Spirit of Mission: The Georgia Bates Award Luncheon
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Monday, May 6 -
11:30am – 1:00pm -
Great Hall
Announcing The Spirit of Mission: Georgia Bates Award 2024 Honoree
United Methodist Women of Highland Park United Methodist Church is pleased to present Mari Epperson with the 2024 Spirit of Mission: The Georgia Bates Award. Sponsored by HPUMC UMW through the inspiration of Senior Minister Paul Rasmussen during HPUMC’s 2016 centennial year, this annual award honors a woman from our congregation who has made significant and lasting contributions as a volunteer to ministries serving people, communities, or specific needs.
Mari is a great leader who raises awareness and financial donations for ministries of HPUMC as well as organizations that help so many people in our community. Mari generously gives her time and talents unconditionally, with a kind heart.
Within HPUMC and other Methodist-related ministries, Mari has used her skills from 27 years of fundraising and event planning to help the following organizations:
At Wesley-Rankin Community Center, during her years on the Board of Directors, Mari has served as Vice-President of the Board of Directors and Chair of the Fund Development Committee. She has helped raise funds and awareness for Wesley-Rankin in a multitude of ways, including chairing Wesley-Rankin’s annual benefit dinner and annual spring luncheon, as well as co-founding the A Taste of West Dallas fundraising event.
At CC Young, Mari serves on the Foundation Board and has served as President of the Body Mind Spirit Connection organization, raising funds for CC Young’s Benevolence Fund. She has also chaired the Wrap it Up Luncheon, the Body Mind Spirit Connection’s annual fundraising event.
A member of HPUMC for 30 years, Mari has served the HPUMC community in many ways, beginning in the HPUMC Kids Ministry, where she chaired the large Kids Ministry Board for several years.
Mari has served on the HPUMC Church Council, the HPUMC Board of Trustees, and the HPUMC Global Mission Committee, helping to review grant requests from many global outreach non-profits and even traveling to Costa Rica to work on the Methodist Children’s Home. In 2016, when HPUMC celebrated its 100th anniversary, Mari was asked to serve on the Centennial Committee, where she co-chaired the 100th Year Celebration Event.
Mari served as President of HPUMC United Methodist Women in 2009 and continues to serve on the Board in various positions. She has served as VP of Arrangements for many years, making sure technology is ready for the speakers and food is ordered with the caterers. Mari also ensures that the room is beautifully decorated with handmade centerpieces, underwriting the cost and donating the proceeds back to HPUMC UMW to fund mission work.
Mari continues to serve the entire congregation by coordinating the HPUMC Advent Candle workshop each year, leading a team of UMW members to put together over 10,000 candles for all the church’s Christmas Eve services. Twenty-three years ago, Mari began helping UMW decorate HPUMC for Christmas, eventually rolling into overseeing the entire church décor for the past ten years.
Outside of the United Methodist Church community, Mari has also generously given her time and talents to organizations such as the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Dallas Arboretum, the Junior Charity League, the Grant Halliburton Foundation, and Parish Episcopal School.
If you ask Mari what her favorite thing is, she would say, “All of it!” Mari’s daily motto is “To the world, you might be one person, but to one person, you might be the world.”
Many people have expressed sentiments like the following: "Mari is like the Eveready Battery Bunny…she keeps going and going!” HPUMC UMW is delighted to honor our amazing Mari Epperson!
Speaker: Rev. Paul Rasmussen, HPUMC Senior Minister