OUTREACH

• Tomah Community Dinner is every Monday from 4:40pm to 5:30pm at the Tomah Masonic Lodge. 520 E Saratoga Street, Tomah.
• Neighbor for Neighbor Food Pantry, We are now collecting boxed dinners, Top Ramen, chicken noodle soup, cream soups. personal hygiene products, All other food donations and bags are still appreciated. Dec. 18th we had 31 pounds and Dec 25th 69 pounds. Volunteers are always needed 608-372-6737
• Families First is a organization based in Tomah helping people find housing, clothes and other items when it is needed .608-374-4141
• Faith In Action is a faith based organization in Tomah providing grocery delivery, transportation to various appointments, shopping, caring companionship, minor repairs to their homes and seasonal yard work. Volunteers are always needed 608-372-0939 Director is Dawn Van Alstine
• This Month's Noisy Offering (December)will go to will be going to our church roof fund. Help us try and pay off the balance due.......$29,451.00

This years giving to the community, We will be giving to Tomah Care Center, Head Start , Tomah Middle school and our Hat and Mitten tree. Please visit the areas in our Narthex to the trees and giving area. Thank you for your donations to these groups. Donations are due by December 12th and for Tomah Care Center December 16th.

SCHOOL MENTORSHIP PROGRAM

Pastor Krysta has been meeting with TASD superintendent, Cindy Zahrte, Gunderson Global Partners and other community agencies to discuss ways that we might all work collaboratively to positively impact the lives of our children/youth. From those early conversations what has emerged is a need for mentoring relationships with students at Lemonweir school. Background checked adults will be paired with a student and will make a commitment to meet with their mentee one day a week during their breakfast time 7:30-8:05am for the school year.

The goal of each mentoring relationship will be to help a student transition into the school day so that they can be successful in their school environment with desired outcomes of improved academic performance, fewer disciplinary referrals, and greater display of school district values of “value self, value others, value learning.”

Will you be among those to mentor? To impact the trajectory of a student’s life? For further information, connect with Pastor Krysta at 608-372-4543 or pastorkrysta@gmail.com.

• " Wheels 2 Worship "
• This is a new program to help people that want to attend church be able to use the local taxi service. for the full schedule and directions contact our church office. This service is being provided and paid for by our church and Tomah Transit. Any questions please call the church office. To make donations to this great new cause just note on your offering envelope.

WISCONSIN FLOOD RELIEF UMCOR: the United Methodist Committee on Relief is accepting contributions for relief in the wake of the devastating floods in Wisconsin. Please make checks payable to First UMC and write UMCOR Project Fund 7775 in the memo section of your check. Remember that 100% of your gift goes directly to relief!

Marshfield: Wesley United Methodist Church Building Destroyed by Fire

A fire ravaged the Wesley United Methodist Church in Marshfield on Sunday, September 2, destroying the historic 137 year old building. No one was inside the church at the time the fire started. Please pray for the Wesley congregation, their leadership and their pastor, Lourdes Magalhaes, as they move through this tragic and difficult time. Where possible, please give your congregation a chance to contribute to the restoration and rebuilding effort. We encourage people to give through their local church offering by writing a check to their local church and putting Fund 7999 Marshfield: Wesley Fire in the check memo.

Red Kettle Campaign

The Salvation Army is a key partner in feeding the hungry, clothing the naked and housing the homeless.

Sign up to ring bells for the Salvation Army Red Kettle Campaign! Bell Ringing will begin Friday, November 23rd and continue Thursdays-Saturdays until December 22nd.

Of the monies raised from the Red Kettle Christmas Campaign, 88% remained in Monroe County to help people in poverty with food assistance, utility and homeless assistance, senior and child care, drug abuse treatment and many other social service needs.

The remaining funds enable the Salvation Army to provide food, toys and clothing to over 6 million people during the Christmas season and help more than 34 million Americans recovering from all kinds of personal disasters nationwide.

So sign up! Ring Bells and be the answer to someone’s prayer! Sign-up is now online!

Following the Register to Ring link to sign-up for this year’s Red Kettle Campaign: https://www.registertoring.com

Questions about Salvation Army Bell Ringing? Follow this link for a very informative video: https://youtu.be/qyA_amoBqFs

Need help? Contact your church office or contact the Salvation Army Red Kettle Coordinator in your area:

Pr. David Dahl, Salvation Army Red Kettle Coordinator –

Monroe County Service Unit,

Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, Tomah, WI

(608) 372-4758 – church office

Read to Success

Great Rivers United Way is looking for people to help with Read to Success, a program that matches community volunteers with students in the third grade. The volunteers are a steady, adult presence in the students’ lives and they help strengthen reading skills and an appreciation of books and reading.

The volunteers typically spend an hour in a school each week, half an hour with each of two students.

The student and tutor may take turns reading aloud and the two discuss certain aspects of the book, like “what do you think will happen next? Sometimes the two work on reading-related classwork.

The student selects a book from the classroom and United Way provides an activity bin with questions and games.

Volunteers are needed at Lemonweir Elementary School beginning in mid to late October.

To learn more, please contact Julie Nelson at (608) 796-1400 or jnelson@gruw.org.

To begin the application process, please visit Great Rivers United Way’s volunteer website, Ugetconnected, at: www.ugetconnected.org. All Read to Success volunteers must pass a background check and complete training prior to being assigned their two students.