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“For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.”
Matthew 25:35-36 Our Outreach Team takes the ministries of Bethany UMC beyond the grounds of the church. We give attention to local and outlying communities with ministries of compassion, justice, and advocacy. Some of the organizations we support include: James Island Outreach Food Pantry, Epworth Children’s Home, Native American Ministries, Back Pack Buddies, Reading Partners with Angel Oak Elementary, Hygiene Kits for the Homeless, and Community Disaster Relief.
James Island Outreach
Bethany partners with many other churches on James Island to support the work of James Island Outreach, a community focused ministry of crisis relief and ongoing assistance which supports those most in need on James Island. In support of JIO, we are currently seeking donations of canned vegetables, such as Lima beans, peas of any kind, mixed vegetables, carrots, potatoes, collard greens, turnip greens, and beets for James Island Outreach*. Please contact Terry Gemmill, Outreach Ministries Team Leader, through the church office for specific information about the types and quantities of canned vegetables needed at this time. 
Epworth Resource Closet
Bethany UMC now serves as a regional Resource Closet to foster care/adoptive families of Epworth Children’s Home. Our service area includes the Sea Islands, Hollywood, West Ashley, Mount Pleasant, and surrounding communities. Our closet provides children's clothing (elementary aged new or gently used clothes and gift cards for teens to purchase clothes), bedding, toiletries, school supplies, and other items to Epworth's foster/adoptive families in our area. We currently have no need for donations. Our companion Resource Closet is in Summerville at Stallsville UMC. Epworth Children’s Home Established in the late 1800s, Epworth is a private child and family service organization operated by the United Methodist Church, licensed by the SC Department of Social Services, recognized as a 501(c)(3) private, child and family service organization, and a member of the United Methodist Association of Health & Welfare Ministries. Back Pack Buddies Back Pack Buddies mission is to supply nutritious weekend snacks to the food-insecure elementary school children living below the poverty line at all James Island public schools. Volunteers pack 100 to 160 bags weekly in coordination with several other James Island churches. Reading Partners Reading Partners is a volunteer literacy assistance organization that helps thousands of children master the fundamental reading skills they need to succeed in school and beyond. Bethany is currently partnered with Angel Oak Elementary School on Johns Island. Hygiene Kits for the Homeless We package Hygiene Kits to provide assistance to the homeless with daily personal care and grooming. The bags are delivered for distribution at the Charleston UMC District Office. Please contact Terry Gemmill, Outreach Ministries Team Leader, through the church office with your interest in serving communities surrounding Bethany Church.
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Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church
Since The Advance, an accountable, designated giving arm of the United Methodist Church, was founded in 1948, more than $1.6 billion has been contributed to missionaries and mission projects. With hundreds of giving opportunities from which to choose, each donor can support ministry initiatives that align with his or her passion and calling.
Traveling to Senegal, in the mid-1990s, I witnessed firsthand the miracle of The Advance. Our United Methodist Communications video crew visited a small village where, 10 years earlier, people had gone hungry because of extreme drought.
Since then, UMCOR had planted dozens of fast-growing, drought-resistant moringa trees, and the water table had changed. A long line of trees towered over the now-verdant village. Crops and livestock flourished, adults went happily about their daily tasks and children laughed and played.
As we entered the village, the chief welcomed us. He expressed gratitude and joy that because of generous gifts to The Advance, people in his little village had big hopes for the future. Thank you!
-- Barbara Dunlap-Berg, freelance writer and editor, retired from UMCom
Traveling to Senegal, in the mid-1990s, I witnessed firsthand the miracle of The Advance. Our United Methodist Communications video crew visited a small village where, 10 years earlier, people had gone hungry because of extreme drought.
Since then, UMCOR had planted dozens of fast-growing, drought-resistant moringa trees, and the water table had changed. A long line of trees towered over the now-verdant village. Crops and livestock flourished, adults went happily about their daily tasks and children laughed and played.
As we entered the village, the chief welcomed us. He expressed gratitude and joy that because of generous gifts to The Advance, people in his little village had big hopes for the future. Thank you!
-- Barbara Dunlap-Berg, freelance writer and editor, retired from UMCom