Kosovo! 1060 Feet! A Church! Mansfield Massachusetts!

What do all of these have in common? Believe it or not Shoes!! The news is filled with stories and pictures from Iraq and Afghanistan. But for nearly ten years we’ve been fighting another war. US troops serving thousands of miles from home for nearly ten years somehow we almost never hear about, for the most part we have forgotten them. However what is even sadder are the people of Kosovo that we have forgotten. Good news is that our service men and women haven’t forgotten the people of Kosovo especially the children

The YMCA of Norton connected local people with men and woman serving in Kosovo, through Adopt a Soldier Project, which connected Kim Whynacht of Norton Massachusetts and Faith Fellowship United Methodist Church of Mansfield Massachusetts. The idea of this project was to “help the service men and women deal with the separation by giving support to the soldiers and their families.” However! The soldiers had other ideas.

Kim Whynacht and Faith Fellowship United Methodist Church (FFUMC) adopted SPC Guido Alberoni Fermin, and family of Haverhill, MA. In addition to sending support items to Alberorni, Kim and the Church sent Birthday, & Christmas gifts to his four children and his wife, and sent out packages to his children on Holidays, (like Halloween, Thanksgiving, Easter etc). SPC Guido Alberoni Fermin is serving with Task Force PATRIOT

Things changed in the end of May, Alberoni emailed Kim “that the children of the village he was in needed shoes.” Kim rallied the Church in the first week of June and started to collect shoes for the children in Kosovo. Seeing that the need of the children overseas was urgent, Kim contacted the office of Rev. Gary Shaw. District Superintend of the Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts (RISEM) District of the United Methodist Church. The RISEM District office contacted the seventy United Methodist Churches in the district to help collect some shoes.

Shoes started to come in from all over the district, from Northern Rhode Island to the tip of Cape Cod. By the middle of July the first shipment of shoes was mailed. For the next two months the flow of shoes coming in never seemed to stop. In addition to the shoes and socks, the church also sent a couple of boxes of school supplies to the children, (the YMCA collected the supplies and sent them). Mid September was the cut off for collecting shoes, when the last box was packed and mailed the church had collected and mailed 530 pairs of shoes to one village in Kosovo. That’s 1060 Happy FEET!!!.

Reaching out is not hard, It just takes one step, “the first step”.

This project shows how simple we can change the world, make an impact, and most importantly share Jesus and His Teachings with the world.

For more information go to the following websites;
Task Force PATRIOT http://kfor8.com/

The Village in Kosovo http://afreditaschool.webeden.co.uk/
Faith Fellowship UMC http://www.gbgm-umc.org/faithfellowshipumc
11th Hour Church Ministry http://11thhourchurchturnaround.blogspot.com/
UMC of New England http://www.neumc.org/

A Christmas Pondering from Pastor David

A Christmas Pondering from Pastor David

Over the next few days we will be gathering with Family, Friends, Loved Ones, Neighbors and Strangers for the Christmas Holiday, Wishing everyone we meet a “Merry Christmas”.

But what is a “Merry Christmas”?

Is it just that time of year that we boost the Nation’s economy? Or perhaps giving expensive gifts to family and friends, trying to make up for the time we haven’t spent with them?

Is it just that time of year that we remember our childhoods? Or perhaps trying to fix our childhood wrongs?

Is it just that time of year that we are kind to strangers? Or perhaps justifying the times we did not the notice the stranger?

Is it just that time of year that we send food to the hungry? Or perhaps feeling guilty for all the times we never thought about their hunger?

Is it just that time of year that we remember a poor child in a make shift bed on a cold night? Or perhaps another time we forget about the homeless and fatherless children of the world?

Merry Christmas is really about, Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love.
It is that time of year that we realize that we too are Homeless and Fatherless, Hungry, a Stranger, a Sinner, and Forgotten. For without that Great Expensive Gift, “a poor child in a make shift bed on a cold night” there is no Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love.

Jesus is Christmas.

Merry Christmas!!
Pastor David A Arruda