Poverty

Congregations
A child chooses a scooter at a Kids Free Christmas Shopping event sponsored by ARK and Velva United Methodist churches in North Dakota. Photo courtesy of the Dakotas Conference Facebook page.

Small churches offer place for kids to shop

Kids Free Christmas Shopping helps youngsters buy Christmas gifts for their families, and the price is right: free. ARK United Methodist Church in South Dakota and Velva United Methodist Church in North Dakota work together on the project each year. “It is such a joy to see the faces of the children … and the delight in the volunteers that are helping.”
Social Concerns
Clay Apartments in Detroit consists of one two-story building with an elevator and will include 42 one-bedroom units for formerly homeless men and women with special needs. Wespath, the denomination’s pension and benefits agency, invested $805,000 in the building. United Methodists see a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision on homelessness as a reason to increase efforts to build more affordable housing. Photo courtesy of Wespath.

US Supreme Court ruling puts focus on housing

United Methodists see reason to increase their efforts to care for homeless people, including building more affordable housing, after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld ordinances that make sleeping outside a crime.
Social Concerns
Jim Patterson. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.

What we can, and cannot, do for the homeless

The landmark General Conference that took place April 23-May 3 in Charlotte, North Carolina, was set amongst a thriving downtown with a homeless problem. Those two things are connected if United Methodists are true to their convictions.
Poverty
A group of old Singer sewing machines sit in the pews at Bethlehem Methodist United Methodist Church in Hutchinson, Minn. Photo courtesy of Bethlehem Methodist United Methodist Church.

Sewing machine collection surpasses goal

An effort to collect 50 sewing machines to help disadvantaged people make a living has exceeded its goal. The Rev. Randy Koppen of Bethlehem United Methodist challenged the church’s quilting group to take on the project.

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