We are pleased to announce our Compassion Week planning team has received a grant from United Methodist Communications’ Rethink Church Community Events to help shine a light on our outreach efforts. Through this grant, we will expand our communication efforts to invite the community to join us in a week of service. The grant covers radio and digital advertising, a new online registration platform for our service projects, promotional t-shirts, and more. The Compassion Week team will also consult with the Rethink Church staff on best practices for drawing seekers into contact with our church, as we aim to surpass 2,000 volunteers this year.

Although Rethink Church has offered Community Event grants for a few years, the scope widened only this summer from offering grants for multi-church events to include single-church events. Los Altos UMC is one of the first to receive a single-church grant as well as one of the first to use a new online registration system that Rethink Church has rolled out. We look forward to working with Rethink Church and the difference it will make in planning, promoting, and running Compassion Week 2015 (October 5–11).