Our Outreach Ministry focuses on two of our 12 Core Values:
Because we are devoted to Jesus Christ, we are called to serve Him by using our gifts to serve others.We are commanded to seek God’s justice for all people, including those who are poor, needy or victims of injustice.

You may read about our current outreach ministries here.  If you would like to get involved with any of these ministries, please contact the church office for additional information.
The Open Shelter
The Open Shelter brings hope to homeless men, women, and families. They provide clothing, food assistance, financial management services, and assist with finding adequate housing.

How can I help?  The RUMC congregation provides assistance to the Open Shelter through our donation box located in the Narthex, and also by assisting with some meals and lunches.
Bring any of these items to church:
  • White tube socks (the number one needed item)
  • New underwear
  • New or gently used clothing
  • Blankets, sheets, towels
  • Personal hygiene items

Appalachia Service Project (ASP)
Each summer a team of about 35 youth and adults journeys to Appalachia and helps make homes for needy families warmer, safer and drier, and shares in Christian fellowship.

Through annual flower sales and ‘Shareholders’ sales we raise over $10,000 each year to cover the cost of supplies and the trip. Although we only participate in the summer, ASP repairs homes year round in Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee, and Virginia.

What can I do? To participate in the trip or learn about helping with fund raising and other activities, please call the church office.
To learn more about ASP, visit their website at www.asphome.org.


NNEMAP Food Pantry
The Near Northside Emergency Materials Assistance Program (NNEMAP, pronounced knee-map) located at 1066 North High depends entirely on area churches and caring individuals for support, no government funding is accepted. RUMC has been in partnership with the pantry since 1969.  The pantry serves residents of the near north side of Columbus, including the Weinland Park area. Many families have at least one working member or have some income.
What can I do?
  • Food donations throughout the year.  Items needed on a regular basis are:
    • canned meats and complete boxed meals
    • sugar and flour
    • soups (not chicken noodle)
    • macaroni and cheese or rice
    • cans of vegetables and fruit
    • cereals
    • puddings, Jell-o, peanut butter, jelly
    • pre-sweetened drink mixes
    • baby food in jars (not dinners), baby cereal, baby juice and diapers
    • toilet paper, dry laundry detergent, bar soap
    • brown paper grocery bags
  • Grooming kit items in late fall
  • Lenten Project 5000 that provides a family of four food and supplies
  • Monetary donations
  • Prayers for the client families
Items are collected in a box in the Narthex and are taken weekly to the Pantry.


RUMC Cares
For information about RUMC Cares, a program to assist our church families with moderate, temporary and/or emergency financial needs, contact Pastor David.


Vinton County CARE Ministry
CARE, in MacArthur in southeastern Ohio, provides many essential services, food, furniture, and personal care items to people throughout Vinton County.

How can I help?  Contribute to the various fund raising activities that support this ministry. We collect a variety of food pantry items, clothing, personal care items and furniture that are taken to Vinton County monthly.  CARE operates a thrift store that helps support the food ministry, so we also collect dishes, knick-knacks, clothes, purses, jewelry, etc. Bring items to the CARE box located across from the church office

Each year we make, bake, and sell the Riverside Men’s Famous Sticky Buns for Christmas mornings. With your donations in the fall, we provide turkeys and chickens for Thanksgiving dinner and the youth of RUMC shop for Christmas gifts for the children and teens of Vinton County.


Habitat for Humanity
In partnership with eight other churches, we help build homes through Greater Columbus Habitat for Humanity. The Habitat program provides affordable housing for people with the assistance of the family who will live in the home and with the time and commitment of many volunteers.

