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Ways to promote Readers to Leaders campaign

Posted on by James Deaton
Children at Gbloryee United Methodist School in Liberia.
Children from Gbloryee United Methodist School will receive scholarships funded by the Michigan Conference’s Readers to Leaders fundraising campaign. ~ photo courtesy Rev. Jon Reynolds

Raising at least $600 to fund scholarships for children in Michigan and Liberia is doable thanks to these resources created for the Readers to Leaders campaign.

Churches are invited to visit this web page containing resources to help churches promote and get involved in the Readers to Leaders fundraising campaign, which is raising money for scholarships to help send children to United Methodist-affiliated schools in Michigan and Liberia.

A link to the recording of the September 14 webinar launching the campaign is also found on this web page. More resources will be added in the coming days.

Participating Is Easy as A-B-C

At the 2022 Michigan Annual Conference, members voted overwhelmingly to support Readers to Leaders, which challenges each Michigan congregation to raise at least $600 before May 1, 2023. These funds will support three ministry efforts:

    1. Half of the funds will benefit the Liberia Scholarship Program of the Michigan Conference’s Liberia Ministry Partners. The goal of the program is to raise funds for 100 students for eight years of schooling.
    2. Half of the funds will benefit the Michigan Conference’s Children Defense Fund (CDF) Freedom Schools Program. The CDF Freedom Schools Program currently operates two sites in Michigan: Second Grace-St. Timothy UMC in Detroit and Flint: Bethel-Calvary UMCs.
    3. Finally, we are asking local churches to develop a missional commitment to a school in their own community. That might be an in-gathering of school supplies, offering tutoring, after-school programs, or weekend food programs for at-risk students. Read this article to learn 50 ways congregations can engage schools in their communities.

Ways to Raise $600

    • A special offering
    • Hold a meal
    • Create a “giving tree”
    • Sell used books
    • Rummage sale
    • Silent auction
    • Pop can return
    • Ask a member(s) to be a matching donor
    • Friendly competition between existing groups like UMW, UMM, Youth, committees, and teams
    • Host a 5K walk
    • Bake sale
    • Music concert
    • Divide the number of congregants into $600 and ask each congregant to give that amount (or some version of a direct ask)
    • Create a photo booth and charge to have participants’ photos taken.
    • Car wash

How to Give

Congregations ready to give to the campaign can submit a check to the Conference Treasurer with the phrase “Readers to Leaders Campaign” in the memo.

Individuals can also give online by clicking this secure link.

Last Updated on September 20, 2022

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The Michigan Conference