news article

Offering back-to-school support at Massena First UMC

September 23, 2024 / By Kathy Perry / .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

The Massena First United Methodist has been involved in a community program for approximately 20 years.  The program offers a hot nutritious dinner on Thursday evenings for anyone who wishes to have a meal.  We currently serve approximately 150 meals per week, all prepared and served by volunteers.  

As we got to know our guests, we realized that many of them needed help with personal care, household cleaning, and paper supplies.  We started a program called "We Care" where members of our congregation donate items to the program that we can give out to those who need them.  We currently respond to about 15 requests per month for items which we stock in our hall.   

As the opening of school was fast approaching, we realized that many of our guests were not able to provide items that their children needed to start school.  So, we expanded our program, with donations from our congregation, to include school supplies.  We provided information to those at our meal and received requests from approximately 15 children for items needed for school.   

This has been a way for us to give back to our community at the start of an exciting school year for children.  This has been a highly successful addition to our program, and we intend to continue it for the future so that as additional supplies are needed by the families that come to our meal, we will be able to meet those needs.  What a blessing it has been for our congregation to assist in making the opening of school experience more exciting with new school supplies.