Please Give Generously: Special Offering Supports Aldersgate Homes' Work Advocating for Needs of Persons With Disabilities

The Annual Conference-wide Special Offering supporting Aldersgate Homes is scheduled to be taken this year on Sunday, October 26, 2014.
           
Aldersgate Homes is the North Georgia Conference-related agency advocating for the needs of persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Aldersgate assists these persons and their families to locate safe, affordable living arrangements so that they may live as independently as their capabilities allow. We encourage and enable their participation in church and community life and offer educational resources to churches seeking to become more universally accessible.
           
Collinswood of Aldersgate Homes, located on Lake Oconee, is an easy drive from all points of the North Georgia Conference. Collinswood is a recreational and retreat facility built to accommodate persons of all abilities. The facilities include two cottages with bed space for 40, a dining hall with a commercial kitchen that has dining and meeting space for groups of 60 or more, basketball and volleyball courts, shuffle board, a meadow for games and sports and a covered pavilion with fireplace and grills. A third cottage is underway and due to open next spring. A nature trail leads to the lake front, with a bathhouse, gazebo and dock for fishing and fun. The lakefront fire pit with benches is a special place to see the sunrise over the lake, and an ideal spot for meditation and vespers.
           
The Annual Aldersgate and Collinswood Special Offering is a major source of funding for this ministry. Churches across the Conference have opportunity to join together to provide ministry to persons with special needs in ways that a single congregation alone might find challenging. The ministries of Aldersgate / Collinswood spotlight how we, as Methodist, are indeed "United". Together our contributions to the Special Offering and through other partnership opportunities, touch the lives of many persons with special needs, their families, friends, and congregations.