Sonoma -- January 19, 2006

Sonoma UMC is using loose coins collected at Sunday services for overseas scholarships.

Sandra Metzger, who with her husband Gordon are practically Mr. and Mrs. California-Nevada UMVIM (having been part of so many mission trips over the years), reports that the total of the coins since last July through December was nearly $500. That amount will aid orphan girls in residential hostels managed by Methodist schools in India. "On average, $1 a day covers the cost of food, housing, uniforms, books, etc., for each girl. Education for their girls in a Methodist school is the goal of many parents in India -- both Christian and Hindu -- because the girls are safe there," Metzger informed her local church.

In 2006 loose coin offerings will buy lunch tickets for poor residential students in the Western Farm School near Urumqi, China. Metzger reports: "Parents of many of the students are too poor to provide money for lunch tickets, so children are sent to school on Monday with a bag of bread and perhaps a little meat to feed them the entire week. At mealtime, those children go to their dormitory rooms and eat their bread, while the other students go to the lunch room to receive a hot meal." Sonoma lunch-ticket money will be given to the principal when UMVIM teams travel to the school this year.

UMVIM trips drew attention to the needs. Loose coins that people have in their pockets are intentionally asked for at Sonoma UMC offering time. "People put in their checks, as well as their coins," said Metzger.