Church youth share their spirit

UMARMY Poteet mission a great success


Methodist church youth were in Poteet recently to clear yards, repair homes and make improvements.

Methodist church youth were in Poteet recently to clear yards, repair homes and make improvements.

The Southwest Texas Conference of The United Methodist Church sent their UMARMY high school mission team to Poteet June 10- June 16.

UMARMY is an acronym for “United Methodist Action Reach-Out Mission by Youth.”

The team of 60 high school age students and 23 adult advisers spent the week sharing their love of Jesus Christ through real life mission and ministry meeting home-repair and maintenance needs for low-income, elderly, and disabled homeowners who were unable to make the needed repairs themselves.

The UMARMY team made significant repairs to seventeen homes in Poteet, including building wheelchair ramps, replacing windows and siding, painting. These youthful volunteers completed extensive flooring repair to one home and made the time to respond to a request from the Poteet Police Department to remove graffiti from one public building in the city.

The team was made up of the youth groups from four different United Methodist churches in the Southwest Texas Conference: Covenant Church in Austin, St. Mark’s in McAllen, Wimberley and Gonzales. The group was led by Joel Griffin, youth director of Gonzales United Methodist Church.

The Poteet Ministerial Alliance, a committee of the Poteet Community Forum, was the sponsoring agency and would like to thank everyone who helped to make this mission trip a great success.

First, thanks go to Hosanna Baptist Church and Poteet United Methodist Church for making their facilities available to house the team. Hosanna Baptist Church also fed the team on Wednesday evening and prior to their departure on Saturday morning. The UMARMY team and Hosanna Baptist youth band shared in worship on Wednesday evening.

Monday evening the meal was provided by Second Baptist Chapel of Pleasanton, Pastor Junior Jones. Rev. Jones also serves as the Director of Atascosa County CAM and the UMARMY helped to clean out the CAM warehouse and removed brush from CAM’s facility.

Tuesday evening, the team was fed by the Friends of the Poteet Library. Friday evening the meal was catered by Carrie’s of Pleasanton. The Friday meal was funded by gifts from the Poteet Lion’s Club, the Poteet VFW Post 6970 and Kappa Tau sorority.

A highlight of the week was the Thursday evening meal which was provided by the Poteet Ministerial Alliance, along with the women of First Baptist Church of Poteet and Poteet United Methodist Church. All clients receiving assistance were invited to attend this meal and were given the opportunity to share their thanks to the team members. Without exception, each client thanked the team members for changing their lives.

Much more support was received in bringing this mission team to Poteet. The City of Poteet provided trash dumpsters, and Mayor Roy Ybarra issued a proclamation declaring June 10- 16 “UMARMY Week “ in Poteet. The Poteet ISD made shower facilities at the Poteet High School gym available during the week, and numerous financial gifts were provided by concerned citizens of Poteet.

This is the second year the UMARMY has come to work in Poteet and Pastor Joe Berkley, Poteet United Methodist Church, is committed to bringing another team next year.

“We have much more work to do in Poteet,” says Pastor Berkley. “We are committed to improving the quality of life for the residents of Poteet and we aren’t going to rest while there is still so much work left to be done.”

If you are interested in helping to sponsor the team next year, or to recommend someone for assistance next year contact Pastor Berkley at 830-742-3230.


Above, some of those taking part in this year’s UMARMY program.

Above, some of those taking part in this year’s UMARMY program.

Throughout the week, everyone enjoyed meals provided by various churches and businesses.

Throughout the week, everyone enjoyed meals provided by various churches and businesses.

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