Stay Up To Date

Check back here regularly for the latest news and events in your church.  You can also follow us on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/DesertChapelUMC/

Chargers Pancake Breakfast

 Saturday February 17th from 7 to 9 am
Breakfast includes: 2 eggs fried or scrambled, 2 link sausage, all the pancakes you can eat, apple juice, and coffee all for: $6 adults,

$4 youth.

Hope to see you there

 

March 5th from 4 to 7 pm the Chargers will be hosting a Spaghetti Dinner in Woeller Hall for $7.00 adults, $5.00 youth

 

GENEROSITY IN OUR COMMUNITY

 

Community Feast - Desert Chapel will serving a FREE dinner every Saturday from 11 am to 2 pm. This is open to our church family as well as the community.

 

Clothes Closet - is open from 11 am to 2 pm Saturdays.   Adults and childrens clothes and shoes are availble for those in need.

MONTHLY CHURCH MEETINGS

 

The Leadership Board will meet on the 2nd Wednesday of each month at 4:00 pm. 

Message from Our Lay Leader

As I write this day and article, a deadline looms. No, it is not Valentines Day, or Groundhog Day, or even preparing for the Sunday Birthdays and Anniversaries sing-along. It is the    January 31, 2024, deadline for Desert Chapel to turn-in our application for a grant from The Health and Human Services Commission of the City of Apache Junction. We learned of this grant later in the process and then only through the efforts of our soon-to-be new member Kathy Highland.

Kathy approached me a few weeks ago saying; “This might be a great opportunity for Desert Chapel and our missions’  programs.” When I read the intent for the grant, I agreed. The overall grant is part of State and Federal programs to provide grant monies in the form of “Block Grants” for, in this case,   financial assistance for agencies that provide services to the underserved populations of Apache Junction.

The Leadership Board approved that Desert Chapel apply for the above grant. The approval was to enhance the necessary upgrades and required health and safety measures needed for Desert Chapel to continue to operate our Community Feast and Clothing Closet missions. Specifically, to bring our facilities, namely Woeller Hall, and the south classroom building up to snuff.

The Leadership Board will be considering the potential impact of the grant, should we receive all or part of the requested funds. There is, of course, no guarantee that Desert Chapel will receive any of the funding for which we applied. Therefore, the board will operate within the confines of the 2024  budget approved in January.

The application for this grant forced us to take a good and deep look at our missions’ programs and the facilities that support the missions. Regardless of the grant outcome, we will be financially and administratively challenged by age, the deferred maintenance, and the unforeseen uses of our facilities.

There are many people to thank for their hard work to complete and submit this grant application. At the risk of leaving someone out, your Leadership Board deserves kudos for both examining the past budgets and carefully engineering a 2024 budget that is based in the real expected income from pledges, loose plate, unrestricted gifts, and dedicated gifts.  Similarly, expected expenses were analyzed to provide a clear picture of the costs of Desert Chapel operations for 2024.

The grant is focused on Health and Human Services. That focus necessarily   demanded that our Missions Leader, Nancy January and our Trustee, Ric Kayer, provide financial details and projections. Our Pastor Philip provided guidance to all of us from both the Pastoral and administrative perspectives. Ernestine Tesarek,  Pastor’s wife, has had experience with similar grant applications. She spent several long days and nights getting our rough submissions into the required grant format.
 Earlier in the grant process, Kathy Highland was assimilating our rough data into the correct format when only days from completion, her computer went dark!  This is when Philip and Ernestine jumped into the fray. Fortunately, Kathy was able to recover her work and electronically transmit it to the Tesareks.

A truly team effort no matter the outcome. Let’s all pray that the grant reviewers are moved by the sincere devotion of our outreach ministries.

 

David Tom