Special offering to benefit three ministries
All funds collected during conference worship services and received online through June 30 will be totaled and distributed evenly to three ministries: the Africa University Tractor Fund, Dig Deep Appalachia Water Project, and the Reparations Fund of the United Methodist Foundation of West Virginia.
To give online please follow this link. Thank you for your generous support of these vital ministries!
Churches may join in to give until June 30, 2023 by mailing a Church Remittance form along with a check made payable to the WV Conference Treasurer. On the remittance form, please indicate “2023 Annual Conference Special Offering Fund.” This allows credit to be given to your church on your monthly statement.
Africa University Tractor Fund
More than 1,200 students from 36 African countries attend Africa University in Mutare, Zimbabwe, and many of them are agriculture majors whose hands-on learning projects supply food for those on campus. But farming in the region can be challenging — especially without functional equipment. Your gift will go not only toward purchasing tractors for this 30-year-old United Methodist institution, but toward the future of Africa.
Dig Deep Appalachia Water Project
Nearly 400 families in West Virginia’s southern coalfields live without access to clean drinking water. Dig Deep, a human rights nonprofit serving the more than 2.2 million Americans without access to clean drinking water, is on a mission to help. Your support will strengthen the partnership established through the 2022 AC Water Resolution between The West Virginia United Methodist Church and Dig Deep’s Appalachian Water Project.
The Reparations Fund of the United Methodist Foundation of West Virginia
In May of 2022, an anonymous donor established The Reparations Fund of the United Methodist Foundation of West Virginia, saying: “I do not believe our country can heal from the wounds of slavery until we acknowledge the damage done by slavery and our responsibility to make amends for that harm. It’s not about being a ‘white hero’ or even an ally, it’s about recognizing that our country — through wage theft, segregation, and denial of opportunity — systematically took wealth from our African American sisters and brothers and that there is a moral responsibility to return that wealth to its rightful owners.” (Read the full article here)
Your support will be used for projects relating to reparations to the African American community as identified by a steering committee of representatives including the West Virginia Annual Conference Commission on Religion and Race or Committee on Ethnic Local Church Concerns; Charleston Black Ministerial Alliance; a young adult who is African American; the NAACP, as well as other representatives of the African American community in West Virginia.