Ponchatoula First United Methodist Church
United Methodist Women
United Methodist Women's Sunday 2010
Bernice Larpenter was honored with a pin commemorating 75 years of membership in UMW
The
UMW is comprised of three groups. Each group meets once monthly. Two
groups, Circle I & II meet during the day, with the remaining group, the
Guilders meeting at night. "Local" unit meetings are held every three
months.One of the primary ways that the UMW helps our church community is by preparing and serving food for various occasions:
The
UMW assists during the 7 weeks of Lenten lunch each spring, by either
preparing desserts or assisting in the kitchen with serving or clean up.
• Each fall, one Wednesday in October, we prepare an entrée and dessert for the Wesley Center at Southeastern, serving 100-150 students.
• Often when asked by the church, we prepare refreshments for special groups or functions. For example, last year when the traveling youth from Alabama visited we served ice cream and cookies to the 60-90 in attendance.
•
We also provide bereavement food for deceased families following funeral
services.
Another major aspect of the UMW mission is working with children and youth. A few of the ways that we do this include:
• The angel tree and gifts for the Methodist Children’s Homes throughout Louisiana;
• Assisting at the Louisiana Special Olympics each May;
• Supplying towels purchased and monogrammed with "WWJD" to chiidren of Grace Camp, a summer camp for children with family in prison;
• Monthly donations by the Guild to the McDonnell house, one of the United Methodist Children’s Homes in Louisiana, totaling $300 a year;
•
Circle II gives money on a quarterly basis to Worlds’ Children
International. Their adoptive daughter at this time is named Jibi who has
been helped immeasurably by their $300/year contribution;
• Two years ago the Guild gave financial aid to a St. Thomas Aquinas High School student for summer classes at Annapolis University in his junior year;
• We also give to the Children’s Home in Mandeville a few times a year;
• And within the last year, the UMW made a financial donation to an
organization for a playground for the handicapped.
The UMW finances our goals and missions through fundraisers—whether a soup sale like the one held last Sunday or the yearly garage sale put on by the
Guilders every October, or by selling the Guild cookbook created in 2007— participation in the Winn-Dixie community pal program, and money donated by the individual members as a love offering and as pledges.
However, the best part of all is the friendships made with women who have the same goals—to help those in need, to take an active part in the church, and to serve as an example to future generations of young girls.
This is your open invitation to join us as a UMW member. It is truly rewarding and offers something invaluable—great friends to share life’s ups and downs with in a community of faith.
Mary Parker Core, a former member of First United Methodist Church in Ponchatoula, Louisiana designed and created a banner of Louisiana that depicts the effects of hurricanes Katrina and Rita on Louisiana. Mary, now a member of Fitzgerald United Methodist Church in Folsom, Louisiana, made the banner for the United Methodist Women. The banner was on display during the 2006 Louisiana Annual Conference in Shreveport, Louisiana and is now being displayed at the Wesley Center in Woodworth, Louisiana.
Pictured with the banner are Mary Core and William Hutchinson, Bishop of Louisiana Conference, United Methodist Church.