First Church Missions - Updated!

Through service to those in need both inside and outside our congregation, we put into practice our Lord's words:

"I assure you, whatsoever you do for the least of my brothers, you do for me."

Holiday Missions Upcoming Missions Ongoing Missions

Holiday Missions

Caroling to Shut-ins

Volunteers needed to visit shut-ins during Christmas season to bring some cheer to those who are unable to leave their homes! Contact Elaine Nunez for more information.

Craft Fair

November 15th and 16th. This event is a fundraiser for FUMC missions and has had 5,000+ attendees in previous years. This year we will have mission vendor tables, vendors from all over the US, silent auctions and an auto show out on the lawn! We continue to need more vendors, more volunteers and more cars to make this a successful event so please tell all of your friends! Craft Fair Contact is Larry Naeyaert (larrynaeyaert@tx.rr.com); Auto Show Contact us Ross Clegg (rdclegg@verizon.net); Vendor documents are located here.

Operation Christmas Child

During October and November we pack shoe boxes with gifts for children the world over. Sturdy shoe boxes are needed with volunteers to purchase the contents and pack them up for either a boy or a girl of a given age. This is a Franklin Graham Ministry.

Plano Santas

Sign up to adopt a family beginning November 9. "Adopted" families receive presents from groups who are adopting them. Santa will provide 30 days worth of food and First Church Plano provides a Payless Shoe Source gift card for each child in the family along with a toothbrush. Items are to be delivered December 20 or 21st. Contact Dave Dunbar for more information.

We Care

Donations of small items needed for those serving in the military in Iraq and Afghanistan. A Holiday mailing is scheduled for November! Currently receiving a few items weekly from Sunday school classes but more donations are sought. Please chat with your Sunday School class or other groups and consider adopting a soldier or Chaplain to provide a shipment of needed items overseas. The list of needed items can be found at here. Contact Dennis Page for more information.

Upcoming Missions

SAVES Honduras Mission Trip

March 13 – 21, 2009 Sign up Now!

For five years FUMC Plano has partnered in the vision of Dr. Tom Brian, a dentist from Allen, TX, and the founder of Send Hope. Send Hope is a 501C-3 non-profit organization started to help the people on the Moskito Coast of Honduras. Tom brought his vision for the House of Hope to the First Church Plano Missions committee in 2003. While providing dental care to the Moskito Indians in the Puerto Lempira area, Tom recognized additional needs of two groups; disabled divers and children with physical injuries or birth defects that were beyond the capabilities of the local health care establishment to handle. Tom believed a residence that provided food, shelter and structure would help the local people while in Puerto Lempira. Tom’s vision was a great match to the vision of FUMC Plano – to reach out and make a difference in the lives of people beyond our local community, and we enthusiastically joined with Tom!

The trip planned for March 13 – 21, 2009 will continue our mission to support the dental and medical work of Send Hope by constructing a storage shed and dental clinic, and providing support to the women and children in the House of Hope. Contact Kathy Richmond to find out more!

Ongoing Missions

There are many other new and exciting missions on the horizon. And of course, we continue to work on our ongoing mission programs throughout the year. Some of our ongoing projects:

ESL and Citizenship Classes

Through Associate Pastor of Hispanic Ministry, David Gonzalez, who has grown our Hispanic ministry from 4 to over 105 people, our first round of US citizenship classes culminated with everyone passing the US Citizenship test and becoming US citizens in April. Contact Associate Pastor David Gonzalez.

Food Pantry Missions Box

Our church collects both canned and dried food each week in the Missions Box located at the choir room entrance closest to the sanctuary. We then deliver these donated items to both God's Food Pantry and the Plano Food Pantry (www.holynativity.org/foodpantry). January through April FUMC donated several thousand pounds of food! But with the slowing economy it is more important than ever to provide nutritious food to these families, especially peanut butter and canned meals like stew. We also happily accept clothes and monetary donations for these pantries. Please make checks out to First Church and note that it is specifically for Food Pantries and drop in the offering plate or office. Contact Bill Marquard.

