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Service and Mission

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Join us in our special "Children First" community outreach mission!    Details on Children First...

We know that so many of you want to be involved in service and missions, but you need to know what some of your choices are.

Check out the various local, national and international service opportunities listed alphabetically below, and look for other opportunities in our monthly newsletter.  Also, see our donations section for items you may bring in.

There are many other opportunities to get involved in the life of our church. Check them out, too!

 We recycle!  

For more information, contact Missions/Social Concerns Committee co-chairs Kay Entrekin at kayjohne@gmail.com or David Triemer at triemerd@comcast.net 

Appalachia Service Project (ASP) for Adults - Central Appalachia has double the national poverty rate, and people there often cannot make needed home repairs because they simply don't have the money.  ASP steps in to make homes warmer, safer and drier while encouraging their volunteers to take time to get to know the families they are serving.  TFUMC youth have participated in ASP's summer youth program, and we sent our first adult team in the fall of 2008.

A 12-member team of adults went to Jonesville, VA October 14-17, 2010 to participate in an Appalachian Service Project. For more information on ASP: contact Kay Entrekin at a kayjohne@gmail.com.   Learn more about ASP 

Green Team/Recycling - Everyone can be part of the Tucker First Green Team!  Just join us in recycling. The green team is a group of church members committed to helping our congregation and the community become better stewards of God's wonderful creation.  The Green Team has expanded the church-wide recycling program to include electronics recycling twice a year (usually in March and October).  Last year we had an energy audit of our church conducted to identify ways to improve the environmental footprint of our church buildings and grounds. Many of those improvements were implemented during our annual spring Great Day of Service.  For more information, including helpful resources and a list of what we're recycling here at Tucker First, check out The Green Team page.  For additional information contact Brian Friedman at BVFriedman@comcast.net.

Habitat for Humanity - see our fall, 2011 build information page.
Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit, ecumenical Christian housing ministry. HFH seeks to eliminate poverty housing and homelessness from the world, and to make decent shelter a matter of conscience and action. Habitat invites people of all backgrounds, races and religions to build houses together in partnership with families in need.  Through volunteer labor and donations of money and materials, Habitat builds and rehabilitates simple, decent houses with the help of the homeowner (partner) families. Habitat houses are sold to partner families at no profit and financed with affordable loans. The homeowners' monthly mortgage payments are used to build still more Habitat hourses. TFUMC usually sponsors a Habitat House every other year. If you are interested in donating financially or with your time, please contact Ted Bowden at bowd5269@bellsouth.net.

Leadership for Africa - help provide $100/month to a student in Africa studying for pastoral leadership. This money funds tuition and books and provides some living expenses.     Learn more

NETWorks - is a cooperative ministry that ministers to those in need who live in the Northlake-Embry Hills-Tucker (NET) area.  NETWorks is located in the new Tucker Community Center at TFB, at 2380 Fourth Street (across from our Wesley Center building). NETWorks provides assistance in the form of rent and utilities. In addition, NETWorks provides food for those who may be homeless, living in cars or motels, and do not have access to regular kitchen facilities.

The following food items are requested: 

1) pop-top, canned goods (nothing that requires a can-opener) and individual serving microwave containers of foods such as soups, noodle cups, mac & cheese, spaghetti/meatballs, tuna, vienna sausage.
2) fruit cups, jello cups, pudding cups that do nor require refrigeration
3) individually wrapped snack crackers, granola bars, trail mix packs

In addition to financial support, churches are also asked to provide volunteers to help assist at NETWorks on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from noon to 2 p.m. Volunteers assist with greeting and assisting NETWorks' clients prior to their private meeting with the NETWorks executive director, TFUMC's own Lynne Stone.  If you are interested in volunteering at NETWorks or learning about other ways to support this ministry, please contact the NETWorks office at 770-939-6454 or send an email to networkscoop@bellsouth.net. Their website: http://www.networkscooperativeministry.org  

NET Food Pantry – assists people in the Northlake-Embry Hills-Tucker (NET) area with emergency food needs.  The pantry is located in room 15 of the Tucker Recreation Center, 4898 LaVista Road and is open from 10:30am to 2:00pm Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  No referral is required. The NET Food Pantry provides substantial food supplies to those in our community who are experiencing difficulty purchasing groceries.  Supplies include powdered milk, rice, noodles, beans, soup, spaghetti sauce, canned vegetables-fruits-meats, crackers, peanut butter, jelly, grits/oatmeal, toilet paper, bar soap, as well as loaf bread and margarine which are kept frozen.  Each church is responsible for keeping the required inventory of their assigned items stocked in the pantry year round and for staffing the pantry for one month each year.  TFUMC is responsible for stocking the pantry with spaghetti noodles and sauce.  In 2012, TFUMC is asked to staff the NET Food Pantry for the month of March. The pantry typically serves between 75 to 125 families each month and distributes between two-three thousand pounds of food.   Donations may be brought to the church office.  Contact Donna Davis at ddavis1975@comcast.net for more information or to volunteer.

