The All Nations Project
The All Nations Project is an outreach vision targeted at meeting both short term and long term needs of international students in central Michigan. Small groups are encouraged to reach out to the immediate needs of international students in the ways described below. Once your group has identified the need you would like to meet, please sign up at the bottom of the page.
Primary Needs ----------------------------------------------------
Store Runs: Most international students are without a U.S. drivers license or vehicle. As the weather gets colder it will be more and more difficult for them to get to the store to buy groceries and other items they need. Sign up below to meet this need.
- Small Group Ideas:
- A group could organize local store runs for a specific day and time and for a specific housing area such as Barnes Hall, Northwest apartments, or Washington Apartments. You would need to choose a day and time as well as the stores you will go to (probably the bigger ones like Wal-mart and Meijer) and advertise to students living in those areas.
- East Lansing Trips - many students no way to shop for food from their home country unless they can get a ride to Oriental Mart in East Lansing. An SG could organize two Lansing trips in the next 40 days for a group of students (either randomly advertized or a certain group like the Chinese).
Conversation Partners: This is an immediate need as many students are here to learn about our culture and language. You simply get together once a week and share words and share life with a student from another nation. Please familiarize yourself with our Conversation Partner Expectations Sheet and then click here if you would like to sign up. Currently we still need 9 partners (5 women, 4 men) and the committment to be a partner lasts through the fall semester.
- Small Group Idea:
- Have everyone in your group commit to being a conversation partner.
The Storehouse: Many students come to America without warm clothing or basic living essentials so the needs are many and varied. This is a place to drop off bed sheets, pots and pans, coats, hats, gloves, or anything that a student coming to a new climate and culture could use. Sign up below to donate items to the storehouse.
- Small Group Ideas:
- Make/collect donations of new or gently used items that you no longer need or have the resources to purchase/collect.
- Help distribute items to new international students beginning in January.
- SERVICE UPDATE - One group is serving by organizing, cleaning, and rebuilding the storehouse.
- SERVICE UPDATE - One group is championing a donation drive for household items to add to the storehouse.
Donate to the All Nations Project: Our long term vision for this project is to bless students as they come to our area with a place to sleep, get a couple of meals, and then get connected to a family or apartment which can provide an intermediate housing solution until the dorms open. The focus of the project is to aquire housing/property where students will be able to stay for a couple days as they enter our culture. Our vision is generational, meaning that we're looking to minister to international students and families that make their way to our area each year, for years to come.
Secondary Needs ----------------------------------------------------
Temporary Housing: This is a need over holiday breaks and at the start of new semesters due to housing that is not open. You would be opening your home for a previously determined amount of time to a student or students. Sign up if you would be willing to be on call for this during these seasons of need the most immediate being Christmas break and then early January.
Care Packages: These are laundry baskets full of particular items that a student may need upon immediate arrival in Mt. Pleasant. These allow the students to at least arrive with the bare essentials to "survive" until they can be taken to the store. It is a very important way our church has been able to bless new students.
- Small Group Ideas:
- Take care of collecting and donating the items needed for these
- Prepare the actual care packages in the next few months. Then they could deliver them to new students in January.
- SERVICE UPDATE - 2 groups have already chosen to put care packages together for international students!
Airport Pickups: Many students come to America without someone to pick them up from the airport. Often times the notice is short for when new students are arriving, but if you're ready to pick people up and your schedule is flexible enough, it is a powerful way to bless a student and help them get situated in their new location. Sign up below if you would like to be contacted for airport pickups.
- Small Group Ideas:
- Take ownership of providing/finding drivers during a particular time of year (ex. Thanksgiving, Christmas break, January arrivals).
- Sign up to be on a list of volunteers to be called when OIE/students have a need
Homestays: Throughout the year many students desire to get up close and personal with American families and friends. Signing up as a homestay host will allow you to have a student stay at your house to learn what an American family looks and feels like for a weekend. These occur each term Fall, Spring, Summer 1 and often Summer II. Click here to apply.
Contact 
Kim for current information on each need.
