Mennonite Central Committee
Ohio Mennonite Relief Sale will be an in-person event this year
Wooster, Ohio — For 56 years, the Mennonite, Brethren, Apostolic and Amish churches of northeastern Ohio have worked together to create a festive event that raises funds for the work of Mennonite Central Committee. After a COVID-limited virtual auction in 2020, the Ohio Mennonite Relief Sale will return in person Aug. 6 and 7. The event will take place in…
MCC offers virtual tour of borderlands
Mennonite Central Committee is offering a Virtual Borderlands Learning Tour June 28-July 2. Sessions will take place from 3 to 6 p.m. each day. This virtual learning tour is designed to engage participants with the reality of immigration from a different perspective. The Ohio Conference Immigration Resource Team is encouraging everyone to consider participating in this learning tour. See http://bit.ly/VirtualBorderlandsLearningTour for…
MCC needs relief kit donations
Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) needs more relief kits. MCC reports that its partners have requested 27,000 relief kits this year. But due to the pandemic, MCC’s Material Resources warehouse inventory is significantly lower this year than it was at this time last year. In order to meet this need, MCC needs your help. Learn more at https://mcc.org/get-involved/kits/relief.
MCC seeks summer staff for SWAP
SWAP summer staff needed! Mennonite Central Committee’s Sharing With Appalachia People (SWAP) program is in need of job site coordinators and meals coordinators to support home repair projects in Kimball, West Virginia, or Harlan, Kentucky. Applicants should be at least 19 years old, but these paid roles are not limited to young adults. For more information and to apply, visit…
Ohio Mennonite Relief Sale
The 2021 Ohio Mennonite Relief Sale will take place Aug. 6-7 at the Wayne County Fairgrounds in Wooster. Please see the event brochure for details. Ohio Mennonite Relief Sale – brochure-2021
Join MCC’s Great Winter Warm-up
Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) invites you to join the Great Winter Warm-up: At Home this winter. Last year, countless volunteers generously gave their time and talents to create more than 9,000 comforters at events across Canada, the U.S. and Europe. This year, MCC is asking people to stay safe and participate by making comforters at home instead. More information, including…
MCC podcast tells stories of migration
Check out the new “On the Move — En Movimiento” podcast from Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) that uses storytelling to challenge current narratives of migration. In the first episode, Ron Byler, recently retired executive director for MCC U.S., reflects on his January 2020 pilgrimage along the southern U.S. border. Ron drove and walked along the border wall and visited with…
Ohio MCC Comforter Bash is postponed
The Ohio MCC Comforter Bash originally scheduled for April 2021 has been postponed for one year. In the meantime, MCC encourages you to continue making comforters for MCC in your homes or churches. These handmade comforters bring hope and comfort to the people who receive them. They provide not only warmth, but also a tangible message that their needs are…
Hurricane recovery donations sought
Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) asks for support for Central American hurricane recovery: Not one hurricane, but two hurricanes within two weeks have caused extensive flooding in Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua. Hurricanes Eta and Iota have destroyed crops and forced people from their homes. MCC is working with churches and community organizations to provide emergency food, hygiene supplies and cleanup support.…
Board to discuss 2020 relief sale results
The Ohio Mennonite Relief Sale Board will discuss results from the 2020 sale during a Zoom meeting Nov. 23 at 7 p.m. If you would like to join this meeting and hear about the results, see https://bit.ly/ReliefSaleWrap-Up.
Ohio Mennonite Relief Sale goes online
In mid-March, it all came to a stop. As with many other events, the global pandemic hindered the planning for the 55th annual Ohio Mennonite Relief Sale. Many relief sales around the nation and Canada were cancelled, leaving Mennonite Central Committee short on funding. With this in mind, the Ohio sale planning committee has committed to an online auction only,…
MCC seeks donations of school kits
With the start of the new school year imminent, Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) is asking for your help. MCC needs an additional 70,000 school kits to fulfill requests from their partners around the world this year. Making a kit is a fun and easy way to provide life-changing support to children in need. To learn how to pack a school…
MCC plans centennial livestream celebration July 26
Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) will celebrate its centennial year with a virtual event on Sunday, July 26, at 6:30 p.m. EDT. MCC will be broadcasting live from Prairie Street Mennonite Church in Elkhart, Indiana, the site of an important first meeting in the formation of MCC when representatives of various Mennonite and Mennonite Brethren groups met in July 1920. This…
MCC plans centennial livestream celebration
Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) will celebrate its centennial year with a virtual event on Sunday, July 26, at 6:30 p.m. EDT. MCC will be broadcasting live from Prairie Street Mennonite Church in Elkhart, Indiana, the site of an important first meeting in the formation of MCC. This livestream event will feature a combination of live and pre-recorded speakers and music.…
MCC U.S. names next executive director
Ann Graber Hershberger has been named the next executive director of Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) U.S. She will begin her new role in October 2020 as current executive director J. Ron Byler retires. The shift reflects a leadership plan determined in 2019 and affirmed by the organization’s board of directors at their June 20 meeting. Hershberger began as associate executive director following…
Webinar to explore immigration policy effect on COVID-19 spread
Mennonite Central Committee’s webinar series on immigration continues June 16: Tuesday, June 16 at 2 p.m. EST: “MCC’s migration work in Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala/El Salvador” free immigration webinar. In the continuing six-part webinar series on immigration and border realities, MCC staff and partners will discuss how U.S. policies and protocols are affecting the spread of the coronavirus among vulnerable populations in Latin…
Donut Day fundraiser to benefit MCC
Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) is inviting everyone to celebrate National Donut Day on June 5 by joining MCC’s social media baking party. Due to COVID-19, many spring and summer MCC relief sales have been postponed or canceled. These events raised more than $2.2 million last year alone. Any funds raised on National Donut Day will go to MCC’s “Where needed…
Black Swamp Benefit canceled, donations sought
The 2020 Black Swamp Benefit has been canceled, but all are encouraged to contribute online to this fundraiser, which benefits Sunshine Inc. and Mennonite Central Committee. To donate, log on to Facebook and search for @blackswampbenefit. You can contribute to this fundraiser by clicking on the post with the “donate” button. The goal for this online fundraiser is $10,000.
