"Pick A Card"

  The Highland Lakes UMC Card Ministry goes a long way toward brightening lives.  And you can take that  literally.
  Every week, a group of ladies comes to the Fellowship Hall and turns donated used cards into "new" recycled cards, which they sell for twenty five cents each. Proceeds benefit a Hospice program that Highland Lakes UMC and FUMC Burnet  sponsor together.  The card workshop has has raised over $5000 at 25 cents a card.  And that includes the envelope!
Someone in the group heard about a program that supplies free cards to soldiers in Iraq.  Soon a shipment was on the way.  The soldiers enjoy writing home using the donated cards.  Several soldiers have even sent a card back to the group, thanking them.  The church has now sent 14 boxes of more than 400 cards each to our troops. 
  Someone else in the card workshop group heard that inmates in a  nearby women's prison felt lonely and isolated at Christmas, so the group donated several hundred cards that were distributed throughout the prison so that those incarcerated could send personal greetings to their children, friends, and families.
  In addition to the huge number of cards donated by church members and people in the community,  some local businesses support the project by donating unsold brand new cards that would have just been thrown away. 
  Recently on a Sunday morning, the church pastor read a thank you note written by a young female soldier in Iraq, thanking the group for the cards she uses to keep in touch with loved ones  back home.  One of the regular card-creators  later told the pastor,  "That makes it all worthwhile."