Outreach and Missions Ministry
We envision PUMC to be known for making a difference locally in our community, in our country, and across the world. Our outreach activities (and monetary gifts) will provide opportunities for anyone and everyone in our congregation to be able to put their Faith in Action and feel the joy of making a difference by serving others, in the name of Jesus. Our support goes to the organizations listed below and more! Learn more about our Faith in Action below & the organizations we support by clicking on the "more information" button under each organization.
Faith in Action
PUMP is a non-profit, Christian preschool that is located in the Penfield United Methodist Church. We provide a developmentally appropriate program where a child can grow spiritually, emotionally, socially, academically and physically. Click on the link above to visit our site or contact us by phone at (585) 381-3190.
Mothers In Need of Others (MINO) is a ministry that collects donations — maternity and baby items and cleaning products — and redistributes them to social service agencies and church outreach programs who work with parents and children who need them most in the Rochester community.
MINO provides these programs with new and gently-used items FREE OF CHARGE to help ease the stress on single parents and guardians enabling tight budgets stretch further as they struggle to raise their families.
ESWA has provided benefit programs of emergency food, clothing, legal advice, preventive medical and dental care and more since 1976. ESWA is the independent, all volunteer association of service workers and other low-income workers allied with concerned citizens who have joined together to fight to change the desperate conditions of poverty that low-paid workers face. Our church has supplied school supplies each fall to support the families along with clothing for both children and adults. The WINGS Small Group sponsors a collection of new socks to donate to ESW each fall.
Flower City Work Camp is a program where teenagers in grades 7-12 spend their Spring Break helping others in the Rochester community. In 2022 it will be celebrating it’s 35th year of teenagers volunteering to help others. The next camp will run April 18-22, 2022.
Students provide labor and materials for home improvements, working at a worksite in someone’s home, at an agency, at basketball or soccer camp, or at a sidewalk club, all focused on fellowship and joy. Over 700 teenagers attend Flower City Work Camp each year. The number of students and adult volunteers willing to give up their Spring Break and help others is amazing.
A coalition of churches from Penfield, Webster, and East Rochester supports Flower City Habitat for Humanity by financing and constructing homes for low income homeowners in Rochester. The Penfield Coalition of churches continues with its goal of funding a new house build for Habitat for Humanity every two years. PUMC supports fundraising efforts including used clothing sales, garage sales, plant sales, pie sales, and church contributions.
Located in East Rochester, The Margaret Home is a residential empowerment program that revives hope for mothers who maintain a limited or broken support network and who struggle with the often-invisible wounds of
trauma.
Dedicated to serving women through all stages of pregnancy and early motherhood, we provide healing and unconditional love in a comfortable home and caring communal environment that nurtures an empowered spirit and a healthy lifestyle.
For each of the mothers, they create a self-directed action plan along with the structure and resources to enable the achievement of personal, educational and professional goals that can lead to independence for a woman and her family.
We have developed a supportive relationship with Pastor Michael Masembe in Mpigi, Ugands. Pastor Michael and his wife, Juliet, run a school and an orphanage; many of their students are orphans of AIDS victims. Through the support of PUMC, their school has grown from 205 children to nearly 400 children and they have 12 formally trained staff plus their head master. In 2011, we started a new program, Child Assist – Uganda, to support Pastor Michael’s children who cannot afford to go to their school. It is a privilege to provide support to such a wonderful and thankful community, led by a faithful servant of God.
Our Child Assist Campaign is in it’s 15th year – WOW – and it has had an amazing impact on so many lives! The pledge made by church members is $15 per month per child and provides support for their daily living needs, beds, blankets, food, mosquito nets, shoes, scholastic materials, etc.
The Wish Upon a Star program is a blessing to all that it serves. The program provides gifts to those in need at Christmastime, given to them out of love for Jesus Christ.
The gifts make it possible for Eastern Service Workers Association (ESWA) to be able to fill the requests for gifts that they receive. In some cases, our gifts will be the only gifts these children will receive at Christmas.
Church members pick one or more stars and purchase the gift each child would like, which are delivered to ESWA for distribution to families in the program.
Red Bird Mission is located in Beverly, Kentucky and is one of the 3 missionary United Methodist conferences in the US. This outreach is sponsored by the United Methodist Church and has provided ministries in the Appalachian Mountains region since 1921.
Today, the need remains critical in this isolated, rural, distressed area. Chronic poverty, lack of jobs, poor housing, and rugged mountainous terrain provide obstacles to a fuller life for the residents of this area. Red Bird Mission strives to meet these needs through ministry in 5 areas: Education, Health & Wellness, Community Outreach, Economic Opportunity, and Community Housing Improvement.
Each fall, church members fill shoeboxes for men, women and children with personal hygiene items, mittens/gloves, socks, small toys; etc. Shoeboxes filled with these goods, can help address the needs of Health & Wellness and Community Outreach. At the conclusion of the drive, we take our shoeboxes to the missions hub located in Syracuse. From there, each year our Upper New York Conference delivers truckloads of filled shoeboxes from all over NY state for distribution to people in need through Red Bird Mission.
The mission of the Penfield Ecumenical Food Shelf (PEFS) is to alleviate food insecurity in the community by providing nutritious food to those in need with a compassionate, respectful and non-judgmental manner.
PUMC supports the Food Shelf through weekly contributions of nonperishable food brought to our church each Sunday, financial contributions, quarterly paper towel collection and volunteering. There are special donation collections to support the summer food program for children and holiday dinners for families.
In addition the the above missions & outreach programs, PUMC sponsors several other events throughout the year:
- Winter Clothing Collections for Afghan Resettlement Refugees
- Tamale Benefit for ESW
- Undies Sundays (April)
- School Supplies Drive (July/Aug)
- Terrific Treasures Sale
- Vacation Bible School Noisy Offering
- Tweens Soup Sale
- UMW/Keenagers Christmas Gift Bag project