Men of the church meet on the second Saturday of the month at 8 a.m. at the church to share breakfast, fellowship and devotions. Members of the Men’s Club take turns cooking breakfast.
A yearly Spaghetti Dinner fundraiser is held in March. Proceeds are used to support local and area missions.
Men’s Club Bike Ministry
FUMC Men’s Club and volunteers from the Island City Baptist Church and Christian Life Assembly are joining forces in a new bicycle ministry. In preparation for Wilmington Sharefest 2020, the Bicycle Ministry has a goal to provide at least 50 bicycles at the August 8, 2020 event. Last year, 20 bikes provided by Sharefest founder and Wilmington native, Gary Cheney were gone in the first hour. Currently, there are about 40 bikes in various states of repair in the shop. We will meet on announced Saturdays to repair the bikes. Keep your eyes open for bikes set out on garbage day or if you have unused ones, call Steve at 815-347-3790 to arrange a pickup. Please join us in this effort to provide used bikes by praying for this ministry, assisting in the shop, donating unused bikes and/or donating funds for needed parts.
Some of the service projects the Men’s Club has undertaken with the help of the congregation:
- Built school desks to send to developing countries
- Sorted potatoes for the Northern Illinois Food Bank
- Put together flood buckets for use following disasters
- Re-built the church playground equipment
- Instrumental in bringing GED volunteer training to Wilmington to train adults to assist young adults in studying for their GED test in hopes of equipping them with the needed skills to improve their employability, thus improving the quality of life for them and their families
- Instrumental in bringing ShareFest to Wilmington
Men’s Club “Good Nights” Mission
Our Caring Closet receives 2-3 requests per month for beds. After providing food and clothes to those with the greatest need through two compassionate Wilmington organizations (Kuzma Care Cottage and Our Caring Closet), people, especially children, need Good Nights of sleep.
The idea started at the 2019 Church garage sale when 7 beds frames (not mattresses) were kept to start a program of providing beds as requested. Since mattresses must be new, it is expensive to provide a bed to someone in need. When a bed is delivered, we provide a frame (sometimes a headboard/footboard), new box spring/mattress set, a new pillow and new sheets. We would like to add a mattress pad to the offering. To date, no blankets have been provided, however, clean, gently used blankets would be okay. Nelson’s Furniture has been providing the mattresses at cost. A twin set is about $175 and a double, $210. The linens, with mattress pad, cost about $40 if you can find good sales.
Requests for beds will only be taken from Our Caring Closet. They are located at 205 N. First St. in Wilmington and are open Tuesdays from 9 a.m.—3 p.m. and Thursday from 9 a.m.—1 p.m.
There are a few ways you can work/assist with the Good Nights mission:
1. Pray for this ministry. If the numbers hold true, we might deliver 24-36 beds this year. That is more than one class-room of children in an elementary school.
2. Volunteer to deliver beds. It takes two people and you need to be in decent physical condition; having access to a pickup is helpful.
3. Find beds. Look in your basement or garage. Watch your street when garbage is out for useable bed frames and headboards. (Watch for bikes, too—see our Bike Ministry.)
4. Donate some money or watch for linen sales and buy twin and full sets, a pillow and/or a mattress pad. Checks can be payable to the First United Methodist Church with the word “beds” in the memo line. You are also able to give through this website. Look for “Make a secure online donation” near the bottom of the home page. Use the “Other” line on the donations page and indicate “Beds” for its use.
If you have questions, want to volunteer or have a bed frame to pick up, call Steve at 815-347-3790.