What do we do?

Health Kits – Toiletries are collected for migrants and other people in need.  We are currently collecting items for the kits and will do so throughout the year.  The collection boxes are set up in the Fellowship Hall. 

Crop Walk – Neighbors walk together to raise funds to combat world hunger and to raise awareness and funds for international relief and development. Twenty-five percent of the funds raised serve hunger relief needs in our local community. MLCC hosts the Miami Lakes Crop Walk annually in February.  We are always looking for walkers and sponsors. 

VITAS HOSPICE
This organization strives to preserve the quality of life for terminal patients.

Several of our church members volunteer to work in the office or make quilts for the patients.  Vitas is always looking for volunteers to perform any number of tasks.

CHURCH WORLD SERVICES (CWS)

CWS is the relief, development and refugee assistance ministry of 35 Protestant, Orthodox and Anglican denominations in the United States including the UCC.  Working in partnership with indigenous organizations in more than 80 countries, CWS works worldwide to meet human needs and foster self-reliance in poor countries.  Within the United States, Church World Service assists communities in responding to disasters, resettles refugees, promotes fair national and international policies, provides educational resources, and offers opportunities to join a people-to-people network of local and global caring through participation in
CROP Hunger Walks, the Tools & Blankets Program, and CWS Kits Program.

The mission life of our church-what we refer to as Christian Outreach- is spearheaded by our Board of Christian Outreach. The board has five members, along with a board chair and is elected (or re-elected) every year at the Annual Meeting of our congregation.

The role of the Board of Christian Outreach is to find ways to utilize the resources of MLCC to assist our neighbors in need both locally and globally.  The Board works with a number of organizations to accomplish this goal…

The board coordinates the church's financial support of the four annual mission offerings of the United Church of Christ. These special offerings are:

One Great Hour of Sharing
Strengthen the Church
Neighbors in Need
Christmas Fund

Child Sponsorship Program
Connecting to the world through a CHILD

During the month of MAY, our Board of Christian Outreach is promoting the Child Sponsorship Program, a program of GLOBAL MINISTRIES, part of the Wider Church Ministries of the United Church of Christ.

The Child Sponsorship Program invites us, as individuals and as a church, to sponsor any number of children for a period of one year. The sponsorship is $25 per month, per child.

Our Board of Christian Outreach is recommending that we sponsor four children, from four distinct parts of the world, each of whom is in an at risk life situation. Our donations support the important services provided by the partnering institutions that work with Global Ministries on these programs.

For those wishing to participate in this important mission outreach, we are asking that you make contributions of $25 (which supports one child for one month) per month, over whatever time period you choose (from one month to twelve months). To support these four children for a year, the total amount needed will be $1,200. To get us started, the Board of Christian Outreach has donated $200, or $50 for each child.

The children we’ve selected (from which you may choose to support) are in the following programs:

Casa Bethel (Latin America) … a residential safe haven for children in Matamoros, Mexico, which provides food, clothing, shelter, basic health care and school-transportation for children who are among the poorest of the poor.

Rawdat El-Zuhur (Middle East) … a co-educational school in East Jerusalem serving low-income Palestinian children. Both Christianity and Islam are taught.

Mt. Selinda Orphanage (Africa) … a home in Zimbabwe providing basic necessities for housing, food, clothing, medical care, and education to orphaned and abandoned children, many orphaned because of HIV/AIDS.

Tibetan Children’s Village (Southern Asia) … a center that assists Tibetan children in five villages and six residential schools in Dharamsala, India.

For those who are interested, we invite you to select a child and the number of months you wish to support the child ($25 per month, per child). Please sign up today in Fellowship Hall to participate in this important mission-outreach program.

Completed Projects this year:

Crop Walk – Neighbors walking together to take a stand against hunger in our world and raise awareness and funds for international relief and development, as well as local hunger fighting. MLCC hosts the Miami Lakes Crop Walk annually in February.

One Great Hour of Sharing Collection (OGHS) - The $1,158.00 donated by MLCC is combined with donations from throughout the UCC and becomes the relief, refugee and development fund of the United Church of Christ.

Strengthening the Church Collection – Through your generosity MLCC collected $529.00 in this year’s campaign. This money will be used to start new churches and provide needed financial assistance to struggling churches.

Health Kits - MLCC has put together over 50 health kits that have been delivered to Church World Service for distribution to needy migrants and new immigrants.

Honduras Project – Early in 2008 The school building project in the Town of San Luis was completed. The fundraising effort was led by Heinrich Friedemann. Together with Pastor Frantz, Mariliz Pulka, Maggie Schneider, and Outreach Chairperson Marie- Luise Friedemann, he attended a grand opening ribbon cutting ceremony in February. All were warmly welcomed by Mayor Francisco Cruz and people of the village.

