• Children First
• Leadership for Africa
• The Green Team
• Tyler Crawford
• Venezuela Mission

Service and Mission

Join us in our special "Children First" community outreach mission!    Details on Children First...

We know that so many of you want to be involved in service and missions, but you need to know what some of your choices are.

There are many opportunities to get involved and be of service to others here at Tucker First! 

Check out the various local, national and international service opportunities (listed alphabetically below), and look for other opportunities in our monthly newsletter.  Also, see our donations section for items you may bring in.

 We recycle!  

For more information, contact Missions/Social Concerns Committee co-chairs Kay Entrekin at kayjohne@gmail.com or David Triemer at triemerd@comcast.net 

Appalachia Service Project (ASP) for Adults - Central Appalachia has double the national poverty rate, and people there often cannot make needed home repairs because they simply don't have the money.  ASP steps in to make homes warmer, safer and drier while encouraging their volunteers to take time to get to know the families they are serving.  TFUMC youth have participated in ASP's summer youth program, and we sent our first adult team in the fall of 2008.

In 2010, a 12-member team of adults will go to Jonesville, VA October 14-17 to participate in an Appalachian Service Project. Help financially and/or join the team. To register or for more information: contact Kay Entrekin at a kayjohne@gmail.com.   Learn more about ASP 

Green Team/Recycling - Everyone can be part of the Tucker First Green Team!  Just join us in recycling. The green team is a group of church members committed to helping our congregation and the community become better stewards of God's wonderful creation.  The Green Team has expanded the church-wide recycling program to include electronics recycling twice a year (usually in March and October).  Last year we had an energy audit of our church conducted to identify ways to improve the environmental footprint of our church buildings and grounds. Many of those improvements were implemented during our annual spring Great Day of Service.  For more information, including helpful resources and a list of what we're recycling here at Tucker First, check out The Green Team page.  For additional information contact Brian Friedman at BVFriedman@comcast.net.

Habitat for Humanity - Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit, ecumenical Christian housing ministry. HFH seeks to eliminate poverty housing and homelessness from the world, and to make decent shelter a matter of conscience and action. Habitat invites people of all backgrounds, races and religions to build houses together in partnership with families in need.  Through volunteer labor and donations of money and materials, Habitat builds and rehabilitates simple, decent houses with the help of the homeowner (partner) families. Habitat houses are sold to partner families at no profit and financed with affordable loans. The homeowners' monthly mortgage payments are used to build still more Habitat hourses. TFUMC usually sponsors a Habitat House every other year. If you are interested in donating financially or with your time, please contact Ted Bowden at bowd5269@bellsouth.net.

Leadership for Africa - We provide $100/month to two persons in Africa who are studying for pastoral leadership: a student at West Africa Theological Seminary in Lagos, Nigeria and one at Gabanga School of Theology in Monrovia, Liberia. This money funds their tuition and books and provides some living expenses. We hope to add funding for a two-week trip to Tucker so we may learn firsthand about their lives in an Africa and about the revival that has swept Africa.     Learn more

NETWorks - is a cooperative ministry that ministers to those in need who live in the Northlake-Embry Hills-Tucker (NET) area by providing assistance in the form of rent, utilities, hotel, food, toiletries, gas, MARTA tokens and various other ways. Fourteen churches are currently funding NETWorks with the hope of adding additional churches every year. In addition to financial support, churches are also asked to provide volunteers to help assist at NETWorks on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Volunteers would assist with greeting and assisting NETWorks' clients prior to their private meeting with the NETWorks executive director, TFUMC's own Lynne Stone.  If you are interested in volunteering at NETWorks or learning about other ways to support this ministry, please contact the NETWorks office at 770-939-6454 or send an email to networkscoop@bellsouth.net. Their website: http://bellsouthpwp.net/n/e/networkscooperative/ 

NET Food Pantry – assists people in the Northlake-Embry Hills-Tucker (NET) area with emergency food needs. Thirteen churches in the area participate in staffing the pantry one month out of every calendar year and keep the pantry shelves stocked with food.  TFUMC is responsible for stocking the pantry with spaghetti noodles and sauce.  In 2010, our month to staff the pantry is July. The pantry is located in the Tucker Recreation Center on LaVista Road and typically serves between 75 to 125 families monthly and distributes between two-three thousand pounds of food.   Donations may be brought to the church office. For more information on donating food or time to NET Food Pantry, contact Vickie Hudleston at vhuddles1@yahoo.com  

Operation Christmas Child - Christmas gifts for needy kids around the world. For details, see the brochure, available on the OCC web site. 

