Community Engagement
Loving God. Loving Neighbors. Living in Community.
Dayton Cooks!
A free 10-week program that trains students age 18 and older for jobs in the food industry. Students work side by side with Chef Thomas Johnson in the Grace kitchen on a culinary journey with donated and purchased food. At the end of the program students are knowledgeable in food safety, sanitation, basic knife skills, classic cooking techniques, commercial kitchen operations and equipment use. They also are prepared for ServSafe Certification and receive job placement assistance and mentoring.
Dayton Cooks! is a partnership with the Wesley Community Center and helps transform the lives of people committed to a culinary arts career through rigorous training. The USDA approved meals and snacks prepared in the program will be served to income eligible children in after school programs.
YMCA Early Learning Center
at Grace
The YMCA and Grace have partnered to make sure children learn the skills to be successful in school. Our program helps them grow physically and mentally while emphasizing and modeling the character development values of Caring, Honesty, Respect and Responsibility.
The Early Learning Center provides full time care for children from 6 weeks to 3 years. Our partnership allows us to provide a preschool where every child has the potential to be successful. We also provide a School Age Enrichment Program to ensure that the time gap before and after school is filled with homework help, an afternoon snack, art projects and active group games.
Local Artist Series at Grace
Grace features artists exhibits in its church to help support local talent. Past artists have included: Yvette Walker Dalton, a one woman show; The African American Visual Arts Guild celebrating all things Wright Dunbar; Randy Palmer a member of Grace United Methodist and a graphic artist; Paintings from the Marian Library at the University of Dayton; Paintings by Greg Dearth and photographs of Grace Member and dancer Jasmine Hines, taken by Bill Woody.
The current exhibit is paintings by Ron Rollins, a Kettering artist specializing in highly colorful and gestural abstract art that reflects his love of the genre from the 1950s and 1960s.
For the second year, we are collaborating with the Marian Library at University of Dayton. They are loaning Advent-related art. The exhibit will begin the first week of December and run through the middle of January.
Exhibits are on display in the Madonna Hall and run Monday – Thursday 5 PM – 7 PM; Sundays 9 a.m. to noon; other times by appointment.
Freedom School
The Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) Freedom Schools program provides summer enrichment that helps children fall in love with reading, increase their self-esteem, and generate positive attitudes toward learning. Children are taught using a model curriculum that supports children and families around five essential components: high quality academic enrichment; parent and family involvement; civic engagement and social action; intergenerational leadership development; and nutrition, health and mental health.
Our hope is to be a Freedom School site in 2020! If you would like more information on the program, please contact the church office through the contact form on our website or call 937-278-4731.
Wesley Community Center
Funding for the Montgomery County Food Bank has been cut, therefore food distributions have decreased to sites such as Wesley Community Center (WCC). WCC is in need of donations to fill their shelves. The Mission Team has agreed to promote a monthly collection of food items. A list of items has been provided to us for monthly items needed.
JANUARY DONATION: CEREAL
Please drop off your donations to the Mission tables located in the hallways at Grace. Your donation is appreciated!
Grace Service & Missions Team
We cannot do everything, but we can do something and we can do something now to restore humanity to the pathway toward Kingdom Living!
July & August mission focus: Many families in our communities have been affected by tornados.
Many have lost their homes or have been displaced while their homes are being repaired or rebuilt. They have lost most all of their belongings. Many children have lost their toys, books, etc. The women of the Mary/Martha/Sarah circle have been sewing cloth book bags and we would like to fill them with children’s books, which we will distribute to shelters. Donations of new or gently used children’s books can be placed in the church office or on the mission table.
When we care for the “least of these”, we are sharing the GRACE of God
Community Engagement
Day of Caring Pancake Breakfast
University Row & Dayton View Neighborhood Historical Associations
PechaKucha Events
Prison Ministry
Grace United Methodist Church is committed to faith-based ministries to help people affected by the criminal justice system. Seeds of Grace is a team of women who provide weekly spiritual growth through Sacred Stories in the Montgomery County Jail. Circle of the Word uses a circle format to engage with Bible stories and takes place in the Dayton Correctional Institution and monthly at the church for church members, community members, and people returning from jail or prison. House of Healing is a 13-week curriculum that has been offered at the prison and jail by women from Grace. The program promotes the healing of memories, relief from the burdens of shame and stress, improved relationships, and the ability to be at peace, no matter the circumstance. H.O.P.E. is a small group ministry at Grace that helps reentry from the criminal justice system. A correspondence and reentry program, H.O.P.E. Letters was launched in 2018 for faith-sharing, mentoring and non-judgemental encouragement.