Operation Christmas Child - Christmas gifts for needy kids around the world. For details, see the brochure, available on the OCC web site. 

Red Cross Blood Drives - TFUMC hosts four drives each year. Each drive is on a Sunday from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in the Wesley Center (corner of 4th and Church Streets). 2011 blood drive dates are March 6, June 5, September 18 and December 18.  Our commmitment to the Red Cross for each drive is 50 pints, which means we need about 55-60 persons to sign up to give each time. In addition to needing donors, we need people to help make phone calls and staff the sign-in and snack tables. If you're interested in serving in this ministry, contact blood drive co-chairs Evelyn Burkett ehburkett@comcast.net or John Entrekin kayjohne@gmail.com.

T.I.M.E. - The Tucker Interfaith Mission Experience is a youth-driven home-repair mission project. In 2011 TIME will be June 17-22. To see pictures and to volunteer for this summer's project, check out www.timemission.org. 

Trinity House - Trinity House-Big Bethel is a residential transitional program designed to serve homeless men (many with criminal backgrounds) with issues regarding drug dependency. One of the key elements to this innovative program that has helped over 1,000 men regain control of their lives is the T.E.A.M. (Together Everyone Achieves More) dinner.  Through the T.E.A.M. dinner program, volunteers bring not only meals but also love and support as they sit and dine with the residents.  TFUMC is responsible for the T.E.A.M. dinner for 20 men every fourth Sunday of the month.  Contact Becky Burnett at rsb1950@bellsouth.net for more details. To sign up, click the button below.

Trinity Soup Kitchen - TFUMC provides food (soup and sandwiches) to the homeless of Atlanta at the Trinity Soup Kitchen one Sunday each year. This year we will make sandwiches on Saturday, January 7. (It's fast and fun for the whole family!) We ask those of you who want to make homemade soup following one of these soup recipes to bring your soup in Saturday morning as well. We will take and serve the soup and sandwiches Sunday, January 8. For more information on making sandwiches and/or soup or helping work and/or serve in the kitchen, contact Becky Burnett at rsb1950@bellsouth.net.  See also the Trinity Soup Kitchen Handbook. 

Sign up to Make Sandwiches		Sign up to Serve

UMCOR Sager Brown Warehouse - UMCOR responds internationally to natural or civil disasters that are of such magnitude that they overwhelm a community's ability to recover on its own. UMCOR also serves in long-term disaster recovery in the U.S. UMCOR Supply Kits provide basic necessities to people who lack ready access to essential supplies. By donating kit supplies or financial gifts to purchase the supplies, you make a direct, tangible difference in sustaining people's lives.

In 2010 we joined a team from Harmony Grove. Dates: October 17-22. In 2009, our eight-member mission team took flood buckets and health kits to the Sager Brown Warehouse for UMCOR to distribute around the world as needed. In 2010, we took birthing kits. Volunteers from all over the country come to Sager Brown to receive, verify and package, store and help ship these and other kits worldwide.  The mission also included local community service:  The Sager Brown Warehouse is in Baldwin County, Louisiana, the poorest county in the poorest state in the U.S.   See our photo album from the 2009 trip to UMCOR Sager Brown.  

International Mission - TFUMC's international mission from 2006-2009 was to assist local United Methodist churches in Venezuela. In 2006 we were welcomed by the people of Bread of Life United Methodist Church as brothers and sisters. In 2007-2009 we worked with the Ondas de Paz United Methodist Church. No international trip is currently planned. For more information, please contact David Triemer at triemerd@comcast.net.

Wesley Walk for Others - This walk supports the Wesley Community Centers, which offers caring, compassionate ministries in Atlanta neighborhoods with special needs. Its major programs are: The Bethlehem Senior Center, Project SOAR, and Project Extend. This walk starts at Stone Mountain First UMC and takes you 6.2 miles around the mountain in Stone Mountain Park.  

Walkers collect pledges using the donation form then will met on October 22 at 7 am for the start of the walk!  Hint: Not an early morning person? You don't have to start at 7; you can still walk.  But we hope you will join us! For more information contact our local walk coordinator Andrew Carlton at acarlton@bellsouth.net or see http://www.wesleycenters.org

Learn about, pray for and support our missionary  Tyler Crawford - a campus minister in Tübingen, Germany.

Other opportunities for involvement in service and missions are available through the Men's Fellowship, the United Methodist Women (UMW) and through individual Sunday School classes.