YOU HAVE THE POWER TO DONATE LIFE
Houses of worship and faith-based communities around the country observe Donor Sabbath as a way of bringing attention to the critical need for life-saving organs and tissue for tranplant. Every major religion in the United States supports organ, eye and tissue donation as one of the highest expressions of compassion and generosity.

You have the power to give someone the most precious gift in the world - Life. Organ, eye and tissue transplants offer patients a new chance at healthy, productive, and normal lives and return them to their families, friends, and communities. You have the power to change someone's world by being a donor. It's about living. It's about Life. Learn more at www.donateLIFEcalifornia.org.

If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, If you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness, and your gloom shall be like the noonday. -- Isaiah 58:10

And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? -- Micah 6:8

And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commandments so that you love one another. -- John 15:16

We are a congregation called by Jesus to be in mission to our community and the world, and an important part of that mission is addressing human needs and social problems.

The Social Concerns Council is a group within FUMC which helps to coordinate and encourage faith-based volunteerism in the realm of social concerns and social justice, and to promote education about and discussion of social issues.

FUMC has a legacy of varied social concern involvement, including the Upward Bound House project, and a variety of social and community action groups including Amnesty International, Westside Food Bank, Venice Family Clinic, and Habitat for Humanity. Some of these activities are carried on by the church, and some by our individual members.

The following are some of the social concerns activities in which FUMC members are currently involved:

• Alternative Christmas
• Assistance League of Santa Monica
• Big Brothers Big Sisters
• Children, Youth, and Family Collaborative (mentoring and tutoring)
• Children's Home Society of California
• Christian Children's Fund
• Community Thanksgiving Dinner
• Family Place
• God's Garden (landscaping inner-city schools)
• Good Beginnings
• Greenpeace
• Habitat for Humanity
• Hogar Infant Orphanage
• Holiday Tree Project
• LA County - USC Hospital
• Meals on Wheels
• Methodist Foundation for Social Action
• Nothing But Nets
• Red Cross (blood donations)
• Salvation Army
• Salvation Army Women's Auxiliary
• Santa Monica Green Team Project
• Santa Monica - UCLA Hospital
• Shriner's Temple Hospital Crippled Children Burn Treatment Center
• St. John's Health Center
• Special Olympics
• Sojourn Services for Battered Women and their Children
• Traveler's Aid Society at LAX
• Upward Bound
• Venice Family Clinic
• Westside Food Bank
• Westside Child Trauma Council
• Women of Action
• YMCA

If you would like to add your activity to this list, get more information about becoming involved in any of these organizations, or learn more about the work of the Social Concerns Council, please contact the church office.