BEAVER RIDGE UNITED METHODIST
The Church at Karns
Sunday Worship at 10 am
Hands On Missions
Beaver Ridge UMC is dedicated to missions. We celebrate all types of mission opportunities - from trips to collecting mittens to donating food, and more. You are invited to participate in any or all of these mission opportunities!
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Contacts:
Food Pantry - Leslie Little, deanleslielittle@gmail.com
Second Harvest Food Drop - Mary Hunt, acumanager@comcast.net
Pumpkin Patch - Suzanne Davidson, fishygotum@yahoo.com
As I write this newsletter, it is over 90 degrees outside and sweltering. But there are signs of fall coming...foliage is starting to change colors, kids are back in school, and plans abound for the Fall season at Beaver Ridge. I recommend that you read through this newsletter and find an activity and join in...you will meet some awesome people and further God's Kingdom here where we live.
Speaking of back-to-school...We had a successful church-wide collection of school supplies last month, benefitting students from grade school through high school. We recently also received a specific request for school supplies for the ELL class in the Karns Elementary School, where they have 80 students (grades K-5) who are learning to speak English in addition to their regular school subjects. 80!!! Those of us who remember Dona Bean (former member of BRUMC and a strong advocate for the needs of elementary school students) may also remember the Dona Bean Memorial Fund which was set up to provide for a need such as this. Notebooks, pencils, erasers, timers, markers, glue sticks...all that (and more) was gathered and delivered to the school last week. The teachers were overwhelmed...saying that they had
always had to "make do" with left-over supplies in the past...never had they been able to provide their
students with new items! Truly a blessing!
This past month an EF-2 tornado touched down in
several places in Knoxville, including Martin and Charlotte DeLozier's house on Yarnell Road.
Fortunately, they were not home at the time, but the property damage is significant. Rebecca Young has been instrumental in coordinating volunteers from BRUMC to help out. Our initial tasks of triaging the refrigerated/frozen food (due to extended power outage) have transitioned into helping in the preparation of their rental house for occupancy. It will likely be weeks (if not months) before the full extent of the damage has been assessed. Many thanks to all the people who donated their time and provided food for the workers. Our prayers go out to the DeLoziers as well as everyone else affected by that storm.
Our Food Pantry continues to provide for our
neighbors here in Karns, with record numbers of
families requesting (and receiving) food and household goods. It is open on Mondays from 1-2 pm and Wednesdays from 6:30-7:30 pm. We have a great group of volunteers who keep the Pantry stocked and open during these hours...THANK YOU ALL!
As a reminder: If some of you have found time to clean out closets in preparation for back-to-school and plan to donate boxes of no-longer-used items to KARM, please consider registering your donations under BRUMC’s name. KARM will credit our church for the donations and issue gift cards to us to give out as needed. It really can make a difference!
Remember that Fall is right around the corner. Keep on the lookout for upcoming events: Pumpkin Patch, Fall Woodcutting trips, and Thanksgiving dinners. We are truly blessed to be able to do so much!
Leslie Little, Missions Chair
Hands-On Missions
Beaver Ridge participates in day trips to places like *Morgan-Scott Project, Jubilee Project in Sneedville, and Habitat for Humanity, as well as longer trips such as *Project Crossroads in Marion, Virginia.
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*Project Crossroads
A mission where the presence of Christ meets human need in the heart of the Appalachians of southwest Virginia. Project Crossroads is a mission set in southwest Virginia, serving the needs of God's children through home repair, new home construction, firewood delivery, and emergency assistance. Beaver Ridge UMC has supported Project Crossroads for many years, typically with a hands-on construction/home repair team in June and two woodcutting trips (one in the Spring, one in the Fall). BRUMC has also participated in the Project Crossroads annual golf tournament fundraiser. It is an opportunity for mission teams and others to be a faith witness of Christ's presence through love in action.
Where the Presence of Christ Meets Human Need" "Jesus said, 'When you serve others, you also serve me.'" Matthew 25:40
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*Morgan-Scott Project
Since 1972, the Morgan-Scott Project for Cooperative Christian Concerns (MSP) has formed a base from which the needs of low-income families in Scott and Morgan counties in rural Tennessee can be addressed. MSP functions as both a social services agency and as a community development organization. Activities sponsored directly or indirectly by MSP have included a school for children with learning disabilities, free tutoring programs, healthcare clinics, libraries, a homeless shelter, thrift stores, a home garden program, a Habitat for Humanity chapter, education and job training programs, community centers for children, youth, and the elderly, legal aid services, emergency aid, disaster relief, and home repair. Beaver Ridge UMC supports the MSP with donations to their Thrift Store, our “Mitten” Tree collection of clothes, books, and toys for children at Christmas, and by participation on their administrative board. We have also supported their fundraising auction with donations of hand-crafted items. For seven years prior to July of 1973, with approximately 14,000 residents in each county, there were only five doctors practicing in Scott County and none at all in Morgan County. MSP has helped bring better healthcare to the region and to make people aware of the services available. In 1976, The Good Earth program was established to provide vegetable seeds, tomato and cabbage plants, onion sets, potato seeds and fertilizer for home gardens. MSP also owned a tractor, a plow, a disk, and tillers that could be rented at very reasonable rates or lent in cases of extreme need. These gardens provided fresh foods in the summer and canned vegetables in the winter. Many seeds and plants are donated by churches in the area. In 1980, the “To Love Is to Serve” program was created to address the emergency home repair needs of low-income residents of Morgan and Scott counties. Though no longer called by this name, youth and adult volunteers from across the nation come every year from as far away as Michigan and Florida to repair homes and complete other service projects. MSP also operates a thrift store in Deer Lodge. Donated goods such as clothes, toys, household items and linens are sold at very low prices. Many families clothe their school age children with thrift store bargains. The proceeds from these sales are used to offset the administrative costs of MSP. The first Christmas Stores were opened in 1976 to provide low income children from Morgan and Scott Counties with Christmas presents.
Holston Connections
Holston Connections will focus on those ministries which are "connected" through the United Methodist Church. We branch out from our local church to the district and then to the Holston Conference and on to the General Conference. This is primarily monetary giving through special offerings such as Holston Home for Children, One Great Hour of Sharing, and World Communion Sunday. We also have opportunities to give resources to the United Methodist Committee on Relief when there is a natural disaster; we fill food buckets and flood buckets or prepare school kits.