Dear partners in service,
I am pleased to announce that this summer some of our youth and I will have the opportunity to serve the community of Los Angeles by attending a Sierra Service Project. Sierra Service Projects invite young people to experience the life-changing power of Christ’s spirit through acts of service through repairing the homes of those in need. The Sierra Service organization is committed to creating community and teaching selfless service by reaching out to those in need. They offer both middle school and high school service projects, and I would have liked to take both groups this summer, but due to time constraints, one high school trip was selected. Each high school youth in our church was offered the opportunity to go and serve. This summer, Andrew W., Alex W., Adam W., Wylie L., and I are seizing this opportunity to spend the week of July 11 – July 17 serving in south Los Angeles. The south Los Angeles site is an exciting urban immersion experience that takes place in the local neighborhoods. Along with approximately one hundred other youth, we will repair homes for four days during the week. The service experience is enhanced by a day of touring the city, visiting social service agencies, feeding the homeless on Skid Row, and spending an evening at the beach. We will be housed at Vermont Square UMC, a facility with men’s and women’s locker rooms.
The cost per participant is $305, which goes to pay for the supplies that we will use for service during the week. Each participant has already made a deposit of $50 for the service trip from his own personal funds. This leaves our group with a total balance of $1,275 ($255 per person) to be paid by June 1. We will be hosting several fund raisers to help cover this cost. Those attending will pay any unmet cost.
Our first fund raiser is SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 28 — the STONE SOUP SUPPER. Please refer to the information about the Stone Soup Supper elsewhere in this newsletter. Please attend and support our youth. If you feel led to donate to the cost of our trip outside of a fundraiser, checks can be sent to the church office; made payable to Torrance FUMC with “Youth Fund” written on the memo line.
In Jesus’ love, Jonathan Tarman
