First United Methodist Church of Germantown
SERVING GERMANTOWN SINCE 1796
COMMUNITY NEEDS
FUMCOG’s members celebrate each Christmas and Easter by making a special offering for community needs. The Community Needs Committee accepts grant proposals from the local community for projects that promote social justice or community empowerment, especially (but not exclusively) in Northwest Philadelphia. They are reviewed by a committee of church members, which makes decisions based on the size of the population to be served, the nature of the services provided, and expected benefits to the community. Please click on the icon below to access a Community Needs form.
GRANT RECIPIENTS
EASTER OFFERING 2022
Money collected during the Easter offering was shared by the
following recipients in grants ranging between a few hundred and
a few thousand dollars.
Face to Face
Provides food, health care, counseling and legal support to our under-served neighbors in Germantown, many of whom live in extreme poverty. Face to Face has now resumed the sit-down two meals a day which they provide in normal times. They also offer housing legal assistance to impecunious homeowners and tenants. Recently they added a high-quality free HeadStart program combined with social services to the parents.
Life Turning Point of Philadelphia
Provides an 18-month residency program for single women with children who are experiencing homelessness. They teach residents to restructure their lives according to Biblical truths so they can become self-sufficient, productive members of society. The current management and board is reviving a 20+ year old, successful ministry after another nonprofit closed its doors in 2019, having graduated 47 women of whom only 3 became homeless again.
Prisoner Visitation and Support
Is a national network of 400 volunteers who visit prisoners in 211 federal and military prisons across the country. Apart from two paid staff, it is a totally volunteer organization. Each prison has a volunteer coordinator and after each visit a report is sent to that coordinator and also to the national office. Visits are now resuming after the pandemic, and our contribution will help to provide updated training to volunteers.
Heeding God's Call
Will use its share of our offering to create a Germantown Faith Not Guns Movement, a one-year campaign responding to an unprecedented level of gun violence in Philadelphia. Starting with a Gun Violence Awareness Day in May, this initiative will educate, motivate and activate Germantown faith activists and communities to change cultural norms, public opinion and policy to reduce the number of people injured and killed by gun violence.
Women Against Abuse
Provides emergency shelter, transitional housing and many other services to women and children who have been subjected to domestic violence in Philadelphia. Annually they serve an average of 11,500 persons. They are asking us to help with their programs for the children and youth who make up more than half their population, in particular their Young Survivors Summer Day Camp.