts of the state. The following list is just a small example of the range of mission work. Kicking things off on Friday,


Sept. 9, First UMC in Mt. Vernon served meals to more than 250 people in less than one hour. Liberty UMC had 437 people


work on 57 different projects on Saturday, Sept. 10 Licking UMC cleaned up


a neighbor’s yard and painted bleachers at the rodeo grounds. All Faith UMC in Eagle Rock


installed 911 house numbers in Joplin, made up baskets for Monday delivery to two Irving elementary Schools in Joplin. Harrisonville UMC planted


flowers at the local food pantry and helped at the thrift store. New McKendree UMC did


three projects. 1) picking up rocks in a field that is to be two softball


Missouri Conference News


September 30, 2011 Wide range of projects undertaken for SERVE 2011


fields in a park; 2) building a fence around a playground at an emer- gency foster care home; 3) replac- ing a roof and gutting a bedroom in a house that had damage from a storm. Willard UMC cleaned up 1.5


miles of Hwy 160 on the south edge of town and trimmed limbs along 1 mile of the Frisco Highline trail. “Working on the trail was great


as people using the trail greeted and thanked us for our work and a few even stopped to ask who we were,” said Jeff Jaekley??? Cassville UMC had a free


clothing give-away at the Cassville Senior Center where more than 150 people came and picked out clothes for them and their fam- ily. They also grilled hot dogs and fed those who came to the Senior Center. Others went throughout Cassville doing light maintenance work that encompassed cutting down and hauling off dead trees to working at the Habitat House. Salem in Ladue had 111 people


taking care of several projects at Yeatmann Liddell School, St Louis food bank, Walbridge Elementary, Kingdom House and Urban


K-Life! The Sedgewickville UMC pro- vided a mobile food bank for over 75 families. They also cleaned roads, limbs from yards and had a car wash. They set up playground equipment in the park, had a 9/11 remembrance service in the park, and followed it with a picnic lunch. Zion United Methodist Church


(Gordonville) had two proj- ects today for Serve 2011: They cleaned, painted and planted outside at Jefferson Elementary in Cape Girardeau, and we sorted through several pallets of food at the Southeast Missouri Food Bank - and prepared some of it for distribution to food pantries in our region. Noel/Southwest City UMC did


repair work on the senior citizens building in Southwest City and picked up litter downtown. New Bloomfield UMC held a


food drive and brought in over 1,600 items for the SERVE food pantry. Shiloh had to postpone painting at the city ball field due to the weather, so they made cards for people in the military and shut-ins. Memphis UMC had a tea in


appreciation of the staff and resi- dents at the local residential care facility, and at the same complex some people cleaned up the land- scaping. The youth were at the local carwash passing out quarters and offering to help wash cars, VBS participants were invited back to the church for games and hotdogs, and the day concluded with an ice cream social. In Kansas City, Central UMC,


College students in Columbia help prep a house for paint- ing. Photo by Robert Swain.


Saint James UMC, Saint John’s UMC, Country Club UMC, Broadway Redemption UMC and the surrounding neighborhood had 310 volunteers. They pack- aged 396 tshirts, 1,243 under- pants and 570 pairs of socks that were distributed to Neighbor 2 Neighbor, Newhouse, Hope House, St. James clothing minis- try, Grand Ave UMC and reStart. They did a potato drop, in which they moved 43,000 pounds of potatoes and distributed to 50 agencies in the Kansas City area. Neighbor to Neighbor served approximately 100 meals to home- less persons in the Westport area and did construction and cleaning of the food kitchen. Volunteers packed a Trailer Project: 134 bags, 16 large cans plus 2 large boxes of canned and dried goods for Harvesters. Faith UMC, House Springs,


had one team join with Webster Hills UMC in going to Lessie Bates Davis Community Center in East St. Louis. The team painted a room in the family development center. Another team remained in House Springs, visiting a local nursing home and having fellow- ship with the residents. Antioch UMC cleaned up


three lots in Joplin and helped with “Welcome Home” baskets for St Paul UMC members displaced by the tornado. Another group cut material for Newborns in Need to get them ready to make quilts. A third group worked at Harmony House, a domestic abuse shelter for women and children. A fourth group met at the church and put together Reading and Writing Kits for the Festival of Sharing. The youth helped bagging rice and getting ready for distribution. Ozark United Methodist had


100 members in yellow shirts working at the county library and Finley River Park. First UMC in Pleasant Hill


painted the field house at the soc- cer field. Mt Washington used this week-


end to feed the hungry. Saturday, 15 people cleaned the Fairmount Food Pantry and took a hot breakfast, sack lunch, and provi- sions to the homeless in our area. Sunday 55 of us worshiped God with our hands as we packaged 10,000 meals for starving people in Columbia in South America. Garden City UMC had 37


people go into the community trimming lawns, gathering trash, delivering hot meals (cooked by a


crew at church) and weeding the flower bed at the local fire station Members of Smith Creek and


Central Grove UM Churches asked for donations for the local food pantry in front of a Warrenton grocery store on September 10. In four hours, they collected about nine grocery cart- loads of items. Waynesville UMC sent 200 ser-


vants into the community. They prepared and delivered meals to all emergency workers and 23 Meals on Wheels participants, visited at the nursing home with a special presentation by the pup- pets, collected food at the local Wal-Mart for the food pantry, paid for peoples washer and dryer fees at two local Laundromats, five teams worked at roadside cleanup, teams served at the thrift store, food pantry, and domestic violence center, Head Start, animal shelter, two community gardens, Habitat for Humanity house and a local apartment complex by hav- ing a carnival for the residents. Hallsville UMC worked on


yards weedeating, trimming, pruning, cleaning, cutting limbs, fixing fences. They picked up two miles of trash, then worked at a smorgasbord that evening. One person we helped was a 96 year old WWII vet who had lost his dog of 13 years last week. We cleaned his yard and fixed his fence so that he could get a new dog and let him run in the yard. Then we brought him a brisket meal from our community smor- gasbord we had that evening! Saturday Samaritan UMC


(St. Louis) members gathered to


Bishop Robert Schnase volunteers at Kingdom House.


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