Team Grace UMC 

Our goal this year is $1,500.
(We did it last year, we can do it again.)

Donate using the church online Aware3 system (option 5)

Donate to the Grace Team

2026 CROP Hunger Walk – Grace UMC Newport News VA

We need you to support this year’s CROP Walk to help make an impact on needs in our community and around the world – the needs of those who are hungry, those who are homeless, those who need some help making a better life for themselves, for their family, for the world. We have the privilege and opportunity to help make a difference in the lives of those who are so afflicted.

CROP Hunger Walks are community-based, fundraising walk events held in cities and towns across the United States, created to support the global mission of Church World Service, a faith-based organization transforming communities around the globe through just and sustainable responses to hunger, poverty, displacement and disaster.

Every year our number of participants decreases, and the number in need increases.  October 18 we will band together with others in the community to make a difference, one that we cannot make alone. When you join this movement, you will provide life-saving support like emergency food, along with the seeds, tools and programs that will help families feed themselves in the future. After a CROP Hunger Walk ends, 25% of the funds raised is returned to the host community to support local hunger fighting efforts.

Hunger is one of the greatest injustices facing our world, but it doesn’t have to be this way. Ending hunger is possible in our lifetime. You can help make it happen. Register for your local CROP Hunger Walk, raise funds, or simply donate, and take us one step closer to ending hunger once and for all. Join the movement.

We encourage donations to be made online, but you can make a donation by check (made out to Grace UMC and please add CROP Walk on the memo or note line), cash (write on your envelop CROP Walk), or credit card using the following link.  This is the link to the Grace donation page: 
2026 CROP Hunger Walk – Grace UMC Newport News VA

 Scan with your smart phone, code will take you to Grace UMC page.

You can sign up to walk and raise funds by signing up on the Grace UMC team page or by contacting Gloria Moore.  In the days and weeks ahead, urge your family and friends to join us for the walk and make a donation. 

In addition to the funds we are raising to fight hunger, both locally and globally, again this year we invite you to bring canned goods for those wishing to contribute to the local Food Bank and full-size hygiene products (lotion, soap, toothpaste, shampoo, etc.) for THRIVE.

Operation Christmas Child

 You are invited to participate in Operation Christmas Child to bring joy to children who live in circumstances of dire poverty and limited opportunities.  It is an outreach project in which shoeboxes of gifts are sent to children around the world. Many of these children have never received a gift of any kind, but when these gifts are delivered along with an opportunity to learn about Jesus and God’s love for them, they are doubly blessed.  Operation Christmas Child is sponsored by Samaritan’s Purse, an international, nondenominational, Christian relief and evangelism organization.  Please read the information below regarding the various ways that you may send your gift.

 Each person or family who wishes to participate may pick up a special shoebox (or 2) at church and fill it with simple gifts for a child.  (Alternatively, shoeboxes may be filled online – see directions below.) The Outreach Committee will provide everything needed to participate, including detailed directions for filling and preparing the shoebox.  The directions state:  Select a quality “wow” toy such as a doll, soccer ball with pump, or stuffed animal.  Fill it with other fun toys, hygiene items, and school supplies. You may also include a personal note and photo.  A donation of $10.00 is critical to cover shipping and other project costs.  Most importantly, pray for the child who will receive your gift.  You will receive an adhesive label that you can use on the box. 

Instead of bringing the donation to church with the shoebox, the $10.00 donation can also be made online at the Samaritan’s Purse website in order to track your box. This can be done by using a label you receive when you pick up a shoebox from church – scan the QR code on the label or enter the nine-digit code- follow the directions on the label. (It is also still possible to print a label when you make an online donation.)

Then you can follow your box using either your email address (which will be the one associated with your PayPal account if you use that account to make the donation) or the label code number. These links will take you to the website to activate your label:

Samaritanspurse.org/activate    or    samaritanspurse.org/label

https://samaritanspurse.org/operation-christmas-child/label-options/ 

https://samaritanspurse.org/operation-christmas-child/activation/ 

Shoeboxes will be available at Grace in the narthex before and after Sunday services, and also in the breezeway by the office, from Oct. 4th – Nov. 1st. Please return the shoeboxes to the narthex on Sundays, or to the breezeway or foyer by the office, by Sunday, Nov. 8th.  The church is usually open Monday – Friday, 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. If you leave a shoebox in the breezeway, you may call Susan DeVane at 757-880-7933 to have it moved into the church.

Some may prefer the convenience of creating a shoebox gift online for the cost of $30. If you choose this option, you will also be able to track your gift. You will be able, if desired, to pick the gender and age of the child to receive the box, and make gift selections online.

Shoebox gifts built online are the easiest for Samaritan’s Purse to ship to the ends of the earth to children in some of the hardest-to-reach places—whether deep jungles, city slums, steep mountainsides, or one of 1,000 remote Pacific islands.  It can be especially challenging to deliver the gifts to children in these places due to political and geographical issues.  Many of these areas are home to numerous unreached people groups, some of whom have never heard the name of Jesus Christ.   Although the actual locations to which these gifts are delivered may not be named by the tracking tool, due to safety and security reasons, you can be sure that they will be among the most appreciated. Yiu can start the process of building a shoebox online by going to our Grace UMC OCC page:

https://sampur.se/4zcl5LP

Whether you choose the more personal experience of collecting toys and other items to place in a box yourself, or choose to build your box online, you will be sending great joy and hope to children.  They are overwhelmed with excitement to realize that someone whom they have never met loves them enough to send a wonderful gift and the message of God’s love for them.     

Ongoing Food and Toiletries Donations