Outreach

Goal:

We as a church would like to be a positive presence in the life of our community. We hope to find ways in which we can help and serve our local neighbors.

Reaching out to those in need is important to our Church and as part of the Outreach Commission there are many opportunities to do so. Working together as a Commission and with the assistance of volunteers we help organize and participate in a number of annual community events and continually seek to find additional opportunities to reach out to the local community.

We invite you to visit with us and learn more about what we do.

Activities:

The annual events we organize and participate in include the CROP Walk, a KID’s Fair, and a Christmas Fair with each described briefly below. In addition to our annual events, we have identified other areas and/or organizations that may benefit from our assistance and support. As a result we participate in and arrange food sorts at the Second Harvest Food Bank, we have assisted and organized volunteers for Habitat for Humanity projects, we host and/or sponsor local Halloween and Christmas parties, and we provide assistance to the San Jose Family Shelter.

Click here for a brochure on AHUMC outreach and mission projects

Crop Walk

The South Bay Walk for the Hungry (CROP Walk) generally occurs on a Sunday in late April. Each year, church groups like ours walk one or five miles to raise money to fight world and local hunger.  Funds raised fight world hunger through Church World Service while a quarter of the funds go directly to two local organizations, the Second Harvest Food Bank and Sacred Heart Community Service.

Kids Fair

In mid-August of each year we organize and host a Kids Fair for our local neighbors. The Kids Fair provides an opportunity for us and our neighbors to get to know one another and to come together and provide an entertaining day for children. At our annual Faire we provide hot dogs, and an assortment of beverages and treats to snack on. We also host a game and arts/crafts area, provide a jump house and to end the day we treat the children to a bird show put on by “Happy Birds”. Another highlight of the day is when we distribute free backpacks and school supplies to children in the neighborhood that have previously registered with us at San Jose’s Annual Night Out event.

Christmas Faire

Each year we partner with the Mission Commission to organize the annual Christmas Faire, which is held the Saturday before Thanksgiving each year from 9:00 am to noon. The Faire gives members and visitors the opportunity to start their holiday shopping early and an opportunity to fellowship and relax over a bowl of soup, bread and an assortment of beverages and snacks. We encourage everyone to come and “get into the holiday spirit”. The Faire offers many wonderful handmade crafts, and paintings as well as many beautiful items offered for sale from Africa, and the variety of wonderful plants, nuts, and fruits. In addition to the above, we also provide an opportunity for individuals to assist with the Heifer Project, to benefit Equal Exchange, a worker-owned Fair Trade organization, by purchasing fair trade coffee and chocolates, to sign up and donate Christmas Gifts for our Headstart Families and last but not least we offer for purchase a variety of cakes, pies, cookies, breads and other desserts for those with a sweet tooth.