First Methodist Houston Disaster Workday Project

On Sunday, September 21 following worship, over 225 volunteers registered with First UMC in Houston and hit the streets to aid in disaster response efforts to help their neighbors. They were each assigned to one of 25 projects that were taking place all over Houston .

Kristen Jones, Mission Coordinator for church’s two campuses, said they “fed over 200 with MRE's, water and non-perishable foods in Port Houston and 200 women and children at area shelters, removed 2 trees from neighborhood roads, helped with debris in yards, trees on homes and [did] general cleanup inside homes.” Some of the volunteers also helped to sort and box up cleaning products at Christian Alliance in Pearland.

The Disaster Workday Project involves evaluating homes and needs of church members and people in the community who call in to the church seeking assistance. “We sent all-church e-mails out asking the congregation to bring work supplies - gloves, rakes, brooms [and] saws,” Jones noted. “We are working on mobilizing teams every weekend to continue responding to the needs that are coming in. We also have ministries on each campus… who are helping people with food and basic needs.” 

A second project FUMC is working on involves writing letters of appreciation to energy workers. Dr. Steve Wende asked the congregation to write letters expressing thanks to workers for their hard work, noting that many of them have been working 16-hour shifts to bring power back to communities where it has been down.

The Congregation of FUMC is one more shining example of the Methodist connection at work to help those in need in Texas .