Outreach Ministries

As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

— 1 Peter 4:10

  • Orange UMC partners with PORCH Hillsborough and PORCH Chapel Hill-Carrboro which strive to fight hunger by collecting food and monetary donations to help stock local food pantries. Orange has co-sponsored or otherwise supported their food distribution events. We have also raised funds to support the organization as a church. If you would like to get involved, volunteers are often needed to help staff future distribution events, and both food and money donations are always accepted. Please contact the church office for more information.

  • Orange UMC partners with the American Red Cross to help host blood drives in our Fellowship Hall. On the occasions that their original location for a drive becomes unavailable, we offer our space to them. When we host a drive we always need volunteers to help set-up/break-down, usher donors, and distribute snacks. We advertise the blood drives to both donors and volunteers in our weekly emails. If you would like to join our mailing list, please email the church office.

  • Share the Love bags are bags of food that our Outreach teams makes. These bags are for you to take and distribute to any food insecure or unhoused persons you encounter. If you would like to donate food items for these bags, you can donate the following:

    • Lance Toasty Sandwich crackers, peanut butter flavor

    • Member's Mark applesauce, 4 oz. cup

    • Nature Valley Oats 'n Honey Crunchy Granola Bars, 2/pkg

    • (Armour or Libby's) Vienna Sausage, 4.6 oz.

    • Kar's Sweet 'n Salty Mix, 2 oz. (trail mix)

    • Member's Mark purified bottled water, 16.9 oz.

    • Member's Mark 10-pack crew sports socks, black

    • Ziplock Easy Open Tabs Storage gallon bags

  • Backpack Buddies is a ministry that packs backpacks for school aged children facing food insecurity. We need volunteers to help pack and distribute the backpacks, so if you would like to help click this link to sign up. If you would like to donate food items, here are food items that are needed:

    Entrees: Ramen, soup, canned ravioli, mac 'n cheese cups, Vienna sausages, beans and franks, baked beans, canned chicken, microwaveable meals (shelf-stable)

    Breakfasts: oatmeal packets, grits, single-serve cereal boxes, Pop-tarts, granola bars

    Snacks: fruit cups, pudding cups, peanut butter or cheese crackers, single-serve goldfish, microwaveable popcorn, slim jims, individual packs of peanuts or trail mix

    Other items: milk or juice boxes (shelf-stable), individual microwaveable veggie cups, plastic jars (16 oz. or smaller) of peanut butter

  • When a mom or dad in is prison, it is their children who do the ‘hard time’ during the holidays. We can let these kids know that they are not forgotten by their incarcerated parent through the Angel Tree Project.  If you have questions or would like to become involved in this area of service, contact the church office.

  • The scholarship comes from the fund established by family and friends in memory of Avery Coy Maddry, a 1990 graduate of Chapel Hill High School and a freshman at North Carolina State University at the time of his tragic death at the age of 18 on January 7, 1991. The fund is administered through Orange, where Coy was an active member, and the award is in its 34th year, one of the church’s longest continuous ministries.

    The scholarship candidates must be varsity athletic letter winners at a Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools high school who best exemplify Coy's life through qualities he demonstrated: hard work and dedication, strong academics, and exemplary character and leadership as reflected in church, school and civic activities.

    Coaches, teachers and administrators may nominate candidates for the honor.

    The scholarship is given on an annual basis from the interest accrued by the fund. Memorials may still made to the Orange UMC/Coy Maddry Scholarship Fund.

  • Approximately 10% of OUMC’s annual budget goes toward apportionments that benefit UMC program agencies and other benevolent causes throughout the United States and the world. These include the World Service Fund, Africa University, and Black College Fund. Orange UMC has a proud history of being a Rainbow Covenant church. For more information about apportionments, check out this resource from the North Carolina Conference.