VOLUNTEER

UMCNL MISSIONS

Throughout the year, there will be a variety of mission and volunteering opportunities that you can participate in such as:

Mission Trips and Supply drives
Special offerings
United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR)
Care Team, Prayer Line, Prison Ministry

The United Methodist Committee on Relief is a non-profit agency of the United Methodist Church. UMCOR reaches worldwide to provide relief in five core areas: hunger, health, refugees, emergencies, relief supplies.

Since 1940, UMCOR has served people in almost 100 countries. The organization is designed such that 100% of all donations are channeled directly to the earmarked project or relief effort. This goal is achieved by an annual collection taken at United Methodist Churches around the world in March. UMCOR receives enough support from this collection each year to cover overhead, administrative, and operations costs for the coming year. Excess funds are directed to the most urgent projects.

You can donate UMCOR online directly to any project. You can also write a check to UMCNL and put UMCOR in the memo line.

If you are interested in volunteering with UMCNL, please email our office.

Click HERE for current volunteer opportunities!

CURRENT MISSION PROJECTS

Rev. Anna Troy

The Rev. Anna Troy is a missionary with the General Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church serving as a Church and Community Worker as the Director of Open Heart Ministries of Harrison County in Clarksburg, West Virginia. She was commissioned in May 2016.

Church and Community Worker missionaries respond to God’s call to ministry among the poor and disenfranchised in rural and urban areas throughout the United States. They work to change the social inequities of poverty, racial injustice, and domestic violence.

Cookson Hills Mission, Cookson, Oklahoma

One of UMCNL’s mission outreaches is to Cookson Hills Mission Center in Cookson, Oklahoma. In addition, UMCNL supports the mission’s annual Christmas Store. Our church sends a trailer of new Christmas gifts that will be purchased at a nominal cost by families visiting the Christmas store, families that might otherwise have little for their Christmas. Cookson Hills Mission Center, Cookson Hills, Oklahoma is located in 3 of the 4 poorest counties in OK. Poverty is systemic and all of the effects of poverty can be seen in this area such as domestic violence, addiction, incest, gambling, child neglect, hunger, lack of transportation and spiritual depravity. 38% of children and the elderly go to bed hungry. Native Americans are the poorest ethnic group in the United States. The goal of the ministry at Cookson Hills Mission center is to meet the needs of the poor and to be the hands and feet of Christ to this community. They have been in service for 68 years and have impacted the community in mammoth ways.

John Wesley Medical Boat, Brazil

Volunteer teams from Brazil and abroad provide medical and dental treatment as well as teach first aid and preventative medicine in targeted areas in the Amazon. High among the priorities for teaching are ways to improve nutrition from locally produced foods.

Midwest Mission

Midwest Mission is a disaster relief facility located on an 8-acre campus, 4 miles south of Springfield, Illinois. Construction began in October of 1999 and opened for ministry in the year 2000. Midwest Mission is a caring ministry related to the Illinois Great Rivers Conference and the North Central Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church. Midwest Mission is also a cooperating depot in the UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief) Relief Supply Network as of January 2010. UMCNL will be sending a volunteer group in February of 2025 to assist!

Midwest Mission’s campus provides opportunities for individuals and groups of all walks of life, denominational backgrounds, abilities, and ages to help provide disaster relief kits and resources as well as educational and medical supplies to those in need both locally and internationally. Midwest Mission provides that “hands on” mission experience. Click here to visit their website or make a donation. You can also donate locally through UMCNL.

Northern Illinois Food Bank

The Northern Illinois Food Bank strives to solve hunger in thirteen counties by ensuring that neighbors have access to the food they need to thrive.

The United Methodist Church of New Lenox supports the food bank with monetary gifts and by sending volunteers to the food bank’s South Suburban Center in Joliet. Volunteers assist at food sorting and packing shifts and at grocery distributions.

For more information, visit their website, https://solvehungertoday.org, or contact Lisa Wheeler.

Red Bird Mission School, Beverly, Kentucky

Red Bird Christian School serves students in grades PreK-12 and centers on developing the full potential of its students in a Christian atmosphere. The school is operated independently by the Mission. Red Bird Christian School provides quality education to students of the Red Bird area in Kentucky regardless of their ability to pay.

Ridgewood United Community Pantry

The Ridgewood United Community Pantry is a ministry of UMCNL . Open every week on Wednesdays from 1-3pm, it serves needy people of Joliet in the 60532 and 60533 zip codes. UMCNL takes a team of volunteers on the 1st Wednesday of each month to set up and serve clients. We also collect monetary, food, and supply donations throughout the year. If you would like to come and help as a volunteer, contact the church office or Aija Bjorklund

As of October 2022, Ridgewood United Community Pantry is again experiencing an increase in clients served weekly. As food prices rise throughout the country, they also rise at Ridgewood Pantry. Monetary donations are especially helpful as more food per dollar can be purchased by the pantry at the food bank. The pantry is very appreciative of all donations. Thank you.

Tengokuya (Heaven's) Cafe, Kobe, Japan

“In our present community, there are people who are mentally and differently challenged, some are from dysfunctional families, and others are also the youth who have dropped out of society. Our community tends to have more people of special needs than any other communities do. The church in the community also receives people with similar needs. These needs are social problems that the society has to respond to with more effective solutions. So, we are urged to take an important role to support a community. The Cafe provides counseling, inexpensive meals, tutoring and outreach ministry for the community.”