Community Involvement

The Playing Field

The Playing Field (TPF), partnering with Early Head Start and Bethany United Methodist Church, opened a child care and early education program in August 2015. TPF seeks to create a unique model that will educate children experiencing homelessness alongside children from more advantaged backgrounds. This model will be a step toward minimizing the disparity between white and minority children, and will have amazing benefits for children from both groups. Read much more about The Playing Field using the link above and also check out its website and Facebook page.  And, there’s this article from the Madison Community Foundation.

Check out The Playing Field video here.

Check out photo galleries of getting The Playing Field ready for  opening, finishing the playground, and some of the first kids enrolled.

Allied Partners

Allied Partners is an interfaith coalition of congregations working together to assist residents in the Allied-Dunn’s Marsh neighborhood. Bethany participates by contributing food, financial donations, and volunteers for the Food Pantry, the Eviction Prevention Fund, and the Wellness Center/Cooperative. We also provide representation on the Allied Partners Board.

Allied Dunn’s Marsh Food Pantry

Bethany delivers food and grocery items to the food pantry in the Boys and Girls Club in the Allied Drive area. Donations should be put in the bins by the elevator. The list of items in most need can be found here.

Monetary donations are also accepted using Bethany’s Giving Financially page.

Thanks for helping our neighbors who need our assistance.

Domestic Abuse Intervention Services (DAIS)

The mission of DAIS is to empower those affected by domestic violence and advocate for social change through support, education and outreach.  Their vision is a nonviolent community that actively promotes safety, peace, justice and hope.

DAIS offers a wide array of crisis intervention and community education/prevention programs, including a 24-hour Help Line, programming for children from violent homes, legal advocacy, support groups, emergency safety planning, and the only domestic violence shelter for all of Dane County

Habitat for Humanity

Bethany has been an active faith partner with Habitat for Humanity (HFH) of Dane County for more than 25 years. We see the commitment of HFH “to build affordable housing for God’s people in need” being at the core of our work as United Methodists to live out the Wesleyan precept that “All the World is Our Parish.” Each year Bethany strives to engage in volunteer weekend workdays at a Habitat project site in the Madison Area.

Just Dane (formerly Madison Area Urban Ministries)

JustDane is a private, 501 (c) 3 non-profit agency that offers an array of direct service programs for individuals and families involved in the criminal justice system. These services include prison reentry programs and services for children who have an incarcerated parent, community events designed to help people understand what it’s like to walk in the shoes of someone newly released from prison, and jail and prison in-reach programs.

Luke House

Luke House provides a community meal program serving 75 to 150 people at each sitting, with most dealing with some aspect of poverty. Lunch is served Monday through Thursday, and dinner Sunday through Thursday. Bethany is one of about 40 faith communities taking responsibility for shopping, preparing, and serving a noon and evening meal each month. Bethany teams currently provide and serve lunch on the fourth Tuesday of each month, and provide and serve dinner on the fifth Tuesday or Thursday of each month.

Madison Area Food Pantry Gardens

Madison Area Food Pantry Gardens grows fresh, nutritious vegetables for local food pantries, raising approximately 150,000 servings of vegetables for the needy of our community each year. Participate in gleaning at Madison Saturday morning Farmers’ Market or work in the Food Pantry Gardens. Work begins with planting in April through June, and harvesting early in July and continues until the first killing frost, usually in October. You can work once during the season, once a month or once a week.

Porchlight

Porchlight strives to reduce homelessness in Dane County by collaborating with the community to provide shelter, affordable housing, and supportive services that eliminate barriers and empower the individuals and families we serve.

The Road Home Dane County

In collaboration with local faith communities and organizations, The Road Home Dane County is committed to the empowerment and long-term success of homeless families with children, and to serving each family with dignity and respect. The Road Home follows the Housing First approach, which prioritizes providing people experiencing homelessness with permanent housing as quickly as possible — and then providing voluntary supportive services as needed. Volunteer to be part of the Violet team, which is made up of members from Bethany United Methodist, Temple Beth El, Blessed Sacrament, and Shraarei Shamayim. Teams are each assigned a month where they will do a variety of activities needed to help the families experiencing homelessness.

Simple Gifts

Bethany’s Simple Gifts program designates an organization or project each month to receive currency or checks placed in mission envelopes and loose change in the offerings.

