According to the Rev. Jack Henton, chair of the Memphis Conference Anti-Lottery Task Force, the Rev. Tom Grey, executive director of the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling, will be present at Annual Conference 2002.

"Grey will kick off the anti-lottery effort in Tennessee," Henton said. The task force will provide to conference delegates a printed guide to the issues, educational material that can be used in small forums such as Sunday School classes, and cards for delegates to sign that will commit them to work against the lottery.

Lambuth University and The Jane Hyde Scott Center for Christian Studies announced plans for its annual series of travel programs abroad. The trip will depart in June 2002, and will feature excursions to Northern Greece and the Peloponnese, as well as a Mediterranean Cruise. The cruise will visit the islands of Mykonos, Santorini, Crete, Thodes, Kusadasi, and Patmos.

Interested travelers should contact Dr. Joseph Thornton, Chaplain of Lambuth University, at 731-425-3240 or by e-mail at thornton@lambuth.edu.

Wesley Senior Ministries is hosting its Second Annual Golf Benefit on September 17 at Stonebridge Golf Course. Proceeds from the tournament will support Wesley’s ministry to older adults. Wesley provides comfortable, affordable housing for more than 2300 elderly and disabled residents in 28 communities.

Stonebridge Golf Course is in Lakeland, Tenn. on the Davies Plantation Road. The tournament will be a 1:30 p.m. shotgun start, four-person scramble with prizes for all three flights. Prizes will also be awarded for Closest to the Pin, Longest Drive, Putting Contest and Hole-in-One. Dinner will follow at St. Paul’s UMC. The deadline for registration is Sept. 12. The cost is $75 per player with $45 of the fee tax-deductible. Per 4-person team cost is $300 ($180 tax-deductible). For information, contact Jack Henton or Michelle Redick at (901) 324-0452.

A Pennsylvania prison ministry is misrepresenting its affiliation with the U.M. Church’s Board of Global Ministries to gain access to local congregations. GBGM is warning annual conferences of the misrepresentation. Neither the "Blessed Redeemer Church" in Pennsylvania nor Keith Smith nor Lara Zindel are working in conjunction with GBGM or any other UMC agency. Blessed Redeemer is not a UM church and isn’t recognized by any mainline denomination. Churches near prisons or churches with prison ministries are the most likely to be contacted.

The UMVIM Rally will also include workshops on Saturday designed to give volunteers new and enhanced tools for use in mission service. Some of the topics covered include Leadership Training, the Mission Cottage, Expanding Your Comfort Zone, and a special hands-on workshop on utilizing new digital AV technology for telling your mission story.

Featured during the weekend will be the Sierra Leone Family Choir of Memphis.

Providing leadership as Dean of the Rally is Nancy Eubanks, Memphis Conference UMVIM Coordinator. For more information, call (404) 377-7424 or email: sejinfo@umvim.org.

We’ve all heard, "One person’s junk is another’s treasure."

But at Reelfoot Rural Ministries, many persons’ discards (some of which might appear to be junk) have become other persons’ hope for the future.

Through our annual 200-mile Yard Sale, Reelfoot is giving hope to hundreds of children, the elderly, and low-income families.

Although this year’s Yard Sale didn’t reach our participation goal of 200 churches, it did surpass last year’s total. As of April 26, 58 churches, groups and individuals sent money or reports totaling $14,796.52.

We also expect to receive donations from a few others who have not yet notified us of their participation. That’s an increase of $5,417.15 over last year–and last year posted an increase over the year before.

As you can see, the event keeps getting bigger and bigger every year.

But more important than breaking records is what we can accomplish with the money.

The proceeds from the sale will be used throughout our programs. In Day Care alone, the proceeds from this year’s yard sale equals two months and six days scholarships for every child enrolled in day care. (We currently have 40 children enrolled.)

And if (or when) 200 churches conduct yard sales, the impact on people’s lives will be even more marvelous.

At this year’s success rate, 200 churches would collect an amount equal to eight months of scholarships for every child enrolled in Reelfoot’s Day Care Centers.