Pill Bottle Recycling - Thank you for your support of this project. Unfortunately, though very successful we have had to cancel this program as we no longer have a place to send the pill bottles.

The Regeneration Singers – The Regeneration Singers are a group of talented, formerly homeless men from the Miami Rescue Mission. They performed for us on June 29, 2008 and were a big hit. We hope to bring them back to MLCC at least once a year. A Love Offering of $739.00 was collected after the performance. This money will go to help the Miami Rescue Mission continue its work

UPCOMING PROJECTS:

The Neighbors in Need Collection will be taken in October.
Neighbors in Need is a special mission offering of the UCC that supports ministries of justice and compassion throughout the United States. One-third of NIN funds support the Council for American Indian Ministry. Two thirds of the offering is used by the UCC's Justice and Witness Ministries to support a variety of justice initiatives, advocacy efforts, and direct service projects.
The Council for American Indian Ministry (CAIM) is the voice for American Indian people in the UCC. CAIM provides Christian ministry and witness to American Indians and to the wider church. Justice issues that affect American Indian life are communicated to the whole UCC by CAIM.

Two-thirds of Neighbors in Need supports program initiatives and direct grants offered by the UCC's Justice and Witness Ministries. Small but essential grants are made throughout the year to congregations and organizations engaged in community organizing, public policy advocacy, and direct service. Although grants are made to address a wide range of justice priorities, a significant portion of these grants address issues of hunger and poverty.

Health Care Kits - We will once again begin collecting items and preparing health care kits in October. Watch for more information in the bulletin.

Thanksgiving Baskets - The Thanksgiving baskets are assembled by the Growing Place (Maggie Schneider) for needy families of the Growing Place. The congregation contributes generously to ensure everyone will be able to enjoy a Thanksgiving meal.

Angel Tree – This program provides Christmas gifts for children residing in the Catholic Charities New Life Family Center. Each Christmas Season an Angel Tree is set up in the Fellowship Hall with gift requests attached as ornaments. Members of the congregation generously select one or more gift requests and become the angel for that child. Gifts are collected and delivered to the shelter in time for Christmas Because of your generosity, the school in Calpules, Honduras received 45 complete school kits plus additional materials on the 25th of August. The rest of the school supplies were delivered to the Family Center, a homeless shelter in Miami, on the 8th. God bless you all for giving hope to children in need.

.HONDURAS PROJECT

“Rural poverty in Honduras is among the most severe in Latin America. Approximately 53% of the population is rural, and it is estimated that 75% of the rural population lives below the poverty line, unable to meet basic needs.”

Over $11,000 has been collected

to fund the construction of a four room school building in the town of San Luis.  It is located in a rural area approximately four hours from San Pedro Sula. Our church has been working with the local mayor and their church on this project. The trip to Honduras for the dedication ceremony of the new building was a great success.

Education is the best way to help people help themselves.

What else can we do?

We are always looking for ideas to serve others and for people to put these ideas into action.  Please let us know if you have any ideas
and/or want to become amember of our Board or Christian Outreach

For an inspirational video on living our faith by "walking the walk" and doing for others go to:

http://www.thewalkthetalkmovie.com/preview/

South Florida Interfaith Committee on Worker Justice . Our church is a member of SFICWJ and is supportive of their active, support ministry for workers' rights.

Thanksgiving Baskets – Food baskets are put together and given to needy families by The Growing Place. Our church contributes generously to this project.

RIVERSIDE HOUSE

This is a non-profit residential re-entry program for ex-offenders whose mission is to guide people convicted of crime into becoming productive citizens through Community-Based Re-entry, Pastoral Care, Community Outreach and Aftercare/Outpatient Services.

GLOBAL MINISTRIES

Our church provides financial support through love offerings.

Global Ministries is a common witness of the Disciples of Christ and the United Church of Christ whose mission is to aid Children at risk.  Currently over 700 children in eleven centers in Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, the Middle East, and Europe are participating in this program.  Global Ministries offers yearly sponsorships and other ways of assisting children throughout the world.

NEW LIFE FAMILY CENTER

This 15 room-shelter is a transitional facility for homeless families.  Each year, it serves approximately 160 people (40 families).  The residents are provided with food, housing, on-site case management, clothing, permanent housing placement assistance, transportation (bus tokens and passes), life skills training, resume preparation, job search assistance and follow-up care.  New Life also helps clients with medical care, mental health treatment, legal services and funding for transitioning to permanent housing.

Angel Tree
This program provides Christmas gifts for children living in the center.  Each year a Christmas tree is set up in the Fellowship Hall with gift requests attached as ornaments. Anyone can select one or more gift requests and become an angel for that child. Gifts are collected and delivered to the shelter in time for Christmas.