Church forms partnerships for mission
By Melissa Lauber
UMConnection Staff
Ask and you shall receive” is a simple Gospel promise, but at Mt. Olive UMC in Randallstown, it’s opening up new possibilities for mission and partnership. It started last year, when Houston,
Florida and Puerto Rico were slammed by hurricanes. The Rev. Sheridan Allmond, pastor at Mt. Olive, asked the youth leader, Cynthia Taylor, about the church’s youth group assembling and contributing cleaning buckets to the disaster victims through the United Methodist Committee
on Relief. The supplies totaled more than $65 per bucket, so Cynthia stopped by her local Home Depot store and asked if they would be interested in donating large orange buckets. That store gave her a gift card. She then asked at another nearby Home Depot, in Owings Mills, and that’s when all her expectations began to be exceeded.
The manager, Mike Weaver, said he could provide 100 buckets. He also was curious about what more the church might need. Taylor shared about how Mt. Olive’s feeding programs could benefit from a self-defrosting freezer. The manager came out to the church to learn more.
He helped Taylor fill out a grant application and a relationship started. The grant included LED lights and closets to replace the cabinets in the food pantry.
In keeping with their corporate philosophy, the Home Depot Foundation also suggested that some of their employees could assist with the work in the pantry.
“We began to realize when you’re doing something positive, there are people who want to help you do it,” Taylor said.
The grant was approved in about three weeks and Allmond and Taylor headed to Home Depot to pick out the new freezer.
Allmond said that this contribution and new partnership will enhance the church’s Loaves and Fishes ministry, which serves about 50 individuals and families each month, and its Community Meal.
The meal, which is held each month, serves an average of 100 children and adults.
Home Depot “challenged us to look beyond our goals to see what is possible with their assistance. Our collaboration with them is continuing and their impact will be felt for many years to come,” Allmond said.
But the impact is not just felt on the receiving end, the pastor noted. It also brings to the church members and others who volunteer a “sense of gratitude and the grace of God that comes with being of service that cannot be measured.”
Watching people awaken to the spiritual gifts that come with giving emboldened Taylor to continue to ask.
To fill the buckets, she completed online grant applications for Wegmans and other area stores. Wegmans contributed a gift card that was used to purchase needed items.
Monahan’s Pub, a local restaurant, pledged to provide lunch food for future projects.
The Rev. Fred Sipes, who chairs the Baltimore-Washington Conference Disaster Response Team, came to Mt. Olive to teach the church about the connectional system and how they are in partnership with thousands of other United Methodists responding to natural disasters.
The youth had the supplies to complete 21 buckets, with almost all of the $1,300 in the required supplies donated by local stores, church members and other individuals. The remainder of the buckets and supplies were donated to Sipes, who will use them at one of the BWC’s three disaster relief supply hubs.
While the church is very mission-minded, these partnerships are beginning to expand their ideas of what is possible, said Taylor, who also serves as the secretary of the Baltimore-Washington Conference.
From their experiences, Taylor and Allmond offer several words of advice to others seeking to create partnerships.
Most important, said Taylor, is to ask in person. Don’t rely on letters or email. She learned that many companies have online grant applications.
Also, Allmond advised, “Don’t limit the number of organizations or businesses you reach out to. You never know who will be willing to assist. Some organizations require more information and time to respond than others. Consider collaborations that bear long-term fruit, not just your immediate needs.”
“When I’m working with a purpose,” Taylor said, “especially a purpose like serving God, it emboldens you. Just ask.”