MENDHAM – It’s called “Hot Lunch Fund” and it’s the newest mission project of the Mendham UMC. Partnering with Huree University, a United Methodist supported college in Mongolia, the church is raising funds for student lunches in a country with poor financial resources.
“Recently the Mendham UMC leadership began thinking about an overseas mission project that would be an attractive vehicle to draw interest and participation from the larger Mendham-Chester community,” said Mark Shenise, Associate Archivist for General Commission on Archives & History. After learning about Mongolia’s United Methodist related Huree University forming a partnership with the General Board of Higher Education to help feed students through the ‘Hot Lunch Fund’ he knew his church had discovered their sought-after mission project.
A science and technology school, Huree is one of the top ten schools among the country’s 66 colleges and universities. All 1,323 students, (961 undergraduates, 42 master candidates, 320 1-12th graders) receive scholarships. Many Huree students are unable to afford meals and typically go without breakfast and lunch. The cost of lunch per individual is $100 per semester with a $200 donation feeding and keeping a student healthy for a year.
Dr. Chung Soon Hoon, President of Huree University, writes, “Our wish is that students have access to a hot lunch to help their minds focus through the pressures of becoming science engineers, who not only contribute to developments in science and technology, but also help better the economy and living conditions of their neighbors in Mongolia.”
Presently, Mendham UMC and Morristown Korean UMC are the first two churches in the denomination working with the General Board of Higher Education to raise funds for the school. The churches invite their community and Greater New Jersey to take part in their mission project by donating to their Huree “Hot Lunch Fund” which runs until December 31, and will be taking weekly donations each Sunday.
“We already exceeded our initial fundraising goal and continue to push on with the project until the end of December,” said Shenise. “We look forward to becoming an even bigger blessing by feeding more Huree students in the coming year.”
If you your church, or organization is interested in supporting the Hot Lunch Fund, donations can be mailed to 10 East Main Street, Mendham, NJ 07945 with “Huree University Offering” written on the check’s memo line. All donations are tax deductible to the full extent of the law.. For further information call (973)-543-6376 or email mendhamumc@gamil.com