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VOL. 15, NO. 2

Church, doctors team up to feed hungry

HAGERSTOWN Dr. Steven Kotch, who attends Emmanuel UMC, stepped in to fill a need when restaurateur Nick Giannaris wasnt able to serve Christmas dinner for 1,500 people, as has been his custom the past 17 years.

Kotch, medical director of the Emergency Medical Services in the area, offered to organize the Robinwood Medical Center as the dining room, with volunteers to provide the food and help. He also offered Emmanuels kitchen.

Many emergency room patients are older people who fall through the cracks of the social services network, said emergency room doctor, Scott Wegner. The emergency room medical personnel had already been planning to deliver 500 free meals to homebound senior citizens in the Hagerstown area on Christmas Eve. They added another 500 meals to their plans.

Starting at 6 a.m. in Emmanuels kitchen, 20 church, medical and community volunteers prepared everything except the turkeys.

Another 100 volunteers packaged the meals and delivered them to nearly 1,500 senior citizens and shut-ins.

Folk singer delivers message on suicide

WASHINGTON The Rev. Margaret Clemons, pastor of Severn UMC, was one of half a dozen United Methodist ministers who attended a benefit for OASSIS, or the Organization for Attempters and Survivors of Suicide in Interfaith Services. She was there assisting her father, the Rev. James Clemons, a retired United Methodist pastor and professor emeritus at Wesley Theological Seminary. He is the founder and president of the six-year-old OASSIS.

The main attraction at the luncheon, held at B. Smiths in Washingtons Union Station, was the keynote speaker, Judy Collins, a singer, songwriter and author.

Collins, who is a United Methodist, spoke and sang her inspiring message, which was also an opportunity to promote her seventh and latest book, Sanity and Grace: A Journey of Suicide, Sanity and Strength.

She spoke of her attempt at suicide as a teenager, and of her son, who was a young man when he died from suicide.

Immigration ministry moves offices

SILVER SPRING The Justice for our Neighbors office, which has been located in the Methodist Building in Washington, D.C., has opened new offices at Woodside UMC, 8900 Georgia Ave., Silver Spring.

Were anxious that those immigrants who need legal assistance can find us, said Nancy Lanman, manager for ministry development on the national staff that is a program of the United Methodist Committee on Relief.

The social justice ministry serves immigrants and asylum seekers fleeing abusive regimes and those in life-threatening circumstances.

The Justice for our Neighbors attorneys provide representation before the courts and immigration authorities.

The legal services director, Panravee Vongjaroenrat, may be reached at (202) 607-0789. The office e-mail is .
 

WASHINGTON Twenty Latino participants met for three days at Wesley Theological Seminary in November for training on Doctrine and Theology of the UMC, as part of the National Plan for Hispanic Ministry. Francisco Quintana, one of three attendees from Peru, used drama to teach about the structure of the church. The Rev. Willie Caraballo-Lopez, the conference director of Hispanic ministries, arranged the training.

Operation Christmas Child a success

DAVIDSONVILLE Thanksgiving was barely over when Christmas began appearing at Davidsonville UMC, a collection point for 8,000 shoe boxes stuffed with gifts for needy children.

Known as Operation Christmas Child, the seasonal project is an arm of Samaritans Purse, a Christian relief and evangelism organization.

Each box was packed by hand with personal items, coloring books, stuffed animals and small toys.

Cadette Girl Scout Troop 1327 of Edgewater, led by a Davidsonville member, took on the project. One church provided 900 filled shoe boxes.

A United Methodist church from the Eastern Shore brought more than 850 boxes to put on the 18-wheeler that was headed first to Boone, N.C.

Many churches throughout the conference participate in the shoe-box ministry. Since 1993, Operation Christmas Child has delivered more than 24 million gifts to children in 120 countries ravaged by war, terrorism, poverty, famine, disease and natural disasters.