News from the Region,
the District, and
the Conference
The Children’s Home
Emphasizes Education
With the summer winding down, a new school year is once again upon us. For many children, the new school year means new subjects, new challenges, new school mates, and new opportunities to grow. For many of the children at the Florida United Methodist Children’s Home, the new school year means a fresh start. Amongst children in the foster care system nationwide, only about half will even graduate from high school, and less than 5% will get a college degree. Sadly, when a child is unsure about whether or not their basic needs of care, shelter, and safety will be met, their prioritization of educational needs often suffers.
The Children’s Home places a strong emphasis on education. Our on-campus Montessori-based pre-school, “In As Much”, serves community and foster children up to age 6 on our main campus. The school offers three programs—infant and toddler care and pre-school VPK.
We run a registered private school, “Aldersgate Academy”, for children who are temporarily under our emergency care. This allows us to provide a stabilized learning environment, while also supporting continued academic instruction. For children being served in the public schools, our education staff work diligently to ensure that they are learning, retaining, and applying the important information that they are taught.
A wonderful addition to the ministry on our Enterprise, Florida, campus has been its on-campus school “Legacy Scholars Academy (LSA)”. This school is a partnership with the Volusia County school district. It provides education for our permanent children in Grades K-12. The LSA staff are certified in the county, and they are also trained the Social and Emotional Learning method. LSA provides the Children’s Home with another effective option to help ensure a successful back-to-school experience and a great future.
Educational programs like these are a direct result of the generosity and support of local United Methodist churches and their members. Your participation in the Fifth Sunday offerings allows the Children’s Home to continue its quest to provide the highest quality care to children and families. Additionally, donations of educational supplies and materials significantly help to ensure that our children and foster children have the necessary tools to be successful. To find out about donating materials to the Children’s Home, call us at (386)668-5088. We look forward to a continued partnership with you, as we seek to serve more children, in more places, in more ways. God bless you and yours.
Combatting Human Trafficking in Florida
Sex trafficking is an epidemic. It’s happening in every town. According to the Center for Exploited Children, more than 100,000 American children are being prostituted. The average age is 13.
Tampa resident Beth Potter, the Gulf Central District's congregational vitality specialist for the Florida Conference, has been rallying volunteers for a speaker’s bureau on this subject on Florida’s west coast.
“People need to be attuned to what’s happening around them,” she said.
Recently, she said, a flight attendant alerted the pilot of her aircraft after noticing a young passenger exhibiting signs of distress and fear of the older man seated next to her. When the plane landed, law enforcement was waiting. The trafficker was arrested, and the victim was rescued.
“I specialize in training emergency room nurses and doctors to spot potential victims,” Potter said. “But there’s a big need to train employees at airports, cruise lines, railroad and bus stations, shopping malls, hotels and schools.”
Dotti Groover-Skipper of Tampa, a Methodist elder and anti-trafficking coordinator for The Salvation Army’s Florida Divisional Headquarters, said Florida’s tourism industry is the unintentional cause of much of the human trafficking activity in the state. Events such as the annual Bike Week at Daytona Beach are magnets for traffickers, she said.
“Florida ranks third in the nation for human trafficking behind California and Texas,” Groover-Skippers said.
For more information on Human Trafficking in Florida and ways that Florida United Methodist Church is working to combat this epidemic, go to this link.
News from the Congregation
Our warmest and most sincere congratulations go to Rob and Carole Bradley on the marriage of their daughter Emily Rose Bradley to James Vance Cockerham III. Their marriage ceremony was conducted in Gainesville, FL on Sunday, August 5th.
We say farewell to Verlin O’Neal. After a breakfast in his honor, sponsored by the Gleaner’s Sunday School Class of which he was a long-time member. Verlin and his daughter attended Sunday Services. Then Verlin was transported to Spring Hill where he will live in an assisted-living facility to be near his daughter’s family.
Please be in prayer for Connie Mosley, Mindy Williams, Pastor Merritt and Lay Pastor Norma and these four individuals will be attending the Global Leadership Summit at Bay Home UMC in Lutz on Thursday and Friday, August 10-11.
Public schools in Hillsborough County start up again on Thursday, August 10th. Please be in prayer for all our students, parents, guardians, teachers, and staff.
Our New Ice Machine
A great big thank you goes out to RESTORE and the United Methodist Men who have helped us purchase a brand new ice machine. We should now have a constant source of ice for our Wednesday night potlucks, our Saturday noon Metropolitan Ministry luncheons, and our special Sunday events.
Contribute Via AmazonSmile
If you shop online with Amazon, be aware that Riverview First United Methodist Church is now registered with AmazonSmile. Amazon will donate 0.5% of the price of eligible smile.amazon.com purchases to our church. Just log into Amazon via the AmazonSmile link and indicate that Riverview First United Methodist Church is your charity of choice. Every time after that when you log into Amazon through smile.amazon.com a portion of the monies from your purchases will go directly to the church.
Faith Groups Study Andy Stanley
The Journey Sunday School Class meets in Sunday School room #8 on Sunday mornings at 9:00 AM, and the Christian’s Connecting with Christ meet in Room #8 on Wednesday evening at 7:00 PM. Both faith groups are currently studying the 2014 Andy Stanley study “Why in the World”—a five-part study that attempts to answer the question Why Did Jesus Come to Earth?
For those of you unable to attend either faith group, this series is also available online at www.whyseries.org.
As part of the homework for this study, every participant is asked to read any gospel (Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John), and to answer for themselves “What have I learned about God the Father from reading about the Son?”
Remember, GOD loves you and so do we at RUMC.
RUMC Book Club News
The RUMC Book Club is currently reading the book “Hidden Figures” by Margot Lee Shetterly. This book contains the untold story of the black women who helped win the space race. The biographical text follows the lives of human computers such as Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson, three mathematicians who overcame discrimination, as women and as African Americans, while working at NASA during the space race.
The RUMC Book Club meets every Saturday morning at 9:00 AM—usually at the home of Connie Mosley, 9720 Lorrayne Road in Riverview. You can contact Connie at 766-7104 for more information.
8002 U. S. Highway 301 South, Riverview, FL 33578 813-677-5995
Normal Weekly Recurring
Events at RUMC
(Call the church office at 677-5995 for more information about these or other events sponsored by the church.)
SUNDAY
9:00 AM Faith Groups for All Ages
9:00 AM Children's Choir
10:00 AM Refreshments & Relationships
10:30 AM Worship Service
11:45 AM Prayer Warriors
12:00 PM Hispanic Congregation Service
6:00 PM Youth Band Rehearsal
7:00 PM R. U. S. H. (Youth Group) Meeting
MONDAY
11:30 AM Women's Bible Study, Room 6
7:00 PM Cub Scout Pack Pack 83
TUESDAY
10:00 AM RESTORE Food Bank and Thrift Store Open*
6:30 PM Boy Scout Troop 83
WEDNESDAY
6:30-7:30 AM AA Meeting
6:00 PM Potluck Dinner and Fellowship
6:45 PM Children & Youth Activities
6:45 PM Pastor’s Bible Study
6:45 PM Hispanic Church Bible Study
7:00 PM Ladies Bible Study
7:00 PM Christians Connecting with Christ
THURSDAY
6:30-7:30 AM AA Meeting
10:00 AM RESTORE Food Bank and Thrift Store Open*
6:30 PM Chancel Choir Rehearsal
FRIDAY
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SATURDAY
9:00 AM RUMC Book Club
11:30-12:30 PM Metropolitan Ministry
Meal Partnership
*RESTORE is an equal opportunity provider and is open to the public.
Parkinson’s Disease Support Group
A new Parkinson’s Disease Support Group has been announced. This group will meet on the third Thursday every month at the Hawthorne Rehabilitation Media Center, at 851 West Lumsden Road in Brandon from 2:00 until 3:00 PM. The group will sponsor a variety of speakers who will provide information on topics related to swallowing, balance, walking, speaking, mobility, exercise, self-care, cognition, and memory. Each of these issues can be significantly impacted by Parkinson’s Disease.
The support group is free of charge and open to those who have been diagnosed with the disease, their family members, caregivers, and anyone with an interest in learning more about the disease. To register or for more information, call (813) 661-8998 during business hours.
