LOVE & JUSTICE

As Christians, our belief in God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit inspires each of us to be involved in Christian mission and service. Love of God is linked with love of neighbor and a passion for justice. At Hermitage UMC, we are involved in several local projects under the leadership of the Love & Justice committee. You are invited to explore these projects and get involved as you feel called or even help get a new one started. We endeavor to work together as a church and with others to re-image our world as God intends for us.

If you want to learn more about getting involved, contact either Mary Humber, Chair of the Love & Justice Committee, at (615) 883-2049 or email mrandmrshumber@yahoo.com, or Paul Henrie, staff support for Love & Justice, at (615) 883-3918, ext. 106 or email paulhumc@gmail.com.

Love & Justice Projects at Hermitage UMC:

BENEVOLENCE
CAREER TRANSITIONS
COMMUNITY CARE FELLOWSHIP
FOOD PANTRY
F.U.E.L.
LOVE BEARS
PROJECT C.U.R.E.
ROOM IN THE INN

BENEVOLENCE
The Benevolence ministry strives to share God’s love by maintaining a caring, confidential program of providing aid to our neighbors. Are you in a challenging financial situation? Come to the church office, and we will do our best to help you. We have firm, but very fair, rules for helping people financially. Because some people are not familiar to us, we remember Hebrews 13:2, "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.”

How to Help:
• During our communion time, love offerings are left at the communion rail. These offerings support our Benevolence fund.
• Donations can be made to assist the Benevolence program. Checks should be made payable to Hermitage UMC and specify that your donation is for the Benevolence program. Deliver it to the church office or place it in the collection basket

HUMC contact: Hermitage UMC’s Church Office

CAREER TRANSITIONS
Career Transitions is an opportunity for individuals in an employment transition to learn the skills necessary for job searching and networking, to receive support, and to network with other job seekers. We meet each Tuesday morning in room 206, from 10:00 am to 11:00 am. Anyone in a job search or wanting to discuss employment issues is welcome.

How to Help:
• If you have experience in job searching or recruiting, you are invited to help!
• If you are looking to hire someone for a job opening, this is a great source of talented people. Please contact us for more information.

HUMC Coordinator: Paul Henrie at 883-3918, ext. 106.

COMMUNITY CARE FELLOWSHIP
Community Care Fellowship (CCF) is a day shelter for the poor and homeless. Their mission is to provide a place of respite and rest without a load of requirements. Since 1984 they have been dedicated to serving those persons in Nashville who find themselves without the means to provide the basic needs of life --- a place to live, food to eat, a place to take a bath, a place to wash the one or two changes of clothes you have, a place to rest from the elements and pressures of living on the street. CCF is a stand-alone agency of the United Methodist Church - Nashville district.

CCF provides a wide range of services, such as meals, showers, laundry cleaning facilities, phone privileges, a mailing address, diapers & other supplies, gasoline vouchers, counseling, job referral, and financial assistance for rent and electric bills. CCF also offers an After School program for children living in the James A. Cayce Housing Project.

At Hermitage UMC, individuals, families, Sunday School classes, and other church-affiliated groups frequently volunteer at CCF. In addition, three HUMC members serve on their Board of Directors.

How to Help:
• Volunteer at their facility: Current volunteer needs are: receptionists to register guests (3-hour shifts: 9-12 and 12-3, Monday through Friday), kitchen help to prepare and/or serve lunches (2-hour shift from 10:30-12:30 on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays), hygiene helpers to coordinate shower times and laundry and handing out supplies (3-hour shifts of 9-12 and 12-3, Monday through Friday). For information about volunteering in the reception and hygiene areas, call Vonn Horner at 615-297-3142. For information about volunteering in the kitchen, call Rev. Pat Freudenthal at 615-227-1953 or e-mail ccf511@bellsouth.net.
• Check our church newsletter, website, and service announcements for their Wish List. These in-kind donations of items they currently need can be delivered to our church office.
• Donations can be made to assist the CCF program. Checks should be made payable to Hermitage UMC and specify that your donation is for the CCF program. Deliver it to the church office or place it in the collection basket.

HUMC Coordinators: Bruce Long, Lalia Click and Evan Vutsinas

Website: Visit the Community Care Fellowship website, www.ccf-ministry.org, for other opportunities on getting involved in this ministry.

FOOD PANTRY
Hermitage UMC’s Food Pantry ministry provides non-perishable food to our neighbors in need. Neighbors may come to the church office during office hours and they will be met by our staff where packages of food are provided as needed. The Food Pantry receives food donations from church members. A few times each year, Hermitage UMC hosts food drives to help stock up the pantry.
Volunteers keep it organized and ready for distribution.

