Outreach

September Missions Offering

Our September donation will support the Personal Needs Closet which provides cleaning supplies, paper products and toiletries to individuals in need. These are available on the 2nd Tuesday 1-3pm and the 4th Saturday 9-11am. Financial donations and items including shampoo/conditioner, toothpaste/ brushes, feminine products, diapers/wipes, adult disposable underwear, body wash/soap, deodorant/lotion, liquid hand soap, dishwashing soap, disinfectant cleaners, laundry soap, paper products, and shaving products are accepted.

Remember that the Mission Offering must be clearly marked. Either write a note on your check or use the brown envelopes in the back of the pew. Just loose change in the offering plate will not go to the monthly offering.

Our Vision: Led by God to change lives and transform the world.

Fair Trade - Equal Exchange Coffee. This is a small gesture you can make to provide fair wages to coffee, tea, and cocoa producers throughout the world. It can be your personal mission project!
 
Tanzanian Jubilee Coffee and Café’ Salvador are regular drip grind coffee and are the most popular. Decaf, drip grind, organic whole bean and flavored coffees are available also, as are organic hot cocoa mix and herbal/organic tea. Supplies are in the cupboard next to the fireplace in the parlor.

Regular ground - $8
Whole bean - $8
Ground flavored - $9
All decaf - $9
All teas - $4
Hot Chocolate - $6
Organic very dark Chocolate bars - $3
 
To purchase take your product, place the money (check or cash) in a brown envelope (in the cupboard) and put the envelope in the drop slot near the church office.

 

 

 

Newsletter

We would like to fill up the pages of our newsletter. If there is an event, celebration or piece of news you would like to share, please call the office at 715-842-2201 or email joan@fumcwausau.org

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Supplies to Help Refugees at Fort McCoy

To help our Afghan Allies as they go through processing at Fort McCoy, they need these items:

- Yoga mats (for sleeping)
- Rain Ponchos (all sizes)
- Underwear (new, all sizes/ages)
- Socks (new, all sizes/ages)
- Baby Onesies
- Sweat pants (all sizes/ages)

Doris Fountain will be receiving and storing donations at her house, then delivering them to Fort McCoy on Saturday, September 11 with help from her daughter, Sheryl Del Conte. Please call Doris with any questions at 715-551-5733. Drop off donations by Sept. 10 at: 1516 Burek Ave., Wausau, WI 54401

Refugee Resettlement Update

It has been heart wrenching for all of us to watch the evacuations of thousands of Afghan refugees along with Americans. No matter what our opinions are regarding the time and money the US spent over there the past 20 years, we can agree that God is calling us to honor our commitment to provide safe refuge for Afghans who risked their lives to help our troops and country as translators, guards, guides, educators, etc.

Just two weeks before Kabul fell and mass evacuations began, the US Dept. of State told the Immigration Directors of every state that all new refugee resettlement sites (like Wausau) would have a 6 month period starting in October 2021 to build infrastructure in our community to ensure long-term success in welcoming and retaining refugees. That means we'd need to wait until April 2022 before our first refugees would come. I certainly understand and support the rationale, but also wrestle with the need for humanitarian urgency.

Then on Aug. 25, I got an urgent call to join an emergency zoom meeting with 50 leaders and site directors from across the country who work for the ECDC resettlement agency. The US State Dept. needed urgent input as to how many of our Afghan allies could be resettled by all nine national resettlement agencies within the next 3-6 weeks. They didn't know if Wausau (and another new site in VT) would be needed to step up quickly, but the Immigration Director in WI said that I should move forward with finding out how many households (with an average of 5 people) Wausau could sponsor on short notice. The Zoom meeting ended at 4:30 pm, and the US Dept. of State needed to get a commitment from each city by 1 pm the next day.

I quickly emailed this update and urgent request to the growing list of city and faith leaders I've gotten to know. By 8 am, there were already 12 sponsorship groups committing to raise $1500-3500 (depending on family size), find and furnish an apartment/home, and work to help refugee families get assimilated in all aspects of work, school, health, language, and culture. However, I also got an email early that morning explaining that the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (a division of the US State Dept.) decided they did NOT need new sites like Wausau to be part of the Afghan Ally program after all Apparently, all the existing agencies and sites had committed to enough capacity to resettle our Afghan Allies, so that is reassuring.

After emailing leaders once again with this news, someone wisely replied, "That was a successful fire drill!". It certainly was, as it showed everyone the ability our churches and city have to quickly respond with compassion and commitment. It also brought forward many individuals with a variety of talents and time who are eager to help build our infrastructure. I've been the de facto coordinator and have been eager to pass on these responsibilities to a new Site Director once they're hired. One person I met through this "fire drill" is Gwen Paul, who was raised in Wausau and moved away for college and a career working in ministry with refugees in Burundi, the Congo, and most recently Lancaster, PA.  She and her husband moved back to Wausau this spring, knowing they still had a call to work with refugees and not understanding why God was calling them back to a city where there were no refugees to resettle. After sharing the story of how and when this all got started (at the same time they moved here), she offered to become the interim coordinator until the new Site Director is hired and trained. Her gifts and experience are a great blessing and relief to me as I pass her the baton, and will really help prepare Wausau in a way that I didn't have the time or knowledge to do. It's important that we stay flexible yet prepared throughout this process. We don't know for sure which country we'll be getting refugees from, but we can pray and trust God to send us people from a culture that will help strengthen everyone in various ways. We don't know for sure when they'll come, but we can pray and trust God to provide us with the right housing, furnishings, and resources needed to help a family feel welcomed and loved. Please join with me in praying for refugees awaiting safe placement, for our government to make wise decisions for the timing and placement of refugees, for ECDC to establish Wausau as a strong resettlement site, for Gwen Paul and all the gifted and committed leaders who have emerged, and for our community to truly understand and welcome refugees with compassion and connection.

Pastor Rebecca

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UMW New Mission Project

Now that the Warming Center is closing for the season, UMW will continue its meal mission at Open Door. We'll make sandwiches once a week for its clients. If you can help or want additional information, please call Barbara Ritchie at 1-715-205-4622. Thank you, FUMC for your support!
 

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