We have had a “Spring Break” mission trip most years since 1998. Until this year we have gone to Mexico, in or near Reynosa, across from the Texas “Valley”.
For 2010, due in large part, to the violence in Mexico, we contacted the Friends for Life and Habitat for Humanity. They were glad to have our help. We did numerous repairs on a ninety-year old widow’s house in Bellmead and helped build a Habitat house in March 2010. About twenty workers and many more “behind-the-scene” helpers accomplished both tasks well.
Our “Beans & Rice” project has been ongoing since 2001. This provides staples for the very poor, both in Mexico and on the Texas side. We sent our partners in the venture The Sandovals, dedicated United Methodist volunteers, donations of $1,250 in 2010.
At our Mission Committee meeting in August 2010, we decided to ask the youth to work with us to offer minor repair, clean-up, or painting services to elderly and needy church members. There will be no charge for labor and we can help with purchase of materials, if needed. We also arranged a March 2011 mission trip to Glen Lake Camp for our youth. We will help with needed repairs to the camp.
We are participants in the Waco ISD “Adopt-A-School Program”. As part of this program, we provide school uniforms to the school for distribution on an as-needed basis throughout the school year. This is a program where our entire congregation participates by contributing to this fund before the uniforms are purchased.
Our Reverse Offering/Food for Families is an annual project whereby we provide three meals a day for eight of the neediest families at North Waco School during the Christmas school break. Last year we added eight families from Doris Miller School. Our congregation bring food items and $2 each, which is used to buy perishable food, to the church which is put into boxes for distribution on the first Saturday of Christmas break.
Operation Christmas Child, a program that provides shoebox Christmas gifts to needy children around the world is promoted at Cogdell UMC each year.