United Church of Rogers Park Outreach Ministries

Extending the Season in the Children's Garden

2010-11-12T12:23:00.000-08:00

This photo, taken yesterday, shows seedlings planted in mid-October by youth in the After School Program. While the temperatures are generally cooling down (not that today's weather is any indication of the trend!), we have been able to extend our growing season with the use of a cold frame, a rudimentary device that acts as a mini greenhouse. With this simple technology, our students are able to grow radishes, spinach, carrots, and other cold-hardy crops well into the cold season. Later this month, we will enjoy the fruits of our labor with a fresh, winter salad as we discuss the importance of healthy foods.

Stay tuned for more photos and updates as our plants continue to grow!

Kids Camp 2010

2010-08-31T13:54:00.000-07:00

"God's fingerprints are everywhere!" This was our focus for the 2010 Kid's Camp as we gathered together to learn about how God is everywhere in our lives. We spent five weeks learning about how God is in our selves, our friends and family, our neighbors, our community, and in creation. We had almost 80 children registered and an average attendance of 58 children.

This summer we were able to hire 10 staff members through grants from Alternatives Inc. and Family Matters. These staff brought stability to the program by providing staff members who were able to work all five weeks of Kid's Camp. Thank you to our staff!

This camp would not be possible without the help of volunteers. We would like to thank the groups from First UMC in Downers Grove, Church of the Resurrection in Leland, KS, Littleton UMC from Littleton, CO, Oxford-University UMC from Oxford, MS, and groups from D.O.O.R. Chicago who volunteered throughout Kid's Camp to give extra hands. Thank you to Jon, Julia, and Joe who taught dance and music. A special thanks goes out to the people from United Church of Rogers Park who helped out; thanks to Stuart Salvatierra, Carol Corey, Eileen Martin, Carol Gloor, and Pat Williams.

Garden Days

2010-07-19T14:27:00.000-07:00

Changes have been happening in front of the Ashland house this summer. During the first week in June, youth from Church of the Resurrection - UMC's west campus in Olathe, KS helped install four raised beds for vegetables. Several Saturdays ago we held a garden day. Church members and children from the afterschool program joined together and planted tomatoes, sweet potatoes, peppers, basil, and many other vegetables. Each week on Thursday afternoon, Peter Hoy is giving garden classes to neighborhood children where they learn about where the food we eat comes from and other gardening skills. Peter came to UCRP as a Loyola student working in the afterschool program and this summer is helping with the garden. We hope by the end of the summer the garden will be overflowing with fresh vegetables!

2010-06-11T08:25:00.000-07:00

Summer has begun at United Church of Rogers Park and this means mission trips! This past weekend, we had high school youth from the Church of the Resurrection in Lewood, KS's east campus in Olathe, KS here on a mission trip for our first mission trip team of the summer.

This team worked hard! They painted the entire house that we will be using for mission trips during the summer and then to house an intentional community in the fall, they put in raised beds that will soon be planted with vegetables in front of the house, organized all the art supplies in a new closet they built, and brought a crew that set up and networked all the computers in the library. The crew worked hard but also took some time to enjoy themselves by going down to Devon Avenue to try Indian food and spending one day of their trip downtown eating the famous Chicago deep dish pizza, visiting Millenium Park, and doing a boat tour of the city.

2010-04-13T14:44:00.000-07:00

Each Tuesday afternoon, the Overdier Hall in the United Church of Rogers Park becomes a Tae Kwan Do center. The children are participating in a peacemakers Tae Kwan Do program led by Tim Peebles. The goal is that the children will be able to use Tae Kwan Do as a positive outlet for their energy and that they will learn body control that can help them in stressful situations. It is through this program that we are hoping to build children who are peacemakers and who can help bring peace to our neighborhood.

Please check out our video to learn about why Tim, our Tae Kwan Do instructor, sees Tae Kwan Do as a way to help the youth in our neighborhood.

2010-03-17T09:14:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday we had a team visit from Groupon who helped to liven up some of our children's education wing. They painted quotes in the library, hung up bulletin boards and posters, gave fresh, new coats of paint to the stairway and blue room, organized our resource room, and more. Thanks to their help, our children's education wing is now a much more friendly place!

Change for Change

2010-02-23T10:10:00.001-08:00

During the season of Lent we are challenging people to join our "Change for Change" project. We encourage you to save all of your change and then after Easter count it up. Send a check to the church at 1545 W Morse Ave, Chicago, IL 60626 or donate online the amount that you've saved. Through a little bit of change we can make big changes in our neighborhood!

