Glenview UMC was one of 14 churches serving as a collection site for this year's mission challenge.

The Northern Illinois Conference Board of Global Ministries congratulates the Midwest Mission Distribution Center (MMDC) on its 20th Anniversary celebration and thanks them for their invitation to celebrate its 20 years of ministry by sharing financial donations and in-kind supplies like those we usually bring during our Annual Conference Fill-the-Truck Drive. 

In partnership with MMDC, the Northern Illinois Conference will reach many people around the world and around the corner with our prayers, a message of hope, laundry detergent, dish soap, household cleaners, toothpaste and other items to help them through a disaster or humanitarian crisis. 

In 2019 due to the tremendous generosity of our churches in the NIC, MMDC graduated from a trailer to a real truck that was completely packed with a new record of more than 50,000 items or 5,271 pounds!

In response to this year’s pandemic, economic downturn, virtual annual conference and other challenges, MMDC helped us adopt a new 2020 vision and adapt to our changing circumstances by sending a fleet of trailers to more than a dozen collection sites in churches across the conference. Because of this year’s numerous challenges, we anticipated a significant drop-off in items collected. 

A volunteer at Grace UMC in Naperville smiles over the many items dropped off at the church for the Midwest Mission Distribution Center.

However, we are excited to announce that this year NIC churches donated an amazing 5,020 pounds of items and nearly $1,000 for this year’s Mission Challenge! We came within 250 pounds of last year’s record-breaking collection amounts. 

Two drivers, Ramon Ortiz, Operations Assistant at MMDC, and Ray Trent from New Lenox UMC drove 686 miles over 13 hours picking up our donations!

We thank MMDC, the churches that served as collection sites, the volunteers who staffed those sites and everyone who contributed to the 2020 Mission Challenge. Through your participation, you have helped all of us look higher, see a vision of God that is greater than our current circumstances and be encouraged in our journeys to spiritual maturity.