❤️🩹 Hurricane Helene Special Offering - Our October Mission of the Month
We have two special opportunities for our October Mission of the Month - both supporting our region’s Hurricane Helene recovery efforts, including a Special offering for Hurricane Helene Relief through the Western North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church and opportunities to Support the Food Pantry at Ebbs Chapel in partnership with our sister church Bright Hope Laurel United Methodist Church.
For other Hurricane Helene relief information and local resources, please visit marshillumcnc.org/helene.
Special Offering for Hurricane Helene Relief
Our Bishop, Ken Carter has called for a Special Offering to be collected in local churches on Sunday, October 6 for the disaster response from Hurricane Helene. We have made this offering part of Our October Mission of the Month.
100% of the funds collected will go relief efforts right here in Western North Carolina. Thank you for coming together to help our siblings in Christ!
How to Give
You may give to the special offering online or make your check payable to Mars Hill UMC and mark Hurricane Relief in the Memo line.
Support the Ebbs Chapel Food Pantry
Located in the heart of green rolling hills of Madison County, the Upper Laurel Food Pantry Program strives to reach the county population’s fourteen percent, including over 3,000 children, who are food insecure. Not knowing if and when you’ll eat again leads to an avalanche of health issues and impedes the ability to concentrate and recovery from the devastating impacts of Hurricane Helene. In the aftermath of the storm, the food pantry has extended its hours Monday through Friday from 9 am until 5 pm and Saturday from 9 am until 11 am rain or shine, church and community volunteers staff the food pantry distributing food donated by church and community members, The Lord’s Harvest and others. All are welcome to visit the pantry site adjacent to the Ebbs Chapel Community Center behind our church. Volunteers also deliver food to needy families throughout the county.
How to Give and Volunteer
If you wish to contribute to the Food Pantry, please make a check payable to Mars Hill UMC and include Ebbs Chapel Food Pantry in the memo line. Volunteers are needed daily for the next week or more. Please call Bright Hope Laurel UMC to sign up at (828) 689-5486
A Prayer for the People of Western North Carolina
O God, we place our trust in you.
As the wind and rain has passed through the mountains
of Western North Carolina, we name before you
those whose lives have been devastated.
We especially remember those who have lost so much,
those with the fewest options, the most vulnerable.
Draw near to those who are the most exposed,
the most frightened, the most overwhelmed.
Hold space for a stillness and a peace even in the midst of the storm.
O God, we place our trust in you.
In the aftermath of ravaging wind and surging flood,
inspire those who give themselves for others.
Let that work be done justly, wisely, safely, generously.
Help us to turn toward one another in our need.
Strengthen our bonds of connection and love for each other.
O God, we place our trust in you,
and we say these words in the strong name of Jesus.
Amen.
In Christ,
+Ken Carter
Resident Bishop, Western North Carolina Conference of The United Methodist Church