2023 Christmas Appeal
Supporting Mission Partners Across the World
Dear HUMC Members and Friends,
As this Christmas season arrives, it offers us an opportunity to demonstrate the impact Jesus has had on our lives by sharing some of the gifts we’ve been given with others in need. The Missions Work Area has designated the following organizations as recipients of this year’s Christmas Appeal:
DUPAGE PADS (Public Action to Deliver Shelter) – Our 35-year ministry to the homeless in the PADS program evolved as PADS acquired a permanent location for its Interim Housing Center (IHC)—a repurposed hotel in Downers Grove. The IHC now serves 300 guests including over 100 children. Our volunteers deliver meals donated by Factor Food Service Company, plus fruit and drinks, to clients at the IHC on a monthly basis. Despite requiring fewer volunteers compared to the pre-pandemic service model, our mission through PADS remains vibrant and vital. Since opening the IHC, PADS has seen significant client successes, improved mental and physical health and safety for client families, and better access to supportive services due to the stability, privacy, and security the IHC offers—a huge success in the mission to end homelessness.
MYSI – Since its founding by a group of Methodists in 1965, MYSI has conHnued to strengthen lives, provide help, and create hope for children, adults, and families within Cook County and its surrounding communities. Formerly known as Methodist Youth Services, MYSI is a licensed, accredited non-profit child welfare agency providing residential shelter care, outpatient community-based mental health services, psychiatric medication monitoring and evaluations, clinical case management, counseling, and advocacy referral support for over 150 participants annually. MYSI provides the highest quality services to empower clients to live and work as independently as possible.
GRACE CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL, HAITI – Haiti remains a country of profound challenges, and the economic, social, and political problems faced by residents have not diminished. Grace Children’s Hospital in Port Au Prince, founded in 1967, provides life-saving care and health service outreach to its impoverished community while never turning a child or family away regardless of ability to pay. HUMC has been a Cornerstone Supporter of Grace Children’s Hospital for over 25 years. The hospital is recognized as Haiti’s leading medical facility dedicated to the treatment of children with tuberculosis (TB), treating thousands of children each year who are suffering from TB, HIV, and other diseases. Children who are seriously ill are admitted to the inpatient ward, receiving constant care from the hospital’s all-Haitian staff. Children and adults can be treated at one of the hospital’s many outpatient clinics, and people living in nearby slums receive vaccinations, prenatal care, and basic health services from trained community health workers right in their own neighborhoods. Though threats of gang violence, disease outbreak, natural disaster, and limited access to basic necessities are ever-present, Grace Children’s Hospital steadfastly continues providing critical care to Haiti’s most vulnerable.
THE GLOBAL MISSION SECONDARY SCHOOL, TANZANIA is a co-ed, English-medium, Christian boarding school located in the west outskirts of Dar es Salaam, and is affiliated with the United Methodist Church of Tanzania. This is the fifth year HUMC has supported the school’s building projects, which began with funding the school library. The school has been open for two years and is in the process of recruiting new students for the upcoming school year. While the classrooms, dormitories, and library are open, the second phase of the construction (cafeteria, health center, prayer tower, more dormitory space) began last year and is still underway. Our gifts will help fund construction of these facilities. The School’s Founder and Director, Rev. Young Seon Kim, is a UMC missionary from our Conference and visited HUMC in 2022.
Please prayerfully consider supporting PADS, MYSI, Grace Children’s Hospital, and the Global Mission Secondary School with a gift to the HUMC Christmas Offering. To donate, please make your check payable to HUMC with “Christmas Appeal” on the memo line, or click the donation button. Your support is greatly appreciated.
Kristi Chadwick
Missions Work Area
