Ramp Builders in Johnson City Help in Flood Recovery

Tommy Levitt, quality control boss for the wheelchair-ramp building team from the First United Methodist Church, Johnson City, was the last man on the new ramp last week before it was turned over to Joe Calhoun (top) of Blanco. Once the decking dries out, the church’s youth will be back to put a coat of non-skid paint on it. 

Johnson City’s wheelchair-ramp-building volunteers are changing their plans and diagrams to begin building storage sheds for survivors of the flooding on the Blanco River.

“It’s not something people think of in disaster recovery,” said First United Methodist Church pastor Lee Romero “but it’s a really important part of getting lives back in order."

“A family needs the shed early as they salvage their belongings out of the mud and debris, because there’s no place to put household goods when you’re sleeping in a shelter, a motel, or a friend’s guest room. Later, when they’re rebuilding, they’ll need a place to secure tools and construction supplies.”

The team plans to build the sheds the same way they do wheelchair ramps — constructing transportable modules in the shop, then assembling the sections on-site.

They’re confident they’ll have enough volunteers and tools, but the catch is buying enough building materials for as many sheds as are needed.

“We’ve whittled our design down to where we can build a sturdy shed that will withstand even another storm, but the materials cost $900. We have enough for some sheds, and have promises of more, but we’re a long way from having enough to meet the demand”, said shop boss David Hamm.

Reports from the flood zone say all the area storage space was grabbed up quickly, leaving long travel times to find a commercial storage facility. Having a place right on-site would make a huge difference to survivors.

“We’ll do our work in the shop during the week,” said Hamm, “then trailer the modules down to the flood zone and put them together on-site on the weekends. That way, no matter when a volunteer has free time, they can join a team and help. 

“And it’s not all men, either. Some of our best workers have been women, and with school out, we can put youth to work, too. We have a job for anyone who wants to help the flood survivors, no matter what their availability or skill level.” 

For more information about volunteering or donating to the storage shed project, call Angie in the Johnson City church office at 713-868-7414.

Twice Blessed Showroom in Victoria To Receive New Home

From left to right: Rev. Jarrell Sharp, Senior Pastor at First United Methodist Church, Victora; Sammie Musselman, Twice Blessed Board Member; Paul Polesak, Mayor of Victoria; Clifford Carter, Chairman of FUMC Trustees; Rebecca Thornbury, Twice Blessed Board Member & FUMC Secretary; Kathy Bowen, Twice Blessed Board Member; JoNell Carter, Twice Blessed Board Member; Rev. Robert Lopez, Crossroads District Superintendent. 

Twice Blessed Showroom Consignments held ground breaking ceremonies on May 18 in Victoria, TX for its new resale shop location at the corner of Main and Commercial Streets. Over 80 people attended this joyous celebration.

First United Methodist Church, Victoria plans to build the 4560-square-foot building, which will include a workroom for processing consignments and donations, a storage area for furniture and other large items, and an office in addition to the showroom space. 

“With almost 3,000 square feet of showroom space, the new building will provide triple the retail space for the all-volunteer, non-profit ministry,” said Kathy Bowen, Twice Blessed board president.

Construction of the new showroom is being completed by Roth Construction and is  scheduled to be completed by the end of 2015.  Twice Blessed Showroom is currently located at 205 North Star Drive, Victoria TX.

Twice Blessed Showroom was founded in 2005, benefiting not only ministries of First United Methodist Church, Victoria; but also many community charities including Christ's Kitchen, Kidz Connection, Mid-Coast Family Services, VCAM, Food Bank of the Golden Crescent and the Community Action Committee. For Twice Blessed, a ministry of First United Methodist Church, Victoria; the new space means not only closer proximity to the church’s main campus on Bridge Street but also room for growth. 

For more information about Twice Blessed, visit http://www.twiceblessedshowroom.com/ or call 361-574-9655.

The Clothes Closet for Homeless Men Serves 20,000

It was about 8:15 AM Monday morning, on April 27, 2015, when volunteers of the Clothes Closet began arriving to begin set up for clothing distribution later in the morning.

The chairs had to be removed from the conference room and were arranged side by side down the hallway just outside the conference room.

The four tables were set in their assigned space so two would be used to serve customers from, one would hold the socks and underwear containers and the fourth would hold the plastic bins with short pants in them.

Next came five racks of clothes from the storage area. The racks were on wheels making it easy to move them. The sweater and suit rack first followed by the rack with trousers waist size 42 to 54 on the top bar and long sleeve shirts hanging from the bottom bar.

There were three more racks of clothes holding pants with waist sizes ranging from 28 through 40. On the bottom bar of those racks were short sleeve shirts, t-shirts, and polo shirts. These fit against the back wall of the conference room.

Now a table was set up in the storage area, next to the conference room. Filling the socks and underwear containers was next and then sorting through the donated clothing inspecting for acceptance. The guideline is, “If we wouldn’t wear it we don’t hand it out”.

This was a normal Monday morning. But, this was not a normal Monday morning. Today we were going to be serving enough customers to reach 20,000 total since the Closet began in October 1999.

There would be cake, refreshments, visitors and a gift card for the 20,000th customer.

This Clothes Closet had become a ministry over the years. We prayed for the customers before we began serving. In our prayer we always included, “Lord, God help us to see Christ in those we serve today and help them to see Christ in us.” The connectivity of the prayer changed each one of us and the atmosphere in that conference room.

Written by Ralph Eckwall, Coordinator for the Clothes Closet

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Clothes Closet for Homeless Men opened in October 1999 after a request from the Austin Interreligious Ministries to the Capital District United Methodist Men's group. After five locations across town, they settled at present location at the Central Presbyterian Church on 8th Street and Brazos. 

The distribution includes:

• Jeans, Khaki, dress pants or shorts
• Polo or button down shirts
• T-Shirts
• Socks & underwear
• Suits
• Ties
• Bible
• Belt
• Caps
• Shoes
• Coats
• Sweaters
• Hygiene items

McAllen First Celebrates Inside Out Sunday

First United Methodist Church, McAllen took the church to the mission field on April 12th. They shared this video.