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Children's HomeThe Florida United Methodist Children’s Home is a diverse ministry that includes residential care, therapeutic group care, foster care, emergency shelter care, independent living assistance, and community child care center. Childern placed at the Children’s Home often come from broken homes and backgrounds of severe abuse and neglect. The dedicated professionals of the Children’s Home provide 24 hour care to help children begin a journey of healing.
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Ocala West United Methodist Church strongly supports the work of the Children’s Home through financial gifts and through individual members helping serve and work at the Children’s Home. You can help support the Children’s Home through our Fifth Sunday Offerings, when the Children’s Home is a Mission of the Month throughout the year, and Christmas Eve. Our entire Christmas Eve offering goes to support the good work of the Children’s Home.
UMCORDue to the significant disasters in the U.S. and world, tornados, floods, hurricanes and all the suffering survivors, the mission of the month for December is UMCOR.
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UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to alleviating human suffering around the globe. UMCOR is active in over 80 countries, including the USA. UMCOR provides humanitarian relief when disasters, either natural or man-made affect a community’s ability to recover on their own.
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InterfaithInterfaith Emergency Servcies provides a full range of services and assistance for residence of Marion County. In 1983, the religious pastoral community in Marion County saw a need to provide emergency assistant to individual and families in crisis.
Today, Ocala West supports the work of Interfaith through volunteers, food and financial support. The non-perishable food items are collected the first Sunday of each month. You may donate these non-perishable food items each Sunday in the wooden bin marked “Interfaith,” as you enter the front doors of the Sanctuary. |
Back Pack ProgramThe Hamett Bown Jr. Elementary School Back Pack Program affords local residents the opportunity to make a genuine difference in a homeless /needy child’s life, by donating new school supplies, children’s clothes, shoes, personal hygiene items, and financial contributions.
The donated suppplies are distributed by the Homeless Children Program to the guidance offices at each school to meet the needs of our students attending those schools. This keeps all donations local and makes distribution more efficient. |
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Stuff the BusOperation: Stuff the Bus is a Marion County campaign making a genuine difference in a homeless /needy child’s life, by donating new school supplies, children’s clothes, shoes, personal hygiene items, and financial contributions.
The donated supplies are distributed by the Homeless Children Program to the guidance offices at each school to meet the needs of our students attending those schools. This keeps all donations local and makes distribution more efficient |
Each year, Ocala West United Methodist Church supports “Stuff the Bus” for our Hammett Bowen Elementary School. Make sure your watching the Sunday Bulletin and monthly Newsletter about how you can sign up and participate in this life changing opportunity.
Rise Against HungerStop Hunger Now is driven by the vision of a world without hunger. Their mission is to end hunger in our lifetime by providing food and life changing aid to the world’s most vulnerable and creating a global commitment to mobilize the necessary resources.
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In April 2019, Ocala West held a Rise Against Hunger Meal Packing Event. In just over an hour and a half, more than 100 participants packed over 20,000 meals. Watch your Bulletin and Newsletters for more information about the next event!
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Operation Christmas ChildOperation Christmas Child provides shoe-boxes filled with items needed by childern around the world. A shoebox is filled with items such as toothbrushes, paper, pens and pencils, clothes, and a fun toy. Most important, Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes provide a great opportunity to share the gift of salvation found in Jesus Christ
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Operation Christmas Child begins at Ocala West in September as we invite everyone to bring different items each week. For example, one week may be paper and pencils and another week would be toothbrushes. Then, in October we have a packing party where we pack hundreds of shoeboxes with the items donated throughout September. But the fun doesn’t end at the packing party.
Throughout October, Shoeboxes are available for individual and families to pack their own Operation Christmas Child Shoebox. Finally, all the packed boxes are brought into the Sanctuary in mid-November to be prayed for by the congregation. On this Sunday, we ask God to bless each child who receives a Shoebox and – most importantly – that each child may hear and receive the Good News of Salvation found in Jesus Christ.
Throughout October, Shoeboxes are available for individual and families to pack their own Operation Christmas Child Shoebox. Finally, all the packed boxes are brought into the Sanctuary in mid-November to be prayed for by the congregation. On this Sunday, we ask God to bless each child who receives a Shoebox and – most importantly – that each child may hear and receive the Good News of Salvation found in Jesus Christ.