Church of the Good Shepherd
Monday, May 20, 2013
Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors

Outreach

  OUTREACH MINISTRY OF THE CHURCH OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD
 
 
The Outreach Ministry of the Church of the Good Shepherd is to reach within and beyond the church in social services, education, witness and action in Christ’s name.
 
Members: 
Reverend Phil Wood (advisor), Barbara Buchanan, Marilyn and Larry Callaham, Karen and Neil Conrad, Harry Heflin, Elaine Iverson, Marlynn Morehead, Jim and Carole Sano, Suzanne Wright
 
The members and friends of The Church of the Good Shepherd make the work of Outreach possible. Their compassionate and generous responses to projects reflect the heart of the church.
 
Among the annual projects that Outreach is involved in are:
 
The Good Samaritan Cupboard
The Cupboard is a ministry supported by members of the church. Volunteers offer to help keep the cupboard supplied. Supplies are used to meet the immediate needs of  those who come to the church for help.
 
On the third Sunday of every month a group of people shop, cook and serve the noonday meal at Union Station. Groups that have been involved this past year are The United Methodist Men, Merri-mates, The Bike Team, The Choir, UMYF and Outreach. Families and groups of friends have also joined together to serve this meal.
Click the following link to see the 2011 Schedule for Union Station.
 
Outreach helps to coordinate support for the following Unity Center needs: The BACK TO SCHOOL APPEAL begins during Vacation Church School through August. Donations of school supplies, clothing and funds are collected. THE HOLIDAY FOOD BASKET PROJECT begins in October with a distribution of bags with suggested shopping lists stapled to the front of the bag. Food is collected through December for the Thanksgiving and Christmas distributions. THE ANGEL TREE PROJECT begins in late November. Outreach members set up, register angels and collect the returned gifts. SOUPER BOWL SUNDAY is held in conjunction with the UMYF. The youth publicize and collect the cans of food and Outreach helps deliver the donations. HOMELESS PERSONAL CARE KITS This year we collected hotel/sample size items for personal care kits. We put together several boxes of kits and sent the other supplies to the center for future use.
 
Church wide Special Sundays
Outreach raises awareness for the six special Sundays: Human Relations Day, Native American Ministries, One Great Hour of Sharing, World Communion Sunday, United Methodist Student Day and Peace with Justice Sunday.
 
The Alternative Christmas Market
The Alternative Marketis held for three weeks in December and has benefited the following groups:  Church World Service, Habitat for Humanity, Heifer Project International, Trees for Life, Cambodian Arts Ministry, FINCA (a UMW project), African Team Ministry and Heavenly Treasures.
 
Past Outreach projects have included: 
  • Annual Conference projects such as Health and School kits for the United Methodist Committee on Relief
  • Operation Paperback (books for our troops)
  • CROP Walk
  • Support of the Mexico Medical Mission
  • Strength for Service Project (devotional books sent to troops) (this project was done in partnership with the United Methodist Men)
  • Support of Foothill Unity Center
  • Support of the Henderson’s Pastor’s Closet (we collected clothing for pastors and spouses in Mexico)
Future projects
Outreach is always looking for ways that we as a church can reach out. One of our concerns will be to seek ways in which we can help with the homeless population in our area. We are looking into some possibilities.
 
New members
Outreach is always looking for people with a heart for service to join our group. If you are interested please contact the Church Office at (626) 447-2181.