Serving the Boro: First United Methodist youth, adults volunteer

Students and adults from Statesboro's First United Methodist Church volunteered during their annual student missions weekend recently, serving in teams throughout the Boro. Part of that time was spent with residents at a local nursing home, where they made Easter bundles.

W Easter bundles.jpg — Students and adults from Statesboro's First United Methodist Church volunteered during their annual student missions weekend recently, serving in teams throughout the Boro. Part of that time was spent with residents at a local nursing home, where they made Easter bundles.

Statesboro First United Methodist Church students, with adult volunteers, recently took part in their annual local student missions weekend, tackling service and ministry projects all over the community.

More than 70 student volunteers and 20 adult volunteers participated.

“It takes many hands to pull this weekend off,” said Becca Brown, director of Student Ministry. Brown and Assistant Student Director Clay Boerner organized the event.

The student volunteers arrived Friday after school and headed out for three projects: Southern Manor to visit residents, hand out flowers and lead Bingo games; Relay for Life to help with set-up and pack meals; and to assemble Easter bundles to hand out at the FUMC soup kitchen.

Following dinner and worship back at the church, the students dispersed to host homes for the evening.

For morning jobs on Saturday, the students completed the following service projects: filled eggs and assisted with an egg hunt at the YMCA, completed yard work around the YMCA, cleared out the old driveway at the GSU Wesley Foundation duplex and put in a new gravel one, organized clothes and donations at Fostering Bulloch’s clothing closet, and helped with the Spring into Statesboro festival by running concessions and helping with inflatables and other needed tasks.

In the afternoon, the students took part in additional projects: cleaning up and breaking down the Spring into Statesboro festival; mopping the Averitt Center; removing debris from future home sites for Habitat for Humanity and donating service to a single mom waiting for a home; patching parking lot holes at GSU Wesley Foundation; washing cars and helping stain a fence at Fostering Bulloch, providing packed lunches, games, activities and crafts for children and students at Little Lotts apartment complex; and various church needs for FUMC, like pulling weeds, preparing for Sunday worship and other projects.

“Our theme for the weekend that we also call ‘Project Go’ was ‘Shift,’” said Brown. “We talked about our need to shift our perspective in order to truly live a life on mission.”

The students apparently caught on quickly to the focus of the weekend as was evidenced in the projects they carried out.

“It was easy to see Christ’s love through the way the students worked so hard to serve that weekend,” said Brown.

Students worked at the YMCA doing yard work, just one of many work sites around the community during the annual student missions weekend.

W working.jpg — Students worked at the YMCA doing yard work, just one of many work sites around the community during the annual student missions weekend.