Simple Gifts for May: The Playing Field

Simple Gift offerings made in May are going to support our partners at The Playing Field, which uses a unique model to offer the highest level of early child care and education to children from varied socio-economic backgrounds.

The Playing Field has rented space inside Bethany United Methodist Church since its launch in 2015. It is an independent, nonprofit organization.

In addition, it was announced earlier this spring that more of Madison’s most vulnerable families will get access to free or low-cost child care come January, when The Playing Field opens another location on Madison’s far East Side at 2102 East Springs Drive. Located in a former Menards store, the new 15,000-square-foot space will have room for 100 children in 10 classrooms.

Access to child care is an important element for families seeking to move out of poverty. Reach Dane (Early Head Start,) United Way of Dane County, and the City of Madison provide financial support to families seeking access to quality care, which too often is out of reach for many families. Even with subsidized childcare, the rates at many centers are simply too high for struggling families. Unfortunately, this can mean that children most in need of quality early education are not able to access it.

The Playing Field (TPF) is dedicated to changing this reality by making the highest level of early education available to children of varied backgrounds. To accomplish this goal, its enrollment spaces are reserved for children based on three specific funding sources. One-third of TPF’s enrollment spaces are reserved for families who might choose any high-quality program for their child — but choose The Playing Field because they value diversity and support the center’s mission. For another third of the students, TPF attempts to raise scholarship funds to assist families who don’t qualify for childcare subsidies, or who would incur very high co-payments. And for another third of its students, TPF reserves spaces for families funded by Early Head Start. Families experiencing homelessness are given priority for these funds and welcomed into the school family.

In addition to May Simple Gifts support, TPF also has a wish list of items that are needed to equip classrooms. If you would like to donate items, check out their Amazon Wish List and select any items that you would like to donate (items may be shipped to Bethany UMC at 3910 Mineral Point Road, Madison, WI 53705 or to your home).  Or write a check out to Bethany and put “Wish List” in the memo field. Cash donations will be given to The Playing Field so they can order what is needed. To learn more about ways to donate to The Playing Field visit: https://playingfieldmadison.org/donate/.

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Please consider giving generously as your contributions will make a difference in real and relevant ways. To contribute put loose coins in the collection plate or put a check or currency in a Missions envelope.

You may also contribute online here

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Simple Gift Offerings for 2024

• January: The Beacon
• February: Allied Drive Wellness Center/Food Pantry
• Ash Wednesday: Reconciling Ministries Network
• March: Madison Area Food Pantry Gardens
• April: Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice
• Easter: Good Samaritan Fund
• May: The Playing Field
• June: Porchlight
• July: JustDane
• August: Road Home Dane County
• September: Harvest of Hope
• October: Temba Nkomozepi (Global Mission Partner – Mujila Falls, Zambia)
• November: Africa University
• Thanksgiving: Afghan Refugees
  
• December: Community Action Coalition
• Christmas Eve Offering: Global Mission Partners

Special Sunday Offerings

Over the course of each year, Bethany participates in several special offering Sundays sponsored by the broader United Methodist Church.

These church-wide Special Sundays collect offerings that enable United Methodists like you to: offer refuge in times of disaster; promote peace and justice; provide scholarships and student loans; reach out to the community; teach skills to encourage self-sufficiency; and share the love of Jesus Christ with God’s people.

In addition to the mailed envelopes, or special envelopes in the Bulletins on these Sundays, you may also contribute on line under Giving Financially.

2023 Special Sundays

• Jan. 15 – Human Relations Day strengthens United Methodist outreach to communities in the United States and Puerto Rico, encouraging social justice and work with at-risk youth.
• March 19 – UMCOR Sunday, previously known as One Great Hour of Sharing, enables the United Methodist Committee on Relief to reach out through worldwide ministries of food, shelter, health and peace.
• April 21 – Native American Ministries Sunday nurtures mission with Native Americans and provides scholarships for United Methodist Native American seminarians.
• June 2 – Peace With Justice Sunday enables the United Methodist Church to have a voice in advocating for peace and justice through a broad spectrum of global programs.
• Golden Cross Sunday Provides support for health and welfare ministries in the Wisconsin Annual Conference.
• Oct. 6 – World Communion Sunday provides scholarships for U.S. racial- and ethnic minority students, and international students, on both undergraduate and graduate levels.
• Nov. 24 – United Methodist Student Day furnishes scholarships and loans for students attending United Methodist-related and other accredited colleges and universities.