Service Opportunities

Click here to see our Missions Booklet

 

Nurture Committee

Lay Shepherds

This ministry was organized in order for lay persons in the congregation to provide a caring ministry to Grace families. The Lay Shepherds strengthen and encourage one another in faith by providing Christian care through visits, phone calls, cards, and prayer. In good times and in trying times the shepherds serve as a caring presence for their assigned congregation members. The shepherds are supported and trained through monthly meetings with one another.

Martha Ministry

A caring and support ministry in the time of bereavement and illness, coordinated by Darlene Tyndall and Sandra Miller.  We are always welcoming new volunteers to this significant ministry.

CD Ministry

CDs of the Sunday Service are recorded and distributed to church members unable to attend in person.  Call the church office (763-5197) to request copies.

Stephen Ministry

Stephen Ministry is a program of our congregation that equips lay persons to provide distinctively Christian one-to-one care to those who are experiencing all kinds of life needs and circumstances, both in our congregation and community.

For more information, contact us

Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard

Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard is a local food pantry with an affiliation with Grace UMC. Our mission statement is: Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard is called to serve those who are hungry in the Wilmington area through distribution of emergency food. This service is provided by volunteers in partnership with the community, without regard to race or religion and with care to preserve the dignity of the individuals being served.

Grace members participate on the Board of the Cupboard and as volunteers on several days each month.  The church also provides clerical support (copying, giving out keys, answering questions). The Cupboard was started in Wilmington in 1985 by Sister Mary Isaac in a space beside the Food Bank. It moved to a site in the Grace UMC facility in 1997 and, in October 2010, to its current location at 221 N. 2nd Street.

The Cupboard is run entirely by volunteers. Rules, regulations and problems are dealt with by a Board of Directors, which meets once per month. There are over 400 people volunteering at the Cupboard each month from various congregations and businesses. It is open from 1-3pm on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. It provides 3-5 days’ worth of food, given out once per month. The homeless clients are able to come weekly and receive a smaller portion of items in smaller servings that don’t require cooking. Less than 10% of people who receive food are homeless. As of October 2010, the Cupboard also provides frozen and perishable food.  Only non-perishable food donations can be accepted at this time.

Donations of food should be brought to the back door, accessed via the alley off Chestnut St. near the downtown post office.  There is a door bell and a sign on the door, which is at the end of the alley. They may be brought to the Cupboard while it is open (1-3pm on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday or Saturday).  To deliver at other times or for large deliveries, please contact Jane Radack at 793-9236.

Volunteer jobs include food collection, receiving and sorting food, purchasing food at local stores with donated money, unloading vehicles, stocking shelves, providing custodial services, creating and maintaining client records (computer skills required), packing food boxes and distributing bags and boxes of food.  Volunteers with trucks are sometimes needed for receiving food from the Food Bank on weekdays.  To learn more about Mother Hubbard's Cupboard click the following link to their website.

Financial donations may be mailed to Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard, 401 Grace Street, Wilmington, NC  28401.  To volunteer or for other information, please leave a message at 762-2199.

**Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard is a 501- (c)-3 organization, so all deductions are tax-deductible.

 

Alternative Gift Market

  

Each year in the late fall, Grace sponsors the Alternative Gift Market and Craft Fair.

 

The Alternative Gift Market offers shoppers a chance to support worthy local and international projects by giving a gift to honor a friend or family member. The donors (you) receive a gift card to give the recipient, which describes the project supported. For example, for $33 you could give your sister who works with handicapped children a  pair of brace-adapted shoes for a child in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Or, you could donate $11 for a month of literacy training for your brother who is a teacher.  For a friend at church, you could give $40 to Wilmington Interfaith Hospitality Network and provide laundry, internet and utilities for a week at the Day Center, which is home base for the homeless families being served. The list goes on and on.....

 

These gifts are life-sustaining and inspire change in the world!  Links to the international and local shopping lists are here.  To read more about the international gifts, visit the website of Alternative Gifts International at http://www.altgifts.org.  This year we will accept VISA or MasterCard or debit cards as payment for gifts and crafts.

 

Even though the 2011 Alternative Gift Market is now over, you can shop for project support through December 5.  Shopping lists and booklets with information are available at the church.  For information call Jane at 392-1551.  Project gifts are tax-deductible.

 

 

      Prayer Shawl Ministry

    People of Grace donate their time and talent to this ministry by knitting or crocheting beautiful prayer shawls.  After being blessed during a Sunday worship service, the shawls are given to church members, their family members or friends in need of special prayers and to help them feel the love of God and the love of the Grace congregation.  You can get a history of this worldwide ministry, sample prayers, and instructions for knitting or crocheting shawls at this website http://www.shawlministry.com   Marie Allison is Grace’s contact person.

 

Prayer Care Partners for Sunset Park Elementary School

Included under our mission outreach is the Grace-Sunset Park Prayer-Care Partner Program.  We bring the love of the Lord into the elementary school setting by partnering with a staff member to pray for him or her throughout the school year, by remembering that staff member with encouraging cards, and by providing a few staff-wide treats for them throughout the school year.  Each Grace Partner remains anonymous to their partner until the end of the year at which time we have a ‘meet and greet’ luncheon.  For the prayer partners, this is small commitment of time and resources.   For the individual teachers and school staff, this ministry is a much appreciated gift of prayer and suppport.

 

Through Samaritan's Purse directions, we fill shoeboxes with things to provide children in need with a happy Christmas.  Please contact Christina Norvell with questions. 

CHILDREN FEEDING CHILDREN

(Backpack Ministry)

 

This is a ministry with Grace’s prayer partner school, Sunset Park Elementary.  The program provides food for the neediest children each weekend until the end of the school year.  Each week volunteers assemble packs containing food for 7 meals and 2 snacks.  The children, selected by the school to receive assistance, pick up the packs in the school office as they leave on Friday.  Please click here to receive a list of food items needed.

 

 

Other Ministries supported by Grace UMC

Early Bread

Get on the Bus

Habitat for Humanity

Hospice Meals

Methodist Home for Children Angel Tree

Operation Christmas Child (Shoe Box Gifts)

Wilmington Area Rebuilding Ministry (W.A.R.M.)

Wilmington Interfaith Hospitality Network (WIHN)


Call for more info: 910.763.5197

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