By Darlene Thomas
Shiremanstown United Methodist Church (SUMC) just celebrated seven years of their HANDS & FEET ministry. Over these seven years, we have completed over 300 projects and served over 100 households in the surrounding area.
Hands and Feet volunteers are comprised of not just members of SUMC but include youth and adults from several area churches. They meet monthly on a designated Saturday and form teams comprised of adults and youth to serve the community. The workday starts with a hot breakfast for the volunteers, followed by a worship service to help us focus on why God has called us into missions.
The projects are identified through various referral sources and each site is assessed for viability prior to the workday by our Sites Manager. Materials, tools and supplies are organized ahead of time, so each team is ready for work at the beginning of the day. Each team has a lead who is experienced in the Hands & Feet procedures. Various leadership team members visit the sites throughout the day to ensure the teams have what they need and do any trouble shooting needed. We undertake projects such as: painting, yard work, repair, clean up/organization, small construction, etc.
We feel the work is important; however, we know God calls to each of these homes for a purpose that sometimes isn’t visible to the human eye. We trust God has us there for a reason! Building relationships with the people we serve is part of what God calls us to do. We invite them to share lunch with us and have a devotional during that time. This is a wonderful time of fellowship for the team and the neighbor they serve.
If your church is within the local community of SUMC, we invite you to join us on an upcoming Saturday. Adults and youth are welcome!
If you know of someone who could use our help, and they are within approx. 20-30 minutes drive of SUMC, please contact us. We would love to show God’s love to these neighbors.
If your church is outside of our designated radius and you are interested in starting up a similar ministry, we would be happy to share our processes to help you build a similar ministry in your area.
We look forward to being in service with your church in whatever capacity God has planned! There is plenty of need in this hurting world. Won’t you partner with us to serve others and share God’s love??
For more information, contact: Darlene Thomas, Director Hands & Feet at gabrielt0303@gmail.com or call Shiremanstown UMC at 717-737-6621.
This ministry is a certified Volunteers in Mission (VIM) ministry recognized by the Susquehanna Conference. Leadership positions of the ministry participated in VIM training several years ago and we report our monthly workday information to the conference for record keeping.
