MISSION 2024
Mission team is a very busy crew at Pleasant Hill UMC. We work very hard to educate and involve our congregation in bettering the lives of those in our community. Much of that work is outlined below.
USD 345 Resource Room
This is the USD 345 Resource room. In the foreground, notice the family food boxes which are packed every two weeks for those in need. One of our volunteers, Gary, helps unload supplies from Harvesters.
One of our main mission projects happens at the USD 345 Resource Room. Every two weeks, we pack food boxes for families who sign up for food boxes through the district. The resource room gets help from Harvesters as well as donations from many generous groups in the North Topeka area.
We also watch for special needs in the food pantry. We have supplemented this with special peanut butter drives, pasta collection, soup…anything that helps provide a more well-rounded diet for those in need.
The resource room also has a clothing area. Every year, we have a giant competition at PHUMC to collect socks and underwear, some of the most needed essentials, for those children in need at USD 345. We make it a competition between KU and KSU fans at our church.
This year, KSU was the victor, collecting 1160 pairs of socks. KU fans donated 254 undies of all kids’ sizes to the cause.
We also meet occasionally to help organize the clothing area at the resource room.
Stuff the Bus/Back to School Bash
Have you noticed the school bus parked in the Walmart North parking lot this last week in July? USD 345 is hoping to gather school supplies for the needy before the Back-to-School Bash on Aug. 6.
Our congregation and Vacation Bible School campers made it their project to fill that bus. The congregation donated over 50 full-size backpacks to the cause. Each bag got an inspirational book tag attached.
VBS and congregation members then brought in supplies throughout the month to help those who may need it before the start of school.
All of our supplies will be given away on Aug. 6 at the Back-to-School Bash at Logan Elementary from 4:30 – 6 p.m.
Right before school starts, we help with the “Back to School” Bash at USD 345. The church collects school supplies and backpacks for the event, then church members assist with distribution.
Ukrainian bike drive
This is Rymma, new to Topeka from the Ukraine. She has received a ‘new’ bike from PHUMC members. After a bike is donated, it goes through a bike inspection for safety before going to its new home .
Topeka has a large contingency of Ukrainian immigrants who have transplanted here since war began in their country. We keep in touch with Topekans who help to house these people. They inform us about new families coming to Topeka and their needs. One of our favorite projects is to watch sales for bicycles of all sizes for all ages. For many, this is the only form of transportation, so finding a family a bike gives independence. After we find the bicycles, they are taken to a bike mechanic who ensures the bike is safe for use. Then they go to happy new owners –sometimes kids, sometimes adults — in their new home in America.
Garage Sale
Pleasant Hill UMC had its second garage sale this fall, Sept. 12-14. Members cleaned out closets, basements, garages and brought their treasures to the church for the church to sell. We raised almost $3000 for our future mission projects.
Bags of Hope
For the holidays, many of our teams come together for the “Keep Hope Alive” night at Pleasant Hill UMC. The Mission team contribution is the creation of Bags of Hope. These 50 bags of essentials are then given to people at the Topeka Rescue Mission. We all gather on this one night to pack our red bags.
Kelly, Barb and Gary present the 50 Bags of Hope to the TRM.
Alpha Christian Children’s Home
We work with the Alpha Christian Children’s home outside of Perry, KS to help the children who live there. This year, we collected donations to buy the kids gift cards for experiences. Their director thought this would be a wonderful way for the kids and their home caregivers to bond, so PHUMC provided gift certificates for activities like movies, bowling, pizza so the whole crew could create memories.