Gotta Love Those UMW

The role of the United Methodist Women cannot be understated. They do so much to raise awareness of issues surrounding justice and mission in our church. I’ve always appreciated their efforts to raise money and do good. I haven’t always been the greatest UMW member; school has kept me from many meetings. So, when I was asked to help update the UMW directory for Oak Haven, I wanted to do something special. I couldn’t quite put my finger on what that would be. After all, this is only a directory. All the information was in order; I just had to delete names and addresses no longer applicable.

What was a pastor to do?

Then it hit me. I conferred with the UMW president about my idea. She thought it was a good, but was unsure how the ladies would react. We wondered if a few members wouldn’t appreciate the effort. However, we concluded most of them would might. All together the project took several months to complete.

We began by asking each UMW member to bring in a picture of themselves. There were several we had to return. The pictures had to be from, at least, this decade, but preferably from only a few years back. We had to be able to recognize who they were! Once we finally received everyone’s pictures we were ready. One of the members of the group is a caricature artist. So, of course, we put together a caricature pictorial directory. Oh, this was so not your grandma’s UMW directory.

The ladies loved it! It was like Jr High all over again. Everyone wanted to get their yearbook directory signed by everyone in the group. I wrote in one, “You’re cool. Don’t ever change!” I hope it is something to keep around for a while, and maybe a fun way to introduce new members to the group. The laughs, the very loud laughs and smiles were worth every minute at the computer and copy machine. Each lady also received their original caricature. Thanks, Micki for all of your work!

At this point there are twenty members of the group. The directories included 1) a one page listing of members with phone numbers 2) Officers for the year 3) UMW mission statement 4) caricatures of each member 5) a birthday listing 6) alphabetical directory listing and 7) extra page for new members. We printed color copies on our office machine. We gave these to the group, but each directory cost approximately $5 to print. So, it wasn’t a costly project. Who knows, maybe it’s something you can do.

Have you thanked a United Methodist woman today?