What can I do?  Every Thursday and Saturday we are part of a crew–both skilled and unskilled–working on our Habitat house. Volunteers can choose what days and how many hours they will work. You can help in these areas:
  • Apply your skills in carpentry, roofing, siding, painting, dry walling, finishing and trim work.
  • Family support assistance.
  • Cleaning
  • Assisting at the Habitat offices or the central warehouse.
Each Spring we hold our famous Auction and Luncheon to meet our financial commitment. You can help in these ways:
  • donate new items or a service you’ll provide
  • ask a business you frequent for a donation
  • help set up items for preview display days and silent bidding
  • help with displays the day of the auction
  • assist the day of the auction
  • assist with luncheon preparation and/or cleanup
 New Life United Methodist Church
New Life UMC is an inner-city church with ministries to their neighborhood and to the homeless. RUMC partners with them in ministry.
How can I help?  You can provide assistance to the free clothing store:
  • Donate items for the clothing store.
    • Take items to New Life church at 25 West Fifth Avenue, Tuesdays and Wednesday from 9 to Noon or on Sunday mornings.
    • Bring items to Riverside UMC and our custodian will take them to New Life UMC. Please call us first.
  • Help sort the donated items.
Needed items are:
  • Clothing and shoes
  • New underwear and new socks, especially for the men
  • Toothbrushes and toothpaste
  • Travel-size soaps and lotions
  • New or gently-used back packs
 
Feed My Sheep
Through Feed My Sheep, we hope to bring glory and honor to God the Father. As part of the caring family He created, we need to live in personal relationship to Him and in harmony with each other.
How can I help?
  • Provide home cooked or carry-out meals for those coming home from a hospital stay, recovering from an illness, when a main provider is away from home, or for someone who has had a death in the family.
  • Provide transportation to an appointment, the grocery, or for someone under temporary restrictions, or who can’t drive.
  • We could use many volunteers to serve in this area. The more people we have on the rotation, the less often we have to call the same individuals.


Riverside Hospital Sewing Guild
The members of the Guild make many items for patients at Riverside Hospital, including: hats for premature babies, hats for ‘Hugs for Cancer’ patients, burp pads, bags for walkers, lap robes, as well as booklets and aprons for patients dealing with Alzheimers.


Weinland Park Elementary School and Weinland Park Community
Over the past few years, RUMC has intentionally developed a relationship with the inner-city community of Weinland Park, located southeast of the OSU campus and with the Weinland Park Elementary School.
Currently, our main thrust is to provide tutoring and assistance, in a variety of forms, including supplies, to children and teachers at the Weinland Park Elementary School.
In addition, RUMC has partnered with Robert Caldwell and his urban ministry to support a number of initiatives. These include:
  • Junior High summer mission trips in Weinland Park to do home repairs and establish relationships with families
  • Mentoring students at Weinland Park Elementary, adults and families involvement in community events
  • Helping with current ministries to transform this community.

The Refuge
RUMC has supported The Refuge since it began. The Refuge is dedicated to rebuilding the lives of men who’ve struggled with drugs, alcohol, other addictions, or who feel hopeless.

How can I help?  The Refuge needs men and women who:
  • have construction skills to help expand the facility
  • can help counsel and mentor the men
  • can donate or prepare food, supplies and other items
  • can provide transportation or help with administration
  • as Christian employers, could employ the men when they leave The Refuge
  • and if you play GOLF—each summer we host a golf outing to raise funds.
Items needed are detergent, milk, meat, twin beds, prepaid phone and gas cards, men's clothing, bedding, vans and cars; as well as regular, financial contributions to support this growing ministry.

Rahab’s Hideaway

Rahab’s Hideaway, Inc. is a ministry that reaches and rescues human trafficking victims and young adult women caught in prostitution.. They have recently opened a facility that provides refuge and facilitates recovery, through on-site educational training in: Domestic Violence Prevention, Employment, Esteem Therapy, and Financial Literacy.

What You Can Do?  Pray, volunteer, become a Mentor, or donate.  You may make cash donations in care of RUMC, as well as donations to the Rahab’s Resale & Consignment Shop of women’s and children's clothing, shoes, furniture and home wares.


Kairos
“…I was in prison and you visited me.”
-- Matthew 25: 36
Kairos is an outreach of the Emmaus Community and is a ministry to residents of Ohio’s correctional institutes to build spiritually-based communities within prison environments.
How can I help?
  • Pray
  • Contribute financially
  • Bake cookies—we need dozens for a weekend!
How can I be on a team? Take part in an Emmaus or Chrysalis weekend.