F.U.M.Y. is an acronym for Fayette United Methodist Youth. This group is forty youth strong and have a heart to serve. They are very community service oriented and have done many different projects within the community and mission trips. Sunday December 16th would be another opportunity to serve. The group received a generous monetary donation from the Schaffner family. They parlayed that money into a fundraising project by working the concession stand at the park. They felt they could put that money to good use by helping those in the community who needed some assistance this Christmas. They wanted to share God’s love with those people they call neighbors. They idea of ‘Shop With A F.U.M.Y.’ was developed.
The assistance was available for any family living in the Fayette School district and had children the ages of Kindegarden through 6th grade. The itinerary for the day was to meet at the Fayette United Methodist Church at 10:30 for church service followed by a lunch at the church. F.U.M.Y. and the families departed and met at the Wauseon Walmart. Once there the children were assigned to two F.U.M.Y. The F.U.M.Y. quickly began to see that yes what they were doing was a great thing by helping to provide items such as clothes and some toys to brighten up this holiday season. But, these kids that seemed quit and unwilling to open up shared some very memorable moments. Jill Stuckey commented on her experience, “I loved seeing the smiling faces on all the kids and how excited they were about receiving new things and just how thankful they really were.” Melanie Seiler enjoyed this opportunity and stated, “It was great to be able to help the kids and see how excited they were to pick out clothes, toys, and shoes.” Connor Wesley a kindegartener at Fayette Local Schools bonded with F.U.M.Y. Garrett Reinking and told his mom that they “were best friends.” Pastor Kathy Currier commented on the event, “What I loved is that our F.U.M.Y. took such joy in helping their shopping partners.
The F.U.M.Y kids were as excited as the kids they were helping. As so often happens, what you intend to be a blessing for one person ends up blessing everyone – our youth and adults were blessed to have parents and kids so receptive and to let us have an opportunity to give back to the community. “ Although not every F.U.M.Y. member was able to participate the following is a list of who did Dylan Stannard, Michael Brubaker, Garett Reinking, Joel Smith, Alexis Fruchey, Adrianna Hylander, Cole Stuckey, Katelyn Brubaker, Ben Kessler, Grant Reinking, Adrianna Hibbard, Kelsey Fruchey, Melanie Seiler, Tharyn Colegrove, Kaela Seiler, Emily Keiser, Jill Stuckey, Jennaya Hibbard, Zayne Colegrove, and Baylee Smith. The F.U.M.Y. leaders who assisted were Rodney and Robyn Bingman, Aaron Hylander, and Tricia Pfund. F.U.M.Y. leader Tricia Pfund stated, “I enjoyed seeing all the smiling faces on the young kids and F.U.M.Y. kids. You could tell everyone involved was having a good time.” Rodney Bingman commented on F.U.M.Y.’s mission. “When F.U.M.Y. was founded the kids selected 1 Timothy chapter 4 verse 12 to kind of represent what this group would be about. This scripture states ‘Don’t Let Anyone Look Down On You Because You Are Young, But Set An Example For The Believers In Speech, In Life, In Love, In Faith And In Purity’ I think this group does an outstanding job of leading by example and representing our group, church, community, and themselves in a manner consistent with what God teaches us.”