| Encouragement is in the mail HAMPSTEAD Seven members of Wesley UMC have put their own unique stamp on ministry. . The group meets monthly to make homemade greeting cards that are decorated with rubber stamps. The encouragement ministry sends the cards daily for birthdays and anniversaries, to the home bound, and those who are sick and bereaved. We also send large volume amounts of cards to cancer kids, veterans, service men and NASA families monthly, said Kim Appler, the church secretary, who heads the program. They regularly sent 200 cards to veterans, she said. We can send cards to anyone in need of encouragement. Donations are welcomed, either money or in-kind, for card stock, postage, envelopes, double stick tape and other supplies, Appler said. The Sonlight Stampers have a Web page at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SonlightStampers.
Choir ends tour on high note CHEWSVILLE The Cardinal Singers, a youth choir from Redbird Mission in Kentucky, completed a summer tour in the eastern United States with a concert at Bethel UMC July 13. While in the small Maryland community, the young people stayed overnight with host families from the church. In addition to singing praise songs and performing Appalachian music with a banjo, the singers witnessed to their faith, reported Melinda Obitts, a member of the church. She had taught for four years at Redbird Mission and was responsible for bringing the group to the church. It was a very emotional time, Obitts said, There wasnt a dry eye in the place.
Conference youth take to the hills SEVERNA PARK Eighteen youth work teams spent a week in Wise and Russell counties, Virginia, in July, as volunteers in the Appalachia Service Project. Severna Park UMC led the project, but the 105 volunteers came from 22 United Methodist churches in the Baltimore-Washington conference. The work crews put on a one-room addition and four new roofs, dug a 232-foot trench to bring running water to a familys home, restored bathrooms and foundations, and repaired gutters, wiring, siding, foundations and painting, said the Rev. Lee S. Ferrell who led the project. While the youth worked, they met Appalachian families and learned of their unique culture. The youth left with the satisfaction of making the homes warmer for the winter, safer and drier, Ferrell said. For general information on the eight-week summer workcamps, see www.Asphome.org.
Volunteers to develop career center WASHINGTON, D.C. Casa del Pueblo UMC and Foundry UMC have recently formed a consortium, along with several local businesses and churches to develop a career center in the Columbia Heights church. Plans are taking shape to offer computer training, adult literacy classes and other job skills training in the impoverished neighborhood, according to Ed Christie, a member of Foundry who is leading the centers development. A few students are already taking GED classes. Computers are promised by one of the consortium members. The group is looking for someone to volunteer to help with grant writing and fund raising to make this major outreach effort a success. Contact Christie at (301) 565-2454 or
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