2010-02-05T10:20:00.000-08:00

2nd Floor Renovations

2009-12-30T11:02:00.000-08:00

The last month has been a busy one for the second floor and children's ministries of the United Church of Rogers Park. If you haven't been upstairs to see changes that have occurred, please take some time to visit and see the transformation.

While working on a mission trip at UCRP with her youth group from Downers Grove First United Methodist, Jenny felt called to do something more than her week of service. She decided that she wanted to help create a children's library for the children's ministries at UCRP as a part of her project for her Gold Award in Girl Scouting. But, sometimes God has a bigger vision than we can see and soon the project grew from creating a library to helping to renovate the entire second floor of the church. Jenny was able to raise over $3,000 and acquire donations of computers, tables, and children's books.

Through Jenny's project, new flooring was bought for the blue room, the floors in the classrooms were stripped and refinished, a new computer was purchased, and she cataloged and organized hundreds of books for the children's library.

This all means that the second floor of the church now houses a children's library, an education resource room, a computer lab, a multipurpose meeting room, a large open

space, a classroom and a nursery. These rooms are already being put to use and will continue to offer space for children's ministries, meetings, and other uses.

We would like to thank Jenny and the youth from Downers Grove First United Methodist church for all their hard work.

Holiday Cheer for All

2009-12-27T09:40:00.001-08:00

Christmas cheer flowed throughout the building at the United Church of Rogers Park on December 22. 40 families gathered together for the 2009 Holiday Cheer program. Mark Bowman and his family cooked a delicious vegetarian meal, and church members mingled and served the food. After dinner, everyone came together to sing Christmas carols and make Christmas cards. At the end of the night, 86 children received gifts that were generously donated from the angel tree at United Church of Rogers Park and Trinity United Methodist in Willmette. Each family also received a gift card for groceries thanks to donations from The Glenwood, Davis-Miller Design in Winnetka, and generous church members.

This Summer at United Church...

2009-09-29T10:34:00.000-07:00

Weeks of preparation, interns raising funds to be here, mission teams and groups coming to support us, and 75 children from the Rogers Park neighborhood, have come together to fulfill a need in this community.

Jesus taught in Matthew 19: 13-15, that the little Children were to be brought to him to be blessed, and further goes on to discuss that the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to the children.

Is it not outstanding that the Kingdom of Heaven is being realized right here at United Church of Rogers Park. The goal of our summer camp is to bring children to a place like Jesus described, a place where safety and education happen, a place where love abounds, and hospitality is shown to all children who walk through our doors; truly the Kingdom of Heaven, realized! It is with this attitude we come to work and inspire those who come to work with us, in awesome and empowering ways.

With hopes, dreams, and powerful messages, we help the children to realize that the Church, is a safe environment for them to cling to in their time of need and in their time of greatness.

Safe Summer and Peace Walk

2009-06-10T10:28:00.000-07:00

The Rev. Jesse Jackson and TV news crews came to our community’s United Church of Rogers Park for a Safe Summer Rally and Peace March today (6-10-09). The event, featured on WLS-TV 7 News, was attended by over 100 church members, community residents and activists, and civic leaders supporting Chicago’s citywide campaign to stop gun and gang violence.

Our Pastor Catiana McKay, speaking at the event at our church at 1545 W. Morse Ave, addressed the anti-violence theme powerfully. Pastor McKay noted, “When we begin to make peace as the way that we live and we claim a neighborhood for peace, our communities change. I would like to see peace poles all over this community to claim that there is no space for violence here. We are here to transform that.”

The high incidence of violence in Rogers Park, including the December, 2008 stabbing murder of 16-year-old Isaiah Stroud outside the Jarvis CTA station, and other city neighborhoods with an even higher crime rate were noted in the television station’s story (copied below). A key factor in how we combat crime is how we address the needs of youth. Our Deacon Wesley Dorr outlined the year-round and summer youth programs delivered at United Church, and also spoke to the need for more programs and activities to serve Rogers Park’s youth.

Other participants at today’s event at United Church included the Rev. Jesse Jackson (who called our city’s murder rate “a state of emergency”), Sarita Villareal of Save A Life, The Illinois Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, Cease Fire and the Chicago Police Department.

As chairman of our church board of trustees, I join Pastor McKay in “claiming our neighborhood for peace.” I’m also proud that our congregation continues to be proactive on critical issues facing our community and that we are working to help unite our neighbors in common cause.
Information on United Church of Rogers Park and the work we do is available at our web site at http://www.ucrogerspark.org/index.htm or by calling us at (773) 761-2500.

Peace,
Michael J. Harrington
Chair of United Church Board of Trustees