LUMINA partners with Penn State Extension in offering free nutrition/healthy cooking courses to caregivers of children under 18 who rely on food stamps and food pantries to feed their families. Penn State provides the instructor and the curriculum, while LUMINA makes sure each family has the food and the tools needed to prepare the nutritious meals of the week. Most men and women enrolled in this Super Cupboard course succeed in adopting at least one new healthy habit in feeding and caring for their families. And the families make much-needed connections in the community. They support one another with recipe exchanges, mom support, and money saving ideas.

LUMINA currently offers a weekly evening program called Kids Night on Mondays at New Creation United Methodist Church, located at 10 W. Farnum St in Lancaster City . We foster long-standing relationships with these families who often lack the resources to give their children what they need in order to thrive. We listen and encourage. We support children and their families with food, school supplies, art materials, warm clothing, new toys, and fun treats. Children who are ready to attend overnight camp are given a chance to earn a full scholarship to a week of summer camp at Gretna Glen Camp. Respectful behavior and making peace with others are the key, as we offer educational enrichment and guidance for living in peace with one another, with our Creator and all Creation. Our free summer day camp is August 4-8, 2025 from 10am to 2 pm at New Creation UMC, 10 West Farnum St.

LUMINA partners with Blessings of Hope in distributing free food to the hungry each month. Each month on the second Saturday, volunteers give out 10,000 lbs of food at these two churches in Lancaster City:

10 AM Covenant UMC 110 N. Mulberry

10:30 AM Ross UMC 312 E. Clay St

LUMINA is a member of Manifest, an alliance of United Methodist Churches together other community organizations which are concerned about local housing issues. Currently LUMINA helps to raise funding and recruit volunteers for the work of creating lockers for those who rely on shelters for housing.

LUMINA and other Manifest partners support McCaskey seniors in the building trades program by sponsoring awards of new tools at graduation. Over the past five years, we have awarded thousands of dollars in hand and power tools to graduates who show aptitude and a great work ethic to continue either in trade school or in the working world.

LUMINA maintains long-lasting relationships with many of the families whose children have attended our after school programs. We walk alongside them even as they experience a crisis. For instance with the support of compassionate volunteers who supplied furniture, grocery cards, and motel expenses, LