Make an Impact
Messiah Church is a church of compassion and community outreach. Members and friends of Messiah devote their time and talents to support local, national and global missions. From serving at the local food shelf to traveling to developing countries we serve through mission, there is a place for you to get involved! Sign up for any of these service opportunities and community outreach programs at the Missions Table in our lobby. For more information, contact Linda Seaton, Missions Committee Co-Chair.
Messiah Church is committed to supporting several organizations consistently and long-term. On the first of each month, we do a “Second Mile Offering” to support a specific organization. When you visit for the first time, you can elect to have Messiah make a donation to one of several organizations on your behalf.
Current Needs & Volunteer Opportunities
Totes for Hope
Our June Second Mile offering supports Totes for Hope – blessing Bloom families with weekend food bags. While children at Bloom Early Learning & Child Care receive breakfast, lunch and snacks at school, we recently learned that several families at Bloom do not always have enough food to make it through the weekend. This summer, beginning June 15, Messiah Church is piloting a program to send weekend food bags home each Friday all summer for these families. Your gift of $10 will provide a family of four with food for a weekend. Your gift of $120 will provide a family of four with food each weekend all summer. Contact Kami for more information on how to give, or give online by selecting “Second Mile Offering.” There are also opportunities to pack these food totes on Thursday afternoons at the food shelf at Interfaith Outreach, Plymouth and then transport the totes back to Messiah Church. Sign up online to serve today!
The Great Granola Bar Challenge
Thank you for the 3,910 granola bars brought in so far!
Messiah’s partnership with Oakwood Elementary School continues this summer. Oakwood will be providing summer school for nearly 500 children. Although the school provides lunch, there are many families that lack the resources to provide snacks during the day. Here’s the GREAT GRANOLA BAR CHALLENGE: We want to collect 10,000 granola bars in June to bless the school and summer school students. (Look for the granola bar table in the lobby.) Or, place your cash or check donation in the empty granola bar box and we’ll purchase the granola bars. These snacks will be used for all students, and we will be doing our part to minimize food insecurity for children.
Furniture Tent Sale
Support Interfaith Outreach at their 4th Annual Furniture Tent Sale on Friday, June 22, 8 am-6 pm. Find great bargains on quality furniture and household items, and feel good knowing your dollars support struggling families and kids in our community.
Volunteers are also needed for this event. They are looking for sale set-up help on Thursday, June 21, 12-6 pm, and help assisting customers and loading furniture during the sale on Friday, June 22, 6:45 am-7 pm. Large groups and individual volunteers are welcome!
United Methodist Creation Care Summit
Register now for the 2018 Creation Care Summit to be held July 26-29 at Hamline University in St. Paul. This event is for United Methodists concerned about environmental justice, sustainable food, transportation options, energy systems, climate change, and environmental degradation. Click here for more information, or to register.
Imara International Golf Tournament
Tee up some fun on Monday, July 30, 11:30 am-8 pm (shotgun start at 1 pm) at Rush Creek Golf Club, 7801 County Road 101, Maple Grove, for the 7th annual Imara International Charity Golf Tournament. Enjoy golf and dinner for $170 or come for dinner for $45. For questions, contact Larry at (763) 478-9533 or David at (763) 476-8531. Click here for more tournament information and to register for a fun day of golf, food, friends, and fun. Imara empowers Kenyan women through education to build a self-sufficient future for themselves, their children, and their community.
Hurricane Relief for Puerto Rico
Interested in volunteering for hurricane relief through UMCOR? A few spaces remain for the two 2018 trips scheduled to go to Puerto Rico: August 11-18 (please RSVP by Friday, July 6) and November 10-17 (please RSVP by Tuesday, September 11). Led by Lyndy Zabel, these trips will include other United Methodists from Minnesota. The work will include light construction, landscaping and painting. Cost to participate is $1500/person (each person will receive a $300 scholarship from the conference). For more information, or if you are interested, contact Linda Seaton or Lyndy Zabel, or click on the links provided.
Earl Cup Woodhill Classic – Golf for a Cause
The annual Earl Cup Woodhill Classic, an exciting and inspiring day of golf benefiting Interfaith Outreach, takes place on Monday, September 24. You and your foursome will spend the afternoon swinging away at Wayzata’s prestigious Woodhill Country Club. Enjoy lunch before a noon shotgun start and a delightful reception with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres afterward. Best of all, your game on the greens will bring resources and hope to area kids and families. For more information and to register, visit iocp.ejoinme.org/earlcup or email Cate at cfossing@iocp.org. Please RSVP before Friday, July 27.
Calling all Knitters or Crocheters for The Lydia Project
The United Methodist General Conference is coming to Minneapolis in 2020. The Dakotas-Minnesota Area has a wonderful opportunity to come together to provide hospitality for this conference – greeting every delegate, dignitary, bishop, and spouse with a handmade scarf, to serve not only as a memento of General Conference but also as a practical solution to drafty, air-conditioned rooms. That’s where you come in! All United Methodists in Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota are invited to help knit or crochet 10,000 purple scarves. This initiative is called the Lydia Project, after Lydia in Acts 16. If you are interested in helping with this state-wide project, contact Linda Seaton – we need to give the conference an estimate of how many scarves Messiah will provide. For more information, including scarf size, patterns and packaging details, click here or watch this video.
Shop for Critical Shelter Needs for Simpson Shelter
Current needs include: coffee, breakfast cereal, gently used or new bath towels, gently used or new blankets and pillows, new bras (all sizes), new white t-shirts (all sizes), new white ankle socks for men, shaving cream and razors, deodorant and travel size toothpaste. Please drop off your donations at the Missions Table in the lobby. Click here for more information on Simpson Shelter or contact Gerry at (952) 484-2888.
Interfaith Outreach Youth Summer Volunteer Opportunities
There are great enriching volunteer opportunities for college and high school students (entering 8th grade and older) to stay active, do good in the community, and build resume material at Interfaith Outreach this summer. Choose the role that suits you!:
- Youth Summer Day Camp Helper – must have completed 9th grade
- Donation Receiver for the Food Shelf or Resale Select – must have completed 8th grade OR middle school students with a parent
- Cashier or Store Associate at Resale Select – must have completed 8th grade
- Bag groceries or Assist Families in the Food Shelf – must have completed 8th grade
- Play and Supervise Kids in our Children’s Play Area – must have competed 8th grade OR middle school students with a parent
Help one afternoon a week or every day – whatever fits your schedule. For more information or to sign up, visit iocp.org/volunteer or contact Najmo at (763) 489-7505. Interfaith Outreach is located at 1605 County Road 101 N., Plymouth.
Interfaith Outreach Summer Volunteer Opportunities
Interfaith Outreach is always looking for volunteers – no experience required! Find fulfilling and fun opportunities to give back:
- Summer Camp Volunteer – Interfaith Outreach’s “Summer Leaders” day camp is a no-cost, 8-week, 4 day/week afternoon summer program for youth grades K-6. Provide general support to the program and positive role modeling to the youth. Volunteers entering 10th grade in fall 2018 or older are welcome. One afternoon a week required throughout the summer.
- Client Services Receptionist/Volunteer – Be the “first impression” of Interfaith Outreach for clients and other visitors. Staff the reception desk, answer questions, help make appointments, accept deliveries/donations, etc. Should have strong customer service skills, professionalism and a hospitable personality. Weekly or two times per month. Morning, afternoon and evening shifts available.
- Donation Receiver – Support our resale store and food shelf by staffing our donation door. Unload donations from donor vehicles, provide tax receipts and begin basic sorting of incoming donations. Middle School students welcome with an adult. Immediate need for Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons. Flexible schedule.
Interested in helping? Contact Najmo at (763) 489-7505. For more information on these and other Interfaith Outreach volunteer opportunities, visit iocp.org/volunteer. Interfaith Outreach is located at 1605 County Road 101 N., Plymouth.
Local Missions
Bloom Early Learning & Child Care
Bloom is an accredited, award-winning, non-profit early learning center housed in Messiah Church. Because poverty early in life is a proven barrier to success later on, Bloom passionately strives to break the cycle at the start through nurturing care and exceptional early learning programs.
By providing scholarship assistance to half the children in our center, Bloom enables low-income single mothers and families to work or pursue education to improve their futures while giving their children the best possible start in their lives.
- Serving children 6 weeks through Pre-K
- Providing a nurturing, safe and intimate environment
- Using values-based programs and excellent curriculum with stellar outcomes
- Dedicating 50% of enrollment spots to children from families living under the poverty level in the Plymouth/Wayzata area
Our Shirley Robinson Scholarship Fund is a memorial to the wife of former Messiah Church pastor, Rollie Robinson, who originally challenged his congregation to help break the cycle of poverty through the provision of high quality, affordable early learning and child care. Gifts from individual donors, grants and fundraising events, as well as those from corporations, public organizations and faith communities, help Bloom assist children of low-income families. Contact Mary Olsen at (763) 449-0600 or visit www.bloomearlylearning.org.
Interfaith Outreach
Messiah Church has been an important partner in Interfaith Outreach’s efforts on behalf of the community to serve at-risk families in Hamel, Long Lake, Medicine Lake, Minnetonka Beach, Orono, Plymouth and Wayzata. For opportunities to get involved, contact Linda Seaton.
Interfaith Outreach was launched in 1979 by a small group of believers who envisioned a way for our community to respond to the unmet needs of struggling families and individuals in our midst, and to help them move toward self-sufficiency. From its modest beginnings in a church basement with no budget and a volunteer staff, Interfaith Outreach has grown to a sophisticated direct service provider and respected community catalyst. To learn more about Interfaith Outreach, visit www.IOCP.org.
Habitat for Humanity
A Christian non-profit organization, supported in the Twin Cities by Messiah UMC for more than 20 years. Habitat provides guidance, materials and volunteers to help owners restore their houses, protecting their investment in the home and restoring pride of ownership. Additionally, Messiah supports, “Brush with Kindness,” a ministry of Habitat to help 125 families each year to rehab their homes. Habitat is supported at Messiah through volunteer workdays periodically throughout the year.
For more information, please call the church office at (763) 473-6968. To learn more about Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity, visit www.tchabitat.org.
Simpson Housing Services
Messiah partners with Simpson Housing Services by providing many service opportunities including serving meals at the Emergency Shelter, working as an overnight volunteer at the Emergency Shelter and tutoring children. They are also in continuous need of donations such as socks, T-shirts, underwear, toothpaste, toothbrushes and deodorant.
For more information on Simpson housing services contact our office at (763) 473-6968, or visit www.simpsonhousing.org.
The mission of Simpson Housing Services is to provide free shelter and affordable housing with support services to homeless men, women and children. They assist individuals and families in their effort to improve their life situations and advocate for their human and civil rights.
The Simpson Center for Servant Ministries (Simpson CSM)
Simpson CSM is a ministry that seeks to cultivate holistic vitality in the urban community by building relationships with neighbors and partnerships across urban/suburban/rural communities. Messiah Church partners with Simpson CSM by volunteering their time and talents through community meals, food pantry, clothing store donations and produce fairs.
The CSM carries out its work through Health and Wellness activities, service opportunities and through the Poverty and Justice Institute. For more information on Simpson CSM, call the church office at (763) 473-6968 or visit www.simpsoncsm.org.
Imara International
Messiah Church is proud to be in partnership with Imara International and to support its Executive Director, and Messiah member, Carol Erickson, through its prayers, and donations of time, talent, gifts and service. To find out about the next mission trip opportunity, and ways you can help, contact the church office at (763) 473-6968 or visit www.imarainternational.org.
Imara International is a U.S. based non-profit 501(c)(3) organization working in Kenya. Imara’s purpose is to provide an opportunity for teenage mothers to earn a high school degree and learn marketable skills to support themselves and their children. Imara fosters a safe, healthy environment where respect, faith, and teamwork are a central focus. Infants and children who are part of the Imara family are provided healthcare and early childhood education. Imara’s program is structured to teach life-sustaining skills that build strong families and communities while breaking the cycle of poverty. To learn more about Imara International, visit www.imarainternational.org.
Light of Hope
Light of Hope provides care, shelter and education to Kenyan girls in need. They develop leadership skills and help girls realize and reach their potential. For information about Light of Hope, visit www.LightOfHopeKenya.org or contact John Harmon at (612) 298-2069 or at jpharmoncpa@msn.com.
Feed My Starving Children
Feed My Starving Children is a non-profit Christian organization committed to feeding God’s children hungry in body and spirit. Messiah Church partners with FMSC by providing financial resources and countless volunteer hours packaging healthy meal-packs. To learn more about Feed My Starving Children, visit www.FMSC.org.
The approach is simple: children and adults hand-pack meals specifically formulated for malnourished children, and we ship these meals to nearly 70 countries around the world.
United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR)
UMCOR is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization dedicated to alleviating human suffering around the globe. UMCOR’s work includes programs and projects in disaster response, health, sustainable agriculture, food security, relief supplies, and more. UMCOR is a ministry of The United Methodist Church through the General Board of Global Ministries.
Messiah Church supports UMCOR through various project (health kits, flood buckets) as needed by the organization. To learn more about UMCOR, visit www.umcor.org.
