August
At the end of August we were back out in the community at the annual Grant Park Summer Shade Festival. Thank you to all our volunteers and everyone who stopped by the booth to make this year one of the best! At our booth this year we had a “Connection Heart” representing all the ways that folks are connected to us. By the end of the weekend the heart was full of so many different connections from across the community. It is so special t see how many ways people know St. Paul UMC!
In August we hosted our first ever Undie Sunday and what a Sunday it was! Through our March of the Undies we collected and prayed over enough new undies to fill up an entire car trunk! These undies were donated to the Trinity Table Clothes Closet hosted by our friends at Trinity United Methodist Church. Stay tuned next year for what we plan to be an annual event.
July
Our annual School Supply Drive for the Andrew P. Stewart Center was again a great success! Thank you to all who contributed to make sure that the students have what they need for a successful start to the school year. We accepted donations both inside and outside the church walls (via our donation drop box) so anyone in the community could easily donate supplies. We wish all the students at the Stewart Center a successful new school year!
June
St.Paul Kids Serve Camp season started in June and lasted through July. During Serve Camp campers become empowered stewards of their community through service. This year’s camps included helping with: Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Meals on Wheels, neighborhood cleanups, and the St Paul Camper Fund. We hope all the campers enjoyed themselves and enjoyed being a good neighbor by helping our community!
On Maundy Thursday we partnered with Atlanta First United Methodist Church to help with their Friends at the Front Door program. The Friends at the Front Door is a ministry to serve the homeless and hungry friends who live in the vicinity of Atlanta First UMC.We distributed meals and hygiene kits to those who stopped by and also offered a time of fellowship. You can donate supplies anytime to the Friends’ mission by shopping Atlanta First’s Amazon Wishlilst.
For their Lent project this year, the St. Paul Kids and Youth chose to raise money and collect supplies for PAWS Atlanta. This project even included a dog treat bake sale complete with treats lovingly baked during Kids Church! PAWS Atlanta provides adoption, pet health, and pet care services for our furry neighbors of Atlanta.
February
Our annual Share the Love Food Drive for Intown Cares was another great success! Everyone came through with donating items that were highest priority on Intown’s wish list. Thank you to all those who donated! You don’t have to wait for February to donate non-perishables, they accept donations weekly as well. Learn more about the Intown Cares food pantry and their larger mission here.
January
We had a huge turnout for our January sandwich making event for the MLK Day of Service. Over 500 sandwiches were made for The Sandwich Project, an organization whose volunteers assemble and donate fresh, homemade sandwiches each week for immediate consumption to meet the food scarcity needs in Metro Atlanta. Check out our video with pictures and a time-lapse of making sandwiches! “Everybody can be great because everybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love.” – MLK Jr.