Austinville Elementary School
Austinville Elementary school has a high percentage of children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Austinville also serves the majority of the Hispanic children who have migrated to our community in recent years. Our members help in the following ways:
- Classroom Supplies Donations
- Fall Festival
- Teacher Appreciation
- Dr. Seuss' Birthday
- Backpack Ministry
- Lunch Buddy Austinville teachers identify students who are in need of some special attention and loving care. Church members are assigned one lunch buddy with whom they eat lunch at least once a month at the school.
- Special Projects FUMC members also provide manpower and support for several special events held during the school year such as the Book Fair, Knowledge Jamboree, and Field Day.
Kairos Prison Ministry
FUMC has several members who are active on Kairos Prison Ministry teams that take the Emmaus Walk experience to inmates in the Limestone Correctional Facility, Capshaw, Alabama. Some members serve on the ministry team that goes into the prison for a weekend to provide an intense spiritual experience for selected inmates. Other members of our congregation minister to the inmates by baking homemade cookies to be served during the weekend.
Habitat for Humanity
FUMC will be partnering with other United Methodist churches in the Morgan County area to build a Habitat home.
Tennessee Valley Outreach
Each Wednesday night, teams of three or four church members take food prepared by our First Fellowship kitchen team to our local homeless shelter, Tennessee Valley Outreach. Our members then eat with the residents and offer a listening ear and words of encouragement. We are the only local church that both provides and shares the meal with the residents.
Local Food Outreach
Several FUMC members deliver Meals-on-Wheels to local residents on a designated route once a week. A ministry team also prepares fruit baskets to be delivered to Meals-On-Wheels recipients during the week of Thanksgiving. Our church assists Decatur’s Committee on Church Cooperation food pantry by sponsoring a food drive for their benefit one month each year.
PACT
Parents and Children Together (PACT) is a local agency committed to preventing child abuse and providing comprehensive services to the families of our community. Our members assist this agency by transporting PACT clients to and from medical appointments, parenting classes, group meetings, and training programs. Other FUMC members serve as volunteer receptionists and office assistants in the PACT office.
Community Free Clinic
The Decatur Community Free Clinic opened in 2004 to provide free medical care to the medically uninsured of our community. FUMC provides dinner for the clinic volunteers one Thursday per month. FUMC members volunteer to provide clerical help, to assist in the pharmacy, and to help schedule appointments.
Others:
- Committee on Church Cooperation (CCC)
- Neighborhood Christian Center (NCC)
- Boys and Girls Clubs of North Central Alabama
- Meals on Wheels
- Hospice of the Valley
- Refuge of Grace
- Volunteer Center of Morgan County
- First Grace Child Development Center
- Mental Health Center of North Alabama
- Salvation Army
