Methodist Home for Children – a gift to mothers and their families

Don’t let the name fool you – Methodist Home for Children.  The name conjures the vision of an orphanage but in the twenty first century, MHC is an impressive array of places and social services operating throughout North Carolina.  MHC’s mission and work transforms the lives of mothers, children and families serving nearly 1,500 people each year.  Daily MCH improves lives through unique services including:

• Helping a teen leave a group home with renewed purpose and hope.
• Working to get an abused child adopted into a family that cherishes her.
• Improving teens in group homes reading skills by significant grade levels.
• Ensuring a young man whose boyhood was completely deprived goes to college through MCH financial support.
• Offering specialized treatment and hope for a family whose child suffers developmental delays and the family could not afford services on their own.

All of this care is offered in service to God with a mission to build upon social, emotional, and spiritual strengths of children, youth, and families and to affirm their worth.  Revealing that “loving your neighbor” is in action at Methodist Home for Children. 

Celebrate your mother, grandmother or wife by helping other mothers improve their lives and the lives of their families by making a gift to MHC. 

To make a donation, write a check to Oriental United Methodist Church and note “Methodist Home for Children” on the memo line. 

On Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 13, you may put your MHC gift in the collection plate.

Dear Friends at Oriental United Methodist Church,

We all have our own stories about the impact of Hurricane Irene on our lives and the lives of friends and family.  In terms of PCFLO, the impact was immense.  Needless to say, in our fives years of operation, we have never seen food insecurity on the scale that we observed in the months following August 27th.  Nor could we ever have imagined the scope of the response to the situation from, not only the Pamlico County community, but from communities almost everywhere in eastern North Carolina.  Starting on the Wednesday after the flooding through the early part of January, we distributed over 85,000 pounds of food, water, and assorted cleaning and personal hygiene products to households throughout the County.  Pick-up truckloads of donations arrived from Methodist Churches in other counties, in direct response to Reverend Keith Sexton’s initiative–for which we are eternally grateful.  With absolutely no fanfare, he put out the word and the response was overwhelming.  So many people benefitted from his effort.

We have been saddened by the suffering of so many, humbled by the faith, courage and resilience of many others, and up-lifted by the fact that our little grass-roots organization was able to move rather seamlessly into emergency mode and never neglected or failed to complete any portion of our regular program.  The regular pantry distributions continued as did response to emergency referrals.  The Mobil Food Pantry chugged along as ususal, and we never missed a Food Lion outreach delivery to small community churches.  The hurricane relief products were kept completely separate from the pantry donations, purchases, and government food.

We have much to be proud of.  In March, we served 209 households through the referral pantry and 437 additional families through the first Wednesday food truck and the weekly Food Lion outreach.  We receive very little public notice, probably because we are too busy to seek it.  Our clients know and trust us to be fair and equitable and available when help is needed.  The many folks who come to make food or cash donations know because they are witness to the work we are doing.

We have much to be thankful for, particularly your support.  The Oriental United Methodist Church has been an invaluable sponsor for years, providing not only financial assistance and donations of nonperishable food products, but moral and volunteer help as well.  We don’t thank you often enough, never because we are unappreciative, but mostly because we are so busy doing what we do.  We are ever and always grateful for all you do.

God bless each and every one of you for your generosity of spirit, time, and treasure.

On Tuesday, April 24, 2012, Donna Luh and Dawn Hoyle met with the OUMC Board of Trustees to propose a loan to the Sara Veal Circle for the purpose of improving the acoustics in our Fellowship Hall.  Based on the research done and the proposal presented, the loan was granted unanimously by the trustees.  Within the next month, we should hear only sweet sounds in our Fellowship Hall.

The first fund raiser in support of repaying the loan will be Sara Veal Circle’s Crokerfest Book Sale.  Your support thru book contributions and purchases will be greatly appreciated.  Of course, any monetary contributions will be gladly accepted.

Please clean out your bookcases soon and bring your gently used books to the church.  They may be deposited into the plastic crate located in the hallway near the Fellowship Hall.  If you need help transporting books, call either Marion March or Catherine Baxley.

Thank you, Sara Veal Circle.

AN UPDATE!!!

Marguerite Near finally made her move into The Manor of Novi.  Her daughter, Pam, visits with her Mom several times a week and says that you can continue to send Marguerite’s mail to Pam’s address, or you can call the church office for Marguerite’s new address. 

I close by sharing one of my favorite quotes with you: 

To love is not to give of your riches but to reveal to others their riches; their gifts, their value; and to trust them and their capacity to grow.  So it is important to approach people in their brokenness and littleness gently, so gently, not forcing yourself on them but accepting them as they are, with humility and respect.                    Jean Vanier

Blessings,

Conis Cutler, RN

OUMC Parish Nurse

Hurricane Irene - Broad St

After Hurricane Irene caused extensive damage to homes in Pamlico County, the county was declared a Federal Disaster area. FEMA has processed over 2,089 applications for assistance.  Housing assistance (HA) amounts awarded to date are $3,724,471. Other needs assistance (ONA) amount awarded is $808,445.  Max grants ($30,000) awarded are 21.    These numbers are from the FEMA report of November 1, 2011.

Two of the volunteer-based disaster recovery centers in Pamlico County in operation were at Bayboro Baptist Church and Oriental United Methodist Church (OUMC).  The OUMC center was asked to cover the Southeastern Fire District as well as the Florence/Whortonsville Fire District.  The OUMC center served 240 clients in various capacities, from providing water, ice, and cleaning buckets, to assisting with bills, performing muck-outs, debris cleanup, tarp placement, and emotional support.  We have hosted fifteen work teams from various Methodist churches.  These teams have completed about sixty jobs in the relief category.

Hurricane Irene - China Grove Rd.

The County has formed the Pamlico County Disaster Recovery Coalition (PCDRC), a long-term recovery committee recently formed to coordinate the response to Hurricane Irene rebuilding efforts.    OUMC has put in a proposal to UMCOR for funding to support an ongoing rebuilding effort that will be coordinated with PCDRC.  We expect to begin these efforts after the first of the year.   We will coordinate our rebuilding efforts with the PCDRC.

Will Huff welcomes work team from Wrightsville Beach, NC

We had wonderful assistance from Judy and Jerry Milks, NOMADS from Warren, Ohio, who visited OUMC for three weeks and helped us complete relief jobs and organize our paperwork and database.

Katy Pugh, Missions Team