Parkwood United Methodist Women – March News
The Parkwood UMW met on February 28 in the Fellowship Hall at PUMC. President Susan Oglesby welcomed the twenty-one women attending. She opened our meeting with a prayer. As always, the members took a few minutes to share joys and to report on health concerns as well as improving conditions. Correspondence from our youth, the Methodist Home for Children, and Edna Walker was circulated. Minutes and treasurer’s reports from the January meeting were presented and accepted.
Natalie presented the Response moment using an article from a recent Response magazine. The article was about Albemarle County in Virginia. This county is the location of Charlottesville and is one of the wealthiest counties in Virginia. At the same time 21% of its resident live below the poverty level. There are United Methodist women and Methodist congregations at work trying to help feed and shelter their neighbors in need. Among the programs in place are shelters that rotate among the churches, a
back pack food program, and weekly distribution of groceries. The food box program began twenty-five years ago as a monthly distribution and has grown to weekly distribution. All the projects Natalie reported were started as UMW efforts to help their local community.
The program this month was the annual “Call to Prayer and Self Denial.” Pam Skidmore led the program on financial literacy. Included in the program were facts about today’s cost of living and the debt that quickly builds through use of credit cards, home mortgages, auto loans, and educational expenses.
We were reminded of John Wesley’s “earn all you can, save all you can, and give all you can.” The offering collected during the program will be forwarded as designated funds to support financial literacy training programs of the UMW.
During the business portion of our meeting, Jan presented an update on the reception/dinner policy for PUMW. Betty and Pam are also working on this committee. Members agreed to help with the coordination and preparation of upcoming receptions. The receptions are not fundraisers, but a reception ministry.
Plans were made for the Irish dinner to be served on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17 following the worship service. This will be a fundraiser to support PUMW projects this year. Our March meeting will be held on the third Thursday, March 21, because the fourth Thursday is Maundy Thursday. The meeting will be at 7:00 pm at PUMC.
