| Offering funds students BY MELISSA LAUBER UMCONNECTION STAFF In spite of difficult economic times, United Methodists are distributing an unprecedented number of scholarships and loans to graduate and undergraduate students from around the world. At the end of 2002, $7 million in scholarships and loans were awarded to more than 5,000 students, reported Angela Current Felder, executive director the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry. Felder says she considers such giving a cause for celebration. In the Baltimore-Washington Conference, for the year 2003, $709,950 in loans and scholarships was given to 51 students. Much of this money comes from the Student Day offering, which will be observed Nov. 30. Churches are encouraged to take a special collection on this day. Money for scholarships is also collected on World Communion Sunday in October. Last year, Baltimore-Washington Conference churches contributed $9,265 to Student Sunday. Denominationwide, $563,317 was collected. A portion of that money will go to students like Sherita Gaskins of Mt. Zion UMC in Baltimore, who is a medical student at Georgetown University School of Medicine. I am very appreciative of the moral and financial support that The United Methodist Church has extended to me over the last four years, she said. Education is an essential part of my life. I need to learn, just as I need to eat and breathe. Education is my passport to a better life and will grant me the capability to further contribute to my community, said Gaskins, who believes faith is a central part of all she does. First and foremost, I am a child of God, she said. Through my medical education I am afforded the awesome opportunity of seeing the Lord move in miraculous ways on a regular basis. Resources to assist churches in celebrating Student Sunday, or any of the five other United Methodist Special Sundays, can be found at www.UMCGiving.org. For more information on receiving United Methodists loan and scholarships, contact the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry at (615) 340-7342 or www.gbhem.org. | 
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