Foster Care Awareness Month

May is Foster Care Awareness Month. We’re helping Miracle Hill Ministries replenish their supply of diapers.

Their biggest needs are sizes 1-6. Newborn and pull-ups are not needed at this time.

The Welcome Center will have bins to receive diaper donations throughout the month of May.

Miracle Hill Ministries is one of our local gospel partners.

Miracle Hill Ministries is a nonprofit organization in the Upstate of South Carolina dedicated to providing extensive services to adults in the form of food, shelter, clothing, counseling, personal development, and addiction recovery.

https://miraclehill.org/who-we-are/

We partner with Miracle Hill by supporting the Greenville Rescue Mission and hosting monthly graduation ceremonies for the Overcomers addiction recovery program.

Foster care is a major part of Miracle Hill’s ministry. Thank you for donating this month so that Miracle Hill can continue showing mercy to needy families.

Born to Run

Piedmont Women’s Center needs 60 volunteers to help at the annual Born to Run 5K event (Saturday, May 13th at Bob Jones University).

Volunteers are needed to help with every aspect of the event:

• Greeters and Directors

• Water Stations

• Race Course Directors

• Cheer Teams along the Course

• Race Course Management Team

Registration is quick and easy.  Simply fill out the form.

Preparing for Easter

Send our digital invitation.

Share our Facebook event.

This year, we celebrate Easter on April 9th. In addition to our 10:00 service, we’re providing family photo opportunities, an egg hunt, and coffee and doughnuts in the lobby. Christ is our hope—in life and in death! We want to invite others to our Easter services—and once they come, we want our welcome to say, “We were expecting you.'‘

Greet unfamiliar faces for 3 minutes after our service.

Greet everyone within 10 feet of you throughout the day

Take 60 seconds this week to invite a guest—use a print invite card (pictured below), our digital invitation, or our Facebook event.

A full electronic invitation is available at Morningside.org/Easter, and hundreds of these beautiful invite cards are in the lobby. Take a few to invite your friends, family, and neighbors.

Egg Hunt Supplies: One way you can help us prepare is to donate supplies for our Easter Egg Hunt: coins, candy, and small toys that fit inside a plastic egg. Bring your donations to the Welcome Center.

Good Friday Service: This year we invite you to join us on Good Friday. We will celebrate Communion and reflect on our Lord’s sacrifice (7 PM, Chapel, Apr. 7).

If you would like to help guests on Easter Sunday, contact our Connect Team online or stop by the Welcome Center.

Wear the Merch - Build the Church!

Wear the Merch - Build the Church!

Get your new MBC-branded t-shirts for only a $5 suggested donation (67% discount).

They will be available in the lobby on March 12 and 19. Get yours before they are gone.

We have adult sizes S - 4XL in 6 different color schemes.

You can start a conversation about our church family before you even say a word!

November Collections

This fall, we have two opportunities to donate food for needy families.

• Our kids are collecting and boxing supplies for Miracle Hill foster children!

• Demonstrate compassion to needy veterans by donating food at the Welcome Center (read on).

The Veterans Affairs Office is collecting the non-perishable items below as well as $25 gift cards to large grocery chains.

• Canned Green Beans
• Rice
• Gravy
• Fried onions
• Stuffing mix                               
• Canned yams
• Evaporated milk                        
• Macaroni
• Cake mix & icing                     
• Mushroom soup
• Cranberry sauce                        
• Cornbread mix
• Canned Corn                              
• Instant Mashed Potatoes

Donations accepted in the lobby this November. Thank you for giving!

Good News Club

You can be a part of our Good News Club at Pelham Road Elementary School each week! To learn more about Good News Club and Child Evangelism Fellowship, click the button below. To get involved as a weekly volunteer, contact Pastor Ontoy or Lara Cropsey.

If you can’t join us each Tuesday from 2:30-4:00, you can still get involved by providing snacks for 25 kids at our Good News Club each week!

Would you like some suggestions? So glad you asked!

• fruit snacks

• mini pretzels

• cookies

• chewy granola bars

• Rice Krispie Treats

Make sure what you’re donating is prepackaged and free of peanuts. You can bring donations to the Welcome Center.

Upstate Backpack Blessings

Upstate Backpack Blessings is a volunteer-based, donation-driven organization that now provides bags of food to 300+ students each week in 16 area elementary, middle and high schools. Between 30-40 children at Pelham Road Elementary School receive food bags each week. We have the opportunity to be a blessing to these children by donating food this fall. Food donations can be dropped off at the Welcome Center:

• canned pasta (i.e. spaghetti & meatballs)

• microwavable macaroni & cheese

• peanut butter crackers

• applesauce cups

Thank you for giving!

Fall Carnival

We’ve been talking about Fall Carnival for weeks, and this Sunday is the night (5-7 PM). The weather wasn’t promising so Fall Carnival has moved inside. Please plan to enter the lobby at either set of double glass doors along the All Star Way entrance or the West entrance near the generator. After you register and get your free food tickets, in the mall you will find trunk or treat tables; hot dogs, cotton candy, and popcorn in the Fellowship Hall; a Cake Walk in room A3 (this is like musical chairs where you can win a baked good to take home); and carnival games and inflatables in the gym. This is a great opportunity to show God’s love to our community—rain or shine. See you Sunday!

This year's Fall Carnival is October 30th from 5:00-7:00pm. Children and families will enjoy trunk or treat, games, inflatables, hot dogs, face painting, and more. We need your help! Please consider volunteering for this outreach event.

And carnival candy donations are welcome anytime in our lobby’s coffee nook!

Prayer Walk

We will meet at 10:00am at the Grove Baptist Church parking lot. The address is 1223 Grove Rd, Greenville, SC 29605 down the street from the Piedmont Women’s Center. For more information please contact Brother Butler.

Health Festival

Morningside will be opening its doors to many people for the upcoming Health Festival on Saturday, September 10 from 10 am - 2 pm. Up to 25 kiosks of health resources as well as some mobile units outside will be providing blood pressure checks, cholesterol check, mammograms, etc.

This event is open to the community. No registration is required. Between 500-800 visitors (pre-Covid numbers) typically attend. This primarily focused bilingual, lower-income communities of Greenville that are often without access to health resources.

We are hosting a church table with resources and promotional materials for spiritual health. We would love for Morningside to welcome our community by being a host at the table. To get involved, sign up at the link below.

Community Health Fair

Morningside’s Spanish Ministry is hosting a bilingual health fair on Saturday, September 10 (10 am - 2 pm, Gym).

We are seeking several volunteers to help serve 2-hour shifts at our display table. Spanish ability is certainly helpful but is not required.

Low-income families are often without access to health resources, and fair organizers expect several hundred visitors. This fair is open to the community, no registration required.

There will be many display tables with health resources. Mobile units outside will offer services like free blood pressure checks, cholesterol checks, or mammograms.

Our volunteer shifts are 10-12, and 12-2. Thank you for considering this opportunity!

Back to School Event

Last Friday, we were able to partner with Select Health/First Choice in our front parking lot to give away backpacks and school supplies to well over 200 families. Paul Mitchell School also joined us to give free haircuts. In addition to giving away free school supplies, we also invited carloads of families to our upcoming Back to School Splash happening Wednesday, August 10 from 7-8:30pm. Our Back to School Splash includes a water slide for the kids, water games, craft stations, popsicles, free school supplies and signup for Awana. Please pray that families will come and enjoy the fun and free things, but more importantly will return to worship with us, find hope in Christ and build relationships at Morningside. 

Back to School Giveaways (Donations Needed)

Morningside is excited to host two back to school outreach events in July and August!

• Friday morning, July 29 we will partner again with Select Health to give away school supplies to those in our community.

• Wednesday night, August 10 we will host our Morningside Back to School Splash filled with fun events, snacks and free school boxes for Morningside Kids and other kids in our community.

You can help by donating school supplies outside the Kids Wing, prepping school boxes, canvassing neighborhoods and serving at these events.

Supplies needed:

• pencils

• erasers

• glue sticks

• pointed scissors

• 24 pack crayons

For donation questions or to get involved, please contact Lara Cropsey.

Preparing for Easter

This year, we celebrate Easter on April 17th. In addition to our 10:00 service, we’re providing family photos and an egg hunt.

A full electronic invitation is available at morningside.org/news, and hundreds of these beautiful invite cards are available in the lobby. Take a few to invite your friends, family, and neighbors.

We also need enough small candy and pennies to fill a few thousand eggs. (No chocolate or nuts please!) Drop off candy and pennies outside the Kids Wing.

If you would like to help guests on Easter Sunday, sign up online or stop by the Welcome Center.

Sanctity of Life & Baby Bottles

During our January 16 online service, we celebrated the Sanctity of Life. We acknowledged that all life is precious to our Creator God. We are all created in His image from the time of conception (Psalm 139:13-14). We also took time to lament and seek God’s mercy for the millions of lives lost due to abortion.

In an effort to support life, we have partnered with Piedmont Women’s Center to fill baby bottles with change, cash or checks. Please pick up one bottle per family in the lobby and return to the Welcome Center by the end of February. Our liaison to Piedmont Women’s Center, Beth Cofer, shared other ways we can all get involved and support life especially through our prayers for staff and clients. Watch below to hear what Beth shared on Sunday.

Backpack Blessings

Thank you to those who donated food to Backpack Blessings during the months of October and November! We were able to drop off several car loads to the ministry’s food pantry. Over 70 students, who attend Pelham Road Elementary School, receive food on a weekly basis. The food is discreetly put in their backpacks every Friday. Pray that these children will understand God’s love through these provisions. Thank you to Cathie Perry for coordinating this ministry!

Fall Carnival Follow-up

Morningsiders excitedly welcomed hundreds from our community to our annual Fall Carnival on Saturday, Oct 30! Those who registered at our welcome booth were entered into a drawing for a $100 gift card to Sparetime. Many enjoyed trunk or treat, inflatables, carnival games and octaball. Visitors and church families participated in our fallish-themed photo booth. And, of course, plenty of kids and parents consumed volumes of popcorn and cotton candy!

It was great to see people engaging in conversations with each other. Thank you to Kimberly Young and many other volunteers for serving throughout the night to provide a memorable experience for families. We look forward to welcoming some of our visitors back to Morningside on a Sunday through our follow up outreach efforts.

Photo credit: Jenn Stuhl

Fall Carnival

We are looking forward to welcoming the community to our annual Fall Carnival this month! This event provides opportunities to fulfill our church’s mission of “loving our world” by engaging in meaningful conversations and serving others. You can also “love others” by volunteering to serve alongside your fellow Morningsiders. Click on the link below to choose from a variety of opportunities. If you will be decorating your trunk, please provide your own candy and then throughout the night we will replenish your supply with other donated candy. Thanks!

Miracle Hill Overcomers Graduation - 3rd Thursday

Morningside Hosts Overcomers Center Graduation

Morningside has the opportunity to partner with Miracle Hill Ministries to host the monthly Overcomers Center Graduation on the 3rd Thursday of each month at 6:30 PM. Morningsiders are invited to attend this inspirational event held at Morningside’s Chapel.

This is how Miracle Hill Ministries describe their ministry to men - The Overcomers Center is a 27-week residential addiction recovery program for men suffering from life-dominating addictions. We implement a biblical adaptation of the twelve-step program to help men develop the ability to live a life free from the sin of addiction. Educational and life skills classes, group and individual counseling, bible study, devotional services, classroom instruction, and seminars are part of the four-level curriculum. After graduation guests are encouraged to stay in a Miracle Hill Transitional House for additional support as they move toward independent living. They have 80 beds plus transitional housing.

For more information visit https://miraclehill.org/shelters/overcomers-center-for-men/

Photo Credit - Miracle Hill Ministries Website

Backpack Blessings

Demonstrate compassion to kids in our community by donating food to Upstate Backpack Blessings in October. Upstate Backpack Blessings provides food every weekend to over 300 children in the Greenville county schools. Without these donations, children would go hungry due to poverty or neglect. View the list below or stop by the Welcome Center for a full list of food donations. Donations can be dropped off at the Welcome Center during October and at the Fall Carnival.