Red Cross Blood Drives - TFUMC hosts four drives each year. Each drive is on a Sunday from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in the Wesley Center (corner of 4th and Church Streets). 2010 blood drive dates are March 7, June 6, September 26 and December 19.  Our commmitment to the Red Cross for each drive is 50 pints, which means we need about 55-60 persons to sign up to give each time. In addition to needing donors, we need people to help make phone calls and staff the sign-in and snack tables. If you're interested in serving in this ministry, contact blood drive co-chairs Evelyn Burkett ehburkett@comcast.net or John Entrekin kayjohne@gmail.com.

T.I.M.E. - The Tucker Interfaith Mission Experience is a youth-driven home-repair mission project. This year TIME was June 11-16. Last year, thanks to you, our supporters, over 65 youth and adults put new roofs on five homes of Tucker families who cannot afford this necessary home repair.  Thanks to T.I.M.E.'s community corporate sponsors from 2009: Wal-Mart, Joe Watson Masonery, T Rutland, SCANA Energy, Turner Construction. To see pictures and to volunteer for this summer's project, check out www.timemission.org. 

Trinity House - Trinity House-Big Bethel is a residential transitional program designed to serve homeless men (many with criminal backgrounds) with issues regarding drug dependency. One of the key elements to this innovative program that has helped over 1,000 men regain control of their lives is the T.E.A.M. (Together Everyone Achieves More) dinner.  Through the T.E.A.M. dinner program, volunteers bring not only meals but also love and support as they sit and dine with the residents.  TFUMC is responsible for the T.E.A.M. dinner for 20 men every fourth Sunday of the month.  Contact Billy Bachman at wbachman@geostats.com for more details or to sign up.

Trinity Soup Kitchen - TFUMC provides food to the homeless of Atlanta at the Trinity Soup Kitchen one Sunday each year, usually in early November. We make sandwiches the Saturday before.  (It's fast and fun for the whole family!)  We ask those of you who want to make homemade soup (follow one of these soup recipes) to bring your soup in Saturday morning as well. For more information on making sandwiches and/or soup or helping work and/or serve in the kitchen, contact Becky Burnett at rsb1950@bellsouth.net.  See also the Trinity Soup Kitchen Handbook.

UMCOR Sager Brown - UMCOR responds internationally to natural or civil disasters that are of such magnitude that they overwhelm a community's ability to recover on its own. UMCOR also serves in long-term disaster recovery in the U.S. UMCOR Supply Kits provide basic necessities to people who lack ready access to essential supplies. By donating kit supplies or financial gifts to purchase the supplies, you make a direct, tangible difference in sustaining people's lives.

In 2010 we are joining a team from Harmony Grove. Dates: October 17-22; Cost: $189.50 per person plus cost for gas and one meal. To register: contact Jackie Thornberry at 770-921-3242 or jthornbe@gmail.com.

Last year, our eight-member mission team took flood buckets and health kits for UMCOR to distribute around the world as needed. Volunteers from all over the country come to receive, verify and package, store and help ship these and other kits worldwide.  The mission also included local community service:  Baldwin is the poorest county in the poorest state in the U.S.   See our photo album from our team's most recent trip to UMCOR Sager Brown.  

Venezuela Mission - TFUMC's international mission for the last four years has been to assist local United Methodist churches in Venezuela. In 2006 we were welcomed by the people of Bread of Life United Methodist Church as brothers and sisters. For the past three years we have worked with the Ondas de Paz United Methodist Church.  For more information, please contact David Triemer at triemerd@comcast.net.

Wesley Walk for Others - This walk supports the Wesley Community Centers, which offers caring, compassionate ministries in Atlanta neighborhoods with special needs. Its major programs are: The Bethlehem Senior Center, Camp Wesley, Project Extend. This walk starts at Stone Mountain First UMC and takes you 6.2 miles around the mountain in Stone Mountain Park.    

For more information contact our local walk coordinator Andrew Carlton at acarlton@bellsouth.net or see http://www.wesleycenters.org

Learn about, pray for and support our missionary  Tyler Crawford - a campus minister in Tübingen, Germany 

Other opportunities for involvement in service and missions are available through the United Methodist Women (UMW) and through individual Sunday School classes.