NOMADS

NOMADS are typically retired people with RV’s that sign up for 2-3 week projects and as a group travel to areas in need providing physical and emotional rebuilding while sharing God’s love. Our own Bob and Virginia Bontz are enthusiastic participants of this ongoing mission.

Plain-O Helpers

Supported by senior volunteers to help seniors and others in need within the community with minor home maintenance and repairs. We welcome all volunteers for these projects. In 2007 Plain-O Helpers served 400 clients, completed 820 projects and spent 1,720 volunteer hours! Contact Bill Downs to become a Plain-O Helper.

Shoe Bank

This mission collects new and gently-used shoes for children, men, and women. It is separate and in addition to the Summer School Shoe Ministry which provides shoes for school age children. Finding a need among the homeless, this program was begun in 1989 to put shoes on a few hundred homeless men living in downtown Dallas. Today the program provides shoes for over twenty thousand people both here and abroad! We have a drop box here at FUMC (located next to the Missions Box) and The Shoe Bank will accept both new and gently-used shoes for children, women and men. Visit www.shoebank.org for additional details. Contact Bill Marquard.

Update on Missions 2008

Amigos Days

A project of the United Methodist North Texas Conference. This mission enhances the relationship between suburban churches and the inner city churches (www.ntcumc.org/Amigos/) and each year we repair a church facility or a home near the church where the owner is incapacitated or unable to pay for the repairs. This year we set a new standard by helping with 3 houses in the Jubilee Park neighborhood near Fair Park in April 2008. Approximately 35 different volunteers provided nearly 80 volunteer-days of effort over the two weekends. Volunteer sign-ups begin in Sping 2009. Contact Rick Billings for more information.

Family Promise

Founded in 1988, this mission provides hands-on outreach within a church facility. This mission, led by Craig Jacobs, is being considered at First Church Plano. If approved, the mission provides space for up to 5 homeless families (all pre-screened for safety) that will stay in our church for a week at a time every 3 months. There are many details to consider (insurance, space, transportation, meals, etc.) but this option allows families to stay together under a church roof (home in the inn) while our members could provide direct assistance to these people in need. Visit the Family Promise website for additional details.

Golf Tournament

Golf Committee chairman Marty Rimbey reports that local charities will receive $8000 from the 2008 Tournament! Great job First Church Golfers! Watch for more information on participating in the 2009 Tournament.

Habitat for Humanity

Work continues on Habitat House. We’re nearing completion. Interior trim is installed and the interior is painted. Cabinets and countertops were installed last week. The exterior is nearly painted. Next up is hardware installation and landscaping. Clay and Kathy Richmond did a wonderful job handling FUMC-Plano’s turn as the hospitality team on 9/20. Lunch included home-cooked barbecued pork! We received special thanks for the great effort. We are on track to finish the house in October. So far, we’ve provide more than 90 -person days of work, with more than 40 different folks from FUMC-Plano participating. As we move into the final month of construction, we are looking forward to planning the next house. FUMC-Plano’s share is $8-10,000. Once all the partner churches have raised the $65-70,000 needed, we will start the adventure again. Contact Pat Thompson.

Love from Above

This project was conceived by a group of FUMC young people to share their Christian love with children in the hospital. These great kids and their leaders managed to deliver 1,260 bags filled with a box of crayons, markers or colored pencils, stickers, a coloring book and a stuffed animal to Texas Scottish Rite Hospital on Friday, August 1st. It was an entire u-haul van full or four pallets once unloaded. They were quite surprised at the volume and we are so proud of our youngsters!

Kitchen Delights Cookbook

You haven't missed the Kitchen Delights Cookbook. The new date for delivery is the end of November – in time for the Christmas celebrations and presents! Contact Ann Pellegrino.

Please visit the Missions page for a complete listing to get involved with and for updated mission status as it is released.

Get YOUR Fire Started!

Please pray for all the missions and the people guiding them. To volunteer or to start up your own mission, contact Ed Brown at elbrown2@verizon.net, Chair of the Missions Committee, and get your fire started!