Ingathering

The 41st Annual Mission Ingathering
will be held on Saturday, November 7, 2020

The Purpose of Mission Ingathering is to show the love of Christ to the world’s people by ministering to their needs

August 21, 2020

Mission Ingathering will look different this year due to COVID-19 concerns and restrictions, but our purpose of showing the love of Christ to the world’s people by ministering to their needs will carry on. The Mission Ingathering Task Force met on August 14. Here are answers to many of your questions:
 
YES, we will partner with Midwest Mission Distribution Center (MMDC) in Pawnee, Illinois, to collect kits at all of the sites on Saturday, November 7, 2020. These kits are vitally important this year due to all of the disasters that have happened. MMCD is providing phenomenal assistance at each of our collection sites. MMDC is an UMCOR affiliate.
 
NO, we will not be hosting large group activities; such as, youth retreats, bazaars, mission presentations, luncheons, bake sales, quilt auctions, and worship services 
 
Mission Ingathering will be a “drive through” process this year. Volunteers will meet your vehicle, take your kits, collect your remittance form (with check stapled to it, please), and off you go. You will not need to leave your vehicle.
 
Assembling kits?  Many churches are actively assembling kits that are being requested by people in the U.S. and around the world. 

  1. Please note that the contents of the kits may have changed so please refer to the bright yellow Ingathering booklet that was sent to every church in Iowa or at iaumc.org/ingathering
  2. School kits should be in one handled cloth bags. If those bags are not available, this year only you may place a complete kit in a regular grocery bag (no Ziplock bags) and tie shut and box as you would cloth bags. There is a line item on the remittance form for kits with or without cloth bags. Mark the boxes accordingly – cloth bag school kits, plastic bag school kits and the number. Do not mix. Talk to your site chair before you come if you’re sending totally unassembled kits.
  3. Pack in any sturdy reasonably sized box.
  4. Tape the box closed and label with a sheet of paper with the church name, number, and type of kit, securely taped to the outside of the box.
  5. We will NOT be repacking boxes onsite, so be sure your sealed boxes are sealed and can be comfortably lifted and stacked. No bags or baskets, please. 

Cash donations accepted and needed!  Please consider donating funds for the Mission Ingathering 2020.  Much of the money for these District Hunger Grants comes from auction, bake sales, luncheons, and bazaar sales, none of which can happen this year on site. That will leave a huge void. These grants, available in January each year, assist Iowa food pantries and help fund community meals right here in our conference. Last year, $32,000 was granted to Iowa churches from Ingathering giving to go back into their communities. How sad it would be to have to cut back our work right here in Iowa.    
 
Has your church been working on a quilt this year?  How about auctioning it off, face to face or virtually? Did you have to cancel your bazaar? How about a sale on Facebook? Maybe a no-calorie, no-work, pay-what-you’d-have-spent dinner could raise some awareness, extra funds, and a little laughter! Perhaps a special offering can help alleviate hunger through these grants. 
 
Include your contributions to Church World Service blankets, Heifer International, Self-Help International, and Mobility Worldwide of Iowa. There are places on the remittance form for these donations. Information on these programs can be found in the Ingathering booklet and also online at www.iaumc.org/ingathering.
 
Remittance forms can be found in the current bright yellow Ingathering booklet or downloaded from iaumc.org/ingathering. Since we will not be processing the forms in person this year it is more important than ever to have contact information, especially a phone number for a real live person, who actively worked with the kits, knows about the remittance form, AND can be contacted on that Saturday or Sunday. We would also like an email for that same person, if possible. The church phone or church email will NOT work as a contact.
 
Will your congregation be participating in Ingathering 2020?
1.Yes!  Fantastic!! If you’ll be bringing kits, please email the coordinator of the site you plan to attend and give your best guesstimate of what you will be bringing, so we have enough volunteers to give you service, and enough truck space. Please do this asap, by mid to late September. Now more than ever, planning is critical. 
2.Yes, but we’re not physically creating kits.  Wonderful! You may mail your Ingathering form and check to either your site treasurer before November 1st or to Iowa Annual Conference, 2301 Rittenhouse Drive, Des Moines, IA 50321-3101. You can also deliver your check for kits onsite on November 7th. Just mark clearly what it is for. 
3.We still don’t know for sure.  Contact your site chair. It’s not too late!
 
Our 41st Mission Ingathering will be like no other. We can be flexible, because our purpose is clear – to show the Love of Christ to the world’s people by ministering to their needs. We can and will be difference makers.  Watch your email, Facebook, and the conference and district websites for more updates. Peace and joy to you all from you Ingathering Task Force.  

 

Cedar Falls Site
Coordinator:  Jan Benson, 319-269-2211, jbenson@cfu.net
Treasurer:  Bonita Davis, 704 Pine Drive SW, Independence, IA 50644
 
Cherokee Site
Coordinator:  Sally Wilkie, 712-437-2519, sswilkie@netins.net
Treasurer: Pam Mitchell, 3412 South Nicollet, Sioux City, IA 51106
 
Greenfield Site
Coordinator:  Marilyn Schirman, 515-490-9688, marilynschirman@gmail.com
Treasurer:  Marilyn Jensen, 2706 Fallow Avenue, Fontanelle, IA 50846
 
 
Mount Pleasant Site
Coordinator:  Judy Brotherton, 563-264-5372, judyb@machlink.com
Treasurer:  Lucas VanTol, 1450 Westview Drive, Iowa City, IA 52241
 
Webster City Site
Coordinator:  Tami Hejlik, 515-571-7858, Tami.hejlik@gmail.com
Treasurer: Tami Hejlik, 2485 Virginia Parkway, Webster City, IA 50595

  • Click here to download the 2020 Ingathering book.
  • Click here to download the prayer cards.
  • Click here to go to kits and patterns.
  • Click here to go to Midwest Mission.

Our relationship with Midwest Mission Distribution Center, an UMCOR–cooperating depot near Springfield, IL, is growing stronger. Their philosophy is to collect and distribute to those in a time of crisis as quickly as possible – and to include a prayer card in each kit, signed by the kit-maker! That personal touch makes a difference, to both giver and recipient.

Midwest Mission collects, makes, assembles, and restores supplies for humanitarian and disaster relief. The work is done by volunteers who come from all over the U.S. to serve. The 30,000 square-foot facility is located on a 10-acre campus four miles south of Springfield, Illinois. It is the second largest of the cooperating depots in the UMCOR Relief Supply Network and partners with Food for the Poor, Franciscan Mission Warehouse, Christians in Mission, and U.S. South Command donating supplies to humanitarian aid missions.  

Mission Ingathering – continuing for 41 years, evolving to meet the changing needs of God’s people, wherever they may be.

 

COORDINATORS
Mary & Harvey Davis 
1471 Bryantsburg Blvd 
Hazleton, IA 50641 
319-636-2990 
cell 319-440-2990 
800-228-2853 
mhdavis@windstream.net
davmary41@gmail.com