Volunteering at the garden is a great way to get the whole family involved in helping others. Please consider getting a few nights of volunteering this spring and summer. Many hands make light work, and it truly takes many hands!

Regular work nights will be Mondays and Thursdays from 5:30-7:30pm starting April 29. Currently, we will have two Saturdays where the leadership team is planning to focus on the bulk of the planting and some other work needed to get the garden off to a great start. They will be on Saturday, May 4, and Saturday, May 11 from 8:00am-noon. Sign up HERE for the dates that work for you. Make sure to watch our Facebook page throughout the season as well.

We want small groups, community members and organizations, families, individuals, and ANYONE! Produce will benefit the clients of Ankeny Service Center right here in Ankeny this year. ​

In April, we will be collecting monetary donations that will support camp scholarships for children and youth. Attending the United Methodist Camps at Wesley Woods or Okoboji, or a week at Summer Games University can get expensive. These scholarships help our church family offset some of the costs of camp. Let's help kids have a great summer and help provide them with a life-long impact on their faith journey! Give by writing "April Mission of the Month" on your check memo or simply give online. 

Volunteers Needed for Meals We Serve to Des Moines Agencies

YMCA Supportive Housing Meal Eight volunteers are needed each 3rd Tuesday of the month to manage a meal for the residents of the YMCA Supportive Housing Campus in Des Moines. The eight volunteers share the duties of meal prep, serving and clean-up. You are needed by 5:45pm and you will be finished up by 7:45pm. If you are brand new to this mission opportunity, there will be people there to assist you and get you going with needed tasks. Sign up here.

Trinity Supper Club Meals: First Wednesdays AND Fourth Tuesdays
A team of volunteers meets at the Christian Life Center to prepare meals and deliver them to Trinity Las Americas in downtown Des Moines, which goes to the community and after-school children. To make that happen, we need you! There are opportunities to bake cookies, prep meals, or deliver meals.

• First Wednesdays: Please sign up HERE.
• Fourth Tuesdays: Please sign up HERE.

Central Iowa Shelter & Services Meal Join us as we serve a meal for our neighbors at Central Iowa Homeless Shelter in Des Moines on the 21st of each month. This is a wonderful way to respond to God's love and command to love our neighbors. There are opportunities to help with serving the meal, and driving the food and helpers down to the shelter. Find more information and register here.

MONDAY MEALS We need your help. We do all the meal preparation and serving from the Uptown Fellowship Hall kitchen.

You can help in a number of different ways.

• You can buy the items listed on the signup sheet and bring them to church on Sunday, or Monday before the meal.
• You can provide a wonderful homemade meal of the designated menu item for the week and drop it off hot around 4:00 to 4:15 pm on Monday or a day ahead and put it in the refrigerator and we will warm it up for you. For those of you who like to bake, we need cookies and bars too!
• Volunteer to help put the items together in the kitchen - no cooking talent needed. Just a willing hand and the ability to put up with a little silliness along the way (Have you met Kate and Rhonda?). This is the Kitchen Prep slot on the signup sheet.
• Serve the meals to cars that pull up in the parking lot outside Fellowship Hall. You just need the ability to remember the number they tell you and pick up that number of meals from the kitchen and walk back outside. This is the outdoor serving slot on the signup sheet.
• Donate towards the containers that we serve the meals in - just designate "Monday Meals" with your gift.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050845ACA62EA13-monday

It feeds our souls as we feed Ankeny. If you have any questions, please email Kate, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

WE WILL PAUSE FOR THE SUMMER. THE LAST MEAL WILL BE SERVED ON MAY 20. WE WILL RESUME ON AUGUST 12, 2024.

What a great way to respond to God’s love in our community! Every pint saves or sustains another life! Sign up for our April 30 Blood Drive at our Uptown location, 1:00-6:00pm. Register at www.lifeservebloodcenter.org. Questions? Contact Judy Ruble, 515.729.9482.

Families Forward's Bidwell Pantry needs our help! United Women in Faith (UWIF) have scheduled a workday for Saturday, May 18 from 9:00 a.m. to noon. Projects are available for all ages and abilities from stocking shelves, hanging donated clothing, cleaning, organizing, making kits, etc. Please join our Ankeny First group and see how Bidwell Pantry functions as the largest distribution center in Iowa.

We will be carpooling from the north Uptown parking lot leaving promptly at 8:30 a.m. Or come and go throughout the mornings as it fits your schedule. Your support and assistance are needed! Address: 1203 Hartford Ave, Des Moines, IA 50315.

Questions? Mary Johnson (515) 771-5591 from Ankeny First

VIEW THIS VIDEO to hear more about Bidwell and how they utilize volunteers like you!

• Help Families Forward with these needs! They immediately need used plastic grocery bags (or any kind of grocery bags) for the food pantry AND laundry detergent pods.
• Most needed donations for YMCA Supportive Housing right now! Toilet paper, plastic trash bags (13 gallon), and gently used silverware (especially forks).

Bring all items to the Uptown site and place them in the marked bins in the "old" library.

Find instructions HERE!