What a difference a few discards and lots of hard work can make!

To all those who conducted yard sales this year, we at Reelfoot say, "Thanks!"

And we urge all churches and groups to begin planning now for next year’s event which is scheduled for Saturday, April 12, 2003. Alternate dates are acceptable if your church or group has a conflict.

Help us make this an annual event that changes the lives of hundreds of people who need a helping hand and an encouraging word.

Your "junk" could be some child’s future, some hungry person’s meal, some homeless family’s new start in life, some grieving person’s comfort and encouragement.

Please don’t throw away something that could bring hope to a child of God.

Of course, much of what is sold in yard sales can also be used year-round at Reelfoot in our Thrift Store, Household Items or Furniture Distribution.

Don’t discard Hope!

Miss Ruby has lived on the hill for most of her 76 years. That’s what locals call the high ground that climbs steeply out of the rich delta farmlands of northwest Tennessee.

The hill is a patchwork of small hardscrabble farms like Ruby Erwin's 46-acre homeplace. Dotted here and there you’ll see mobile homes like the one just down the lane –the one in which Miss Ruby’s brother, Richard Burppo, is slowly dying of cancer.

Miss Ruby’s house, an inheritance from her parents, has sheltered her and the dogs and cats who keep her company since her husband left her a few years ago.

"I can’t work," Miss Ruby explained, rubbing her swollen ankles and placing a careful hand on the elusive pain in her side.

"The doctor tells me I’ve got the cripplin’ arthritis. And now I’ve lost a right smart of weight. I’m not sure just why."

It isn’t easy for Miss Ruby, living on the hill. Her house doesn’t have indoor plumbing, there’s no bathtub, no shower, no commode, no vanity.

She washes herself in the kitchen sink. Perched out back is an outhouse built around six years ago by a work team from Reelfoot Rural Ministries, a agency of the Memphis Conference.

The elderly woman can’t make repairs to her water-damaged home by herself and she has no children to do it for her. Her monthly income, a check for $565 from Social Security, won’t buy materials or pay for labor.

"Miss Ruby fits the profile of the people we want to help," said Bob Fritchey, Reelfoot’s Community Services Director.

Fritchey explained that Reelfoot is working with the United States Department of Agriculture to provide safe, well-built homes. The USDA’s Section 504 grant program provides up to $7,500 for low-income, rural homeowners to modernize or improve their homes.

Reelfoot has been assigned five of the grants. "The only stipulation to the grant," Fritchey said, "is if they sell the house in three years, they have to pay back the money. Otherwise, the grant is forgiven."

Reelfoot, according to Fritchey, looks over applications for grants and makes a determination as to eligibility.

"Then we provide the labor using our volunteer work force. We use the grant money for supplies and for professional labor when we need special skills," he said.

In Miss Ruby’s case, Fritchey is bringing in a big work team on May 28 from Jackson, Tenn.’s First United Methodist Church. Curtis Hudson, the church’s youth minister, says his Jackson First team will have at least 30 youth and 10 adults to work on the house. First Christian Church in nearby Alamo, embarking on its first mission trip, is sending a team of 12 youth and three adults to work with and learn from the United Methodists.

"We’ll be there four days, working from dawn to dark," Hudson said. "During that time, we expect to replace the roof, fix the rot underneath, re-shingle, insulate and put siding on the house, re-wire, re-plumb, build a bathroom from the ground up, provide new walls and ceilings in the kitchen, bathroom and living room, paint everything we can paint, put in new light fixtures, get her new or nearly new appliances, and put in some flower beds!"

Third-, fourth- and fifth-graders from the Jackson First will plant the flowers

But the best part of all, Hudson said, will be getting to know Miss Ruby.

"Missions like these teach our young adults what it means to serve," he said. "The people we help have the most amazing stories. These are people just struggling to make it."

Fritchey says he has 61 applications from people in the area who need help.

"We hope to help most of them," he said. "So far in 2002, we’ve worked with 17. We’d love to have more adult work groups involved."

For her part, Miss Ruby says she loves Reelfoot. "And I’ll be tickled about my house!"