How to Help:
• Check our church newsletter or website for items currently needed in the Food Pantry. Place items in the donations baskets in either building. You can assist in checking expiration dates, sorting & organizing donated food in our storage areas (particularly after food drives). Contact Paul Henrie if you are interested.
• Donations can be made to assist the Food Pantry program. Sometimes there are specific items needed that aren’t in stock, so donations would go toward their purchase. Checks should be made payable to Hermitage UMC and specify that your donation is for the Food Pantry program. Deliver it to the church office or place it in the collection basket.

HUMC contact: Paul Henrie at 883-3918, ext. 106.

F.U.E.L.
F.U.E.L. is a ministry based on anonymous servant hood for Jesus Christ and unconditional love for children and families of our community. F.U.E.L. was adopted to help feed school children that have little or no food on weekends.
For some children, their only food source may be the school lunch program. There are approximately 25% of children enrolled in the Federal Free Lunch Program in our community. We estimate that these children go 67 hours with little or no food from lunch at school on Friday until breakfast at school on Monday morning. But we have found a way to help. The F.U.E.L. program is a food subsidization program that places food directly in the back packs of these children every Friday afternoon at school so that every weekend they have something to eat.

The F.U.E.L. program at Hermitage UMC currently sponsors about 30 children at 4 area elementary schools. Children are selected by the schools, not based on income, but on signs of hunger. Their parents sign permission slips to receive our food bags. We don’t know their names, the schools keep them anonymous so that we can focus on sharing love and food. We gather specific foods that meet nutrition requirements of growing children, and on Tuesday evenings, volunteers prepare the food packages by packing enough food for the weekend in grocery style bags, and we pray over them. On Fridays, the bags are delivered by volunteers to the participating schools, who place them directly in the backpacks of children for them to enjoy over the weekend. We do this every week during the school year.

Success of the F.U.E.L. Ministry: The following are stories of success that have been shared by the school counselors about children participating in our F.U.E.L. program:

• Children have improved behavior;
• Children have more self esteem;
• Children are more alert and have energy to participate in class;
• Children have better attendance;
• F.U.E.L. is the only gift some children receive all year long.

How to Help:
• Help pack food bags on Tuesday nights from 6:30pm to 7:00pm in Room 205. Individuals, families, and groups are welcome to help.
• Your Sunday School class or church-affiliated group could sign up to volunteer each Tuesday for a month! Contact us for more information.
• Look and shop for current food needs that we post in our church newsletter, emails, or website. This can be delivered to the church office.
• If you would like more information on becoming a F.U.E.L. coordinator for your church, club, organization or community and would like for someone to come and share more information with you, contact us.
• Donations can be made to assist the F.U.E.L. program. It costs approximately $20 per month to feed one child for a school year. This breaks down to $4.80 for one weekend per child. Checks should be made payable to Hermitage UMC and specify that your donation is for the F.U.E.L. program. Deliver it to the church office or place it in the collection basket.

HUMC Coordinator: Jondra Settle, F.U.E.L. Program Director, (615) 425-8235 or email jondrasettle@yahoo.com.

LOVE BEARS
Love Bears is a ministry that provides teddy bears and stuffed animals to children and the elderly to give them something huggable and loveable as they endure challenges of their own. It is amazing what hugging a soft stuffed animal can do for someone who is experiencing health problems or loneliness! We collect stuffed animals from our church family, local schools, churches all over middle Tennessee, and other interested organizations. Hospitals, homeless shelters, Alzheimer's facilities, assisted living facilities, foster care children, children diagnosed with cancer and going through chemo and radiation treatments, and a severely mentally challenged facility are a sampling of the recipients of the love and comfort that a soft cuddly teddy bear or stuffed animal can give.

How to Help:
• Gather new and gently-used teddy bears and stuffed animals (huggable sized) and bring them to Love Bears Sunday on February 14, 2010 or deliver them to the church office any other time.
• Host your own Love Bears Party and invite your friends to bring new and gently-used teddy bears and stuffed animals.
• Help us in packing and loading teddy bears and stuffed animals after Love Bears Sunday.
• If your church, organization, or club would like to start a Love Bears ministry, you are welcome to contact us for more information.
• Donations can be made to assist the Love Bears program. Donations would be useful to help pay for gasoline used to deliver the stuffed animals, for postage to mail them, and to purchase additional teddy bears as needed. Checks should be made payable to Hermitage UMC and specify that your donation is for the Love Bears program. Deliver it to the church office or place it in the collection basket.

HUMC Coordinator: Brenda Burgett at (615) 872-7313.

PROJECT C.U.R.E.
Project CURE is a non-profit agency that identifies, solicits, collects, and distributes medical supplies and services according to the imperative needs of the world. Since its inception in 1987, Project CURE has delivered medical relief to needy people in more than 120 countries. Although its headquarters are in Colorado, Project CURE’s Nashville warehouse is their largest center, servicing the Eastern US to prepare supplies for shipping.

Project CURE performs detailed on-site needs assessment studies prior to any donation to make certain that the items delivered are the items that are needed. They manage all of the details of the donations and delivery to the recipient including documentation and supply-chain management. Thousands of volunteers sort the donations and catalog the items into their inventory system, and qualified professionals check and certify all equipment prior to donation.

At Nashville's warehouse, volunteers help by stacking supplies, packing, and loading them into shipping containers bound for places like Haiti, the Ukraine, and Tanzania. The typical size of an ocean-going cargo container is 40 feet long, which is approximately the size of a semi-truck trailer. An average container provides approximately $400,000 (wholesale) in donated medical equipment and supplies! Most donations are then delivered by cargo ship; although some are delivered by aircraft. Project CURE follows up on donations by evaluating the effectiveness of the supplies and the impact that it is having on the countries’ people.

How to Help:
• Hermitage UMC helps one Saturday each month (the 2nd Saturday) by working in the warehouse and packing boxes of supplies. A rotation of Sunday School classes currently work on these Saturdays. Individuals and families are welcome to join the effort. Everyone meets at the church around 8:30am before heading to the warehouse. The volunteer shift is from 9:00am to 12:00pm.
• Your Sunday School class or other church-affiliated group can join the rotation. Contact us for more information.
• You can individually volunteer. In addition to helping on the 2nd Saturday of each month, Project CURE can use help any day, Monday through Saturday, from 8:30am to 5pm. See their website for directions to the warehouse or contact us for more information.
• Donations can be made to assist the Project CURE program. Although medical supplies are donated, it costs $25,000 to deliver supplies to another country via cargo ship. Checks should be made payable to Hermitage UMC and specify that your donation is for the Project CURE program. Deliver it to the church office or place it in the collection basket.

HUMC contact: Leon Redmon at 889-4114.

Website: Visit Project CURE’s website, www.projectcure.org, for more opportunities on how to get involved in their ministry.

ROOM IN THE INN
Room in the Inn is a non-profit ministry in Nashville that partners with more than 160 local congregations of various denominations to provide shelter for about 1,300 homeless individuals during our coldest season: from November 1 - March 31.

Hermitage UMC provides shelter and meals to about 14 men, women, and children on Tuesday nights during the season. Sometimes we are given an opportunity to help on additional nights, especially when winter weather is more severe than usual.

We pick our guests up in our church bus and bring them back to the church, where we provide them with a hot meal and a warm place to stay for the night. Sometimes, we take them out to a local restaurant for a good meal! They are able to shower, get new socks, clothes, and undergarments once they arrive at the church, too. We wake them up early Wednesday morning and provide them with a hearty breakfast and a sack lunch for that day before returning them to the Room in the Inn campus at 6:00 am. In addition to sharing food and shelter, we are given the opportunity to fellowship with our guests. This might include playing a game of cards, watching TV with them, or just having a chat. Room in the Inn creates an opportunity for those who have more material things in life to share them with people who don't, and in fellowship, discover that we are not as different on the inside as we might appear on the outside.

How to Help:
• Sunday school classes and other church-affiliated groups are scheduled for primary Room in the Inn duties. You are welcome to come out and visit with our Room in the Inn guests and to become familiar with how this program operates. We ask that you keep in mind that the meal was planned for a limited number of people, so you may want to eat before coming out to visit. We have found that meal time is a great time for starting a dialogue with our guests. We advise that you call us before coming so that we can let you know whether they will be dining out at a local restaurant before arriving at the church.
• If your Sunday school or group would like to be added to the seasonal schedule, please contact us for more information. We start planning for the season in August and September.
• Look for our Wish Lists in our church newsletter, website, and service announcements. We are often in need of particular clothing and toiletry items for our guests. These items can be delivered to the church office.
• Donations can be made to assist the Room in the Inn program. This will help pay for the gasoline used to transport our guests and for additional supplies, toiletry, and clothing items when they are needed. Checks should be made payable to Hermitage UMC and specify that your donation is for the Room in the Inn program. Deliver it to the church office or place it in the collection basket during services.

HUMC Coordinator: David Chamberlin, 615-754-8556.

Website: Visit the Room in the Inn’s official website, www.roomintheinn.org, for other opportunities on getting involved with this ministry.