“10 Days of Connectional Giving”
Wellness hiking is part of the program at The Oaks Retirement Community in Orangburg.
South Carolina’s three United Methodist retirement homes couldn’t serve nearly as many residents without the generosity reflected in the apportioned giving that makes its way to their resident support and assistance programs each year.
“This vital program enables us to serve dozens of individuals each year who have encountered financial difficulty,” said Jon Scott, development manager for Wesley Commons in Greenwood. “It provides much more than a home and food. It tells each recipient, ‘You are loved; you will be cared for; we will be there for you.’
Wesley Commons was built on a vision created by S.C. United Methodists working closely with Greenwood community leaders.
“Simply put, the resident support program (where every dollar of the conference’s offering apportioned to Wesley Commons is used) is one of our greatest ministries that we can provide for seniors in need.”
Some seniors must turn to government assistance at some point in their time at The Oaks Retirement Community in Orangeburg, said the Rev. Charlie Thomas, chairman of the home’s board of trustees.
Rev. Thomas
“The Oaks is appreciative of the connection with the S.C. Conference of The United Methodist Church and the conference’s support of the Residents Assistance Fund through apportionments,” Thomas said.
“With this support, The Oaks is able to accept Medicaid in our nursing facility and is able to assist other residents in staying at The Oaks when they have, through no fault of their own, exhausted their own resources.”
In addition to The Oaks and Wesley Commons, Methodist Manor has served retired residents in Florence since 1991.
Over “10 Days of Connectional Giving” – leading up to the Jan. 10 deadline for churches to pay their 2016 apportionments to the conference treasurer – we are sharing short stories to remind you what your church’s annual contributions mean to your fellow United Methodists and to those whose lives are touched by their efforts.
We hope this will encourage your congregation’s leaders to make sure they have submitted your church’s 2016 apportionments so the good work of all of the conference’s ministries can continue.
And to those churches that already have given 100 percent of their apportionments:
