Congregations get envelopes for special offering

Harvest Sunday
Nov 4, 2007

Southwest Texas congregations should be receiving special offering envelopes this week for next month’s Harvest Sunday anti-hunger offering.
Envelopes went automatically to congregations. Quantities matched each church’s average worship attendance for last year, said Howard Hartman, anti-hunger coordinator for the Board of Global Ministries.
Recommended date for the special conferencewide offering is Nov. 4, but congregations may choose any Sunday before Dec. 31.
The June 6-9 Southwest Texas Annual Conference session designated four causes to receive funds from the 2007 offering. Each is to receive 25 percent. Those causes are:
> McAllen District food pantries. The counties in the Rio Grande Valley top the national list for incidence of food insecurity. United Methodist congregations are addressing this reality.
> Corazon Ministries at Travis Park UMC, San Antonio. Corazon Café serves more than 10,000 meals a year to the poor and homeless of San Antonio.
> Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. Christian ministries in the Middle East provide food and other services to Palestinian refugees.
> Democratic Republic of Congo. United Methodists in the North Katanga Conference operate a nutrition center and orphanage at Kamina. It serves more than 700 children.
The 2006 Harvest Sunday offering brought in $31,964, up from $27,829 in 2005.