The months of November and December United Methodists across the Dakotas had an opportunity to give to ministries through Bishop Ough’s Thanksgiving Appeal and United Methodist Global Ministries' Giving Tuesday.  Over $66,000 was donated to the HOPE Center in Rapid City, UMCOR’s efforts towards Ebola in West Africa, Haiti Solar Oven Partners and Tree of Life Ministry through these two efforts. 

2014 Thanksgiving Appeal

The Bishop’s Thanksgiving Appeal is an annual tradition of giving throughout the Dakotas Conference.  Each year churches collect a special offering to show thanks for all the blessings they have received.  This year’s offering will be split between the HOPE Center in Rapid City and UMCOR’s response to the Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa.

The HOPE Center was begun in 2011 as an outreach center to the homeless and impoverished population in Rapid City. It provides basic direct services such as referrals and facilities, as well as counseling and casework to help individuals and families connect to additional services in the Rapid City area.

The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) has been responding to the Ebola outbreak.  The Ebola epidemic in the countries of Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in West Africa is raging out of control, devastating families, disrupting the economics and threatening other parts of Africa and the world. The United Methodist Church has the most extensive infrastructure of medical facilities and health care personnel in this part of Africa.

Just over $14,000 has been collected for the 2014 Thanksgiving Appeal so far.  If your church has not had a chance to respond or send the offering to the Dakotas Conference office there is still time to do so.  Please send your offering or direct your questions to JoAnn Schlimgen by e-mail or phone 605-996-6552.

Giving Tuesday

UMC Giving Tuesday was part of an international movement to extend the spirit of giving thanks into the Advent season. It offered an opportunity to give instead of receiving a gift by supporting organizations that are transforming the world.

Global Ministries allocated matching funds dollar for dollar up to the first $1 million in gifts to Advance projects received online on Dec. 2.  Advance projects received a maximum of $25,000 in matching funds until the $1 million were gone.  Two Dakotas Conference Advance projects received the matching funds thanks to generous donors who were are at their computers giving in the early morning hours of December 2nd. 

Tree of Life Ministries in Mission, South Dakota had donors give $14,429.66 and $10,918.00 was matched by United Methodist Global Ministries for a total of $25,347.66.

Another Dakotas Conference ministry, Haiti Solar Oven Partners (HSOP) received $15,990.00 from individual donors and a match of $9,100.00 for a total of $25,090.00.

UMC Giving Tuesday resulted in 782 Projects receiving  $2,523,335.63 in donations. The $1 million match was expended during the early morning hours of December 2. The top Advance projects receiving donations were:  Imagine No Malaria ($147,943), UMCOR ($94,918), and Disaster Response International ($65,967).

Two projects received the maximum of $25,000 in matching funds from United Methodist Global Missions, UMCOR and Imagine No Malaria. Tree of Life and Haiti Solar OvenPartners were among the top 5% of those Advance projects receiving matching funds thanks to the generous spirit of giving of United Methodists across the Dakotas Conference.