Website offers faith-based resources for abuse response and prevention
Mennonite Central Committee, with support from CommonWord, has launched a resource website addressing issues of abuse for faith communities and their members. The website includes resources on intimate partner abuse, healthy relationships, sexual violence, clergy sexual abuse, and how to offer support to survivors of abuse and assist those perpetrating harm. To access these resources, go to abuseresponseandprevention.ca.
Applications pour in for COVID-19 Congregational Relief Fund
By Susan Kim GOSHEN, Indiana — Anabaptist churches in the U.S. have submitted more than 200 applications to the new COVID-19 Congregational Relief Fund since its launch on April 13, 2020. The great majority of the applications have come from churches serving racially or ethnically diverse communities – congregations whose needs center around lost jobs and income that have led…
Ohio Mennonite Relief Sale Auction
Due to the uncertainty COVID-19 has brought to our lives, the Ohio Mennonite Relief Sale Board has decided to hold an online auction only rather than a physical event and auction this year. Many auctions of all types have been cancelled or at least postponed. Plans are to still offer items from the quilt and wood auctions, as well as…
MCC postpones centennial picnic
Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) is carefully monitoring the evolving COVID-19 pandemic and adjusting plans to help mitigate its impact and keep people safe. Therefore, we have made the decision to postpone the MCC Great Lakes Centennial Celebration Picnic in Kidron originally scheduled for Saturday, May 2. We will keep you updated on plans to reschedule as those develop. In the…
Immigrant detainee care kits are touching lives
From Mennonite Central Committee Great Lakes: Thank you for your generous, heart-warming response to the desperate needs of migrants in crisis at the southern U.S. border! Since June 2019, churches and individuals across the Great Lakes region donated more than 350 kits and more than $65,000. MCC has provided a fact sheet which shows how your gifts are being utilized through…
Join MCC’s Great Winter Warm-up
Make plans to join MCC’s Great Winter Warm-up at Toledo Mennonite! Mennonite Central Committee will kick off its centennial celebration year with comforter knotting events across the U.S., Canada and Europe. On Saturday, Jan. 11, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. people of all ages are invited to Toledo Mennonite Church, 5501 Nebraska Avenue, Toledo, for the Great Winter Warm-up comforter…
The Great Winter Warm-up
Mennonite Central Committee is kicking off its centennial celebration year with comforter knotting events across the U.S., Canada and Europe. On Saturday, Jan. 11, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. people of all ages are invited to Toledo Mennonite Church, 5501 Nebraska Avenue, Toledo, for the Great Winter Warm-up comforter knotting event. For more information, contact Lora Gingerich at loragingerich@gmail.com.
Local congregations pack 175 immigrant detainee care kits
By Jennifer Steiner MCC Great Lakes On Oct. 2, area congregations gathered at Orrville Mennonite Church to learn about the current situation for border detainees and to work together on a tangible response. In a little over an hour, volunteers had packed 175 immigration detainee care kits to provide much-needed supplies for those being released from border detention. Volunteers assembled…
Immigration event to include care kit assembly
You’re invited to share God’s love and give your support to immigrant detainees on our southern border. Open Arms Hispanic Ministries invites you to come Wednesday, Oct. 2, at 7 p.m. for an immigration information update and MCC Immigration Detainee Care Kit assembly at Orrville Mennonite Church, 1305 W. Market St., Orrville. A representative from Mennonite Central Committee will provide…
Ohio Mennonite Relief Sale to include online bidding
The 54th Annual Ohio Mennonite Relief Sale and Auction will take place Aug. 2-3 at the Wayne County Fairgrounds in Wooster. New this year is the option to purchase quilts online at www.ohiomccreliefsale.org. Until Aug. 1 a select number of quilts are available for purchase at posted “buy it now” prices. Quilts not purchased by Aug. 1 will be added…
MCC offers to waive fee for borderlands tour
Mennonite Central Committee is sponsoring a Mexico-U.S. Borderlands Learning Tour May 22-26, 2019. A few openings remain for this tour, and MCC has offered to waive the $550 registration fee for pastors and church leaders from its Anabaptist constituency. The only cost for these participants will be the flight to Arizona. For more information, see http://bit.ly/MCCBorderlandsTour.
Ohio Mennonite Relief Sale and Auction
The Ohio Mennonite Relief Sale and Auction is held the first Friday and Saturday of August each year. The sale raises funds for Mennonite Central Committee. For more information, see the relief sale website.