Outreach

Riviera United Methodist Church reaches out into our community and into the world to provide aid and comfort to those in need. There are many opportunities for your participation and support. Indeed, it is vital that we all participate in outreach, since it is a primary mission in our Christian faith.

Here we provide a brief description of various service activities and programs at Riviera. These are in addition to the many independent efforts initiated by individual church members. For more information, your suggestions, and how you can help, call Ferne Yoshida (375-1567) or Joyce Mar (783-0032).

Loaves and Fishes is the luncheon that Riviera provides to the low-income and homeless on the fifth Saturday of months containing five Saturdays. Over one hundred guests typically attend and are served a full-course home-cooked meal. In addition, brown bag sandwich meals, socks and toiletries are available for them to take as they leave. Members of our church congregation provide and serve the food. And musical entertainment sometimes appears!

Reaching Out Partners Over the years, Riviera has provided support for certain designated needy individuals and families. A few examples: 1) money for groceries for a woman who was very sick, with two children, 2) clothing, apartment furnishings, and school supplies to a woman with four children who lived in a shelter for one month after her husband was shot in the head and her belongings had been stolen, 3) money to pay for books and groceries for a family of four with husband laid off work and both parents attending community college, and 4) a suit of clothes to an unemployed man looking for work

Toberman Neighborhood Center in San Pedro provides invaluable services to the surrounding community -- drug and gang prevention programs, summer camping, after-school programs/tutoring, Senior Club, thrift shop, neighborhood and economic development, parenting effectiveness, comprehensive emergency assistance, and more. Riviera supports Toberman with our dollars (through special offerings) and with donations of food (on Sundays in the boxes in the narthex), children's toys, and the hours of many in our congregation who volunteer their time & efforts.

His House, a social service of the Salvation Army, is a mission in Torrance supported by many local churches. The agency provides many services for low-income families, including bags of groceries, rental and utility assistance, school supplies to Torrance students (Operation Backpack), after-school reading/tutoring, baby blankets & clothes to new mothers, and turkey dinners at Thanksgiving. Brown bag lunches are provided to the hungry and homeless daily. Riviera church members donate groceries (on Sundays in the boxes in the narthex), school supplies, Thanksgiving turkeys, baby blankets and supplies, and provide volunteer help reading to students after school.