Rvers in Mission
RVers in Mission
The RVers in Mission are a group of United Methodist men and women that were first organized in 1986 with the purpose of lending our multiple God given talents to the churches and campgrounds within our Conference that are unable to accomplish some of the expansion or refurbishment tasks that are needed in the upkeep of their church or campground. 0ver the 20 years of our life as a functioning group, we have accomplished tasks that even amaze ourselves. We are able to do these things only because God is our ultimate Leader and we are His servants. Our January 2010 Project at the Walnut UMC, we will be undertaking our 202nd project. We are able to do such tasks as painting, fencing, gardening, electrical maintenance and improve-ments, floor tiling, carpentry work, plumbing repair including sprinklers, as well as other things that may be needed. This has been accomplished without anyone who has worked in the building trades during their working life. There have been many members from across the Conference over the years that are now our close friends.
Our normal work year, from September through May, includes 8 projects. These normally occur during the last week of September, October, November, January, February, March, and April as well as the third week of May. We select the projects that we will work on during the next work year during the week of our April Project each year.
The main purpose of this article is to encourage the churches and campgrounds needing help to submit requests for the RVers in Mission to come work on their facility, to submit work requests for our consideration at our April selection and scheduling meeting. We must receive the requests by April 1, 2010 for consideration for the 2010/2011 work year. We try to get to each of the requests that we receive during the next work year but we cannot guarantee that we can do so. Those that are held over, get priority in the next year. The choices depend on when the request was submitted, what work is envisioned by the request, and the space available for us to park our RVs at the church site. Ideally, we ask for space available to park up to 15 RVs, a source of limited electricity, and a source of water at the parking site. If the requestor does not have that kind of space or if the facility is not secure enough to protect our rigs and tools, we have arranged in the past for parking at a nearby UMC facility that has the room and is more secure.
Our normal schedule is to arrive at the project site on Sunday afternoon, set up our rigs, hook up electricity and water, have a get together potluck, and review what projects we will be undertaking during our stay. We start each morning at 8:00 AM with devotions. Then we begin work on the projects chosen by and prioritized by the requestor. We have breaks at 10:00 AM and 3:00 PM, with lunch at noon and stopping for the day around 5:00 PM. We work full days on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday and half days on Wednesday and Friday. The half days are somewhat fluid depending on how much we have committed to accomplish and how well the work seems to be going. We try very hard to not commit to more than we can finish by the end of the week. It is understood by the requestor that they will procure the materials for the tasks that they request we do and that they supply someone from the congregation or facility during the week to go to the local hardware stores to get that which was not foreseen initially.
Project Requests
The time of our April meeting is now approaching and the April 1st request deadline is somewhat near, so we are encouraging those facilities that need our services to complete their requests and get them into our hands. It will be a little more difficult now due to the fact that the Conference has eliminated our participation in the Conference web page. We went to a training session put on by the Conference in October 2009 on access to the web page but the information supplied was not sufficient for us to be able to gain access to that web page. As a result, those that want to submit a request form will have to contact one of three RVers in Mission members listed below who will be able to send them a Request Form via E-mail. The names, E-mail addresses, and phone numbers of the listed people are: Danny Lentz, rvdan@hotmail.com, 714-534-1627, Ken Martin, vmbykm@aol.com, 714-637-5577, and Don Conner, ddbaconner@dslextreme.com, 714-537-8824.
Membership
Like most volunteer organizations of older adults, we have a constant need to find new people to become part of our Mission. As time progresses, we have people that have served for a long time that can no longer work on our projects due to health reasons or physical constraints. Thus our membership is constantly turning over. We have noticed a distinct lack of new blood in this group from within the Conference over the past 4 or 5 years. The majority of our active membership presently lives in Orange County with members also in Simi Valley, Riverside, and Ridgecrest. It is our concern that this greatly needed mission to the churches and campgrounds of this Conference of the UMC may have to shut down due to the lack of individuals willing to participate in the needed work. We cover the territory from the Mexican border to San Luis Obispo. The Conference is divided into 7 Districts and we have members in only 3 of these Districts – Riverside, Santa Ana, and Santa Barbara . We have no members in the Long Beach, Los Angeles, or San Diego Districts. We have one member of the Pasadena District that lives in Ridgecrest, none in the LA basin. We cannot predict how long we will last with the existing group. Only God knows this. If any of you retirees are looking for a new outlet for your God given talents, try us! We would love to meet you. In addition to the work, we have fun together.
The most basic requirement for membership is to own a RV to serve as your home during a project and a desire to serve our Lord and Savior and His Church in a Mission setting. We do have some members without RVs who commute to the projects that are close to home but having a RV is preferable. Our group, when we get together, can easily be equated to a close family that has little if any rivalry or controversy. We are ready to welcome anyone who is willing to come to the projects. There are no skill requirements. Any training required will be joyfully provided. In addition to being like family, we are also friends and have fun together during breaks and during games during the evening. The 3 names above, all from Orange County, will be glad to provide you a membership application. If you have further questions call them from Orange or LA County's. Other contacts are Arlen Petersen from Simi Valley at 805-558-1651 and Mickey Walker in Riverside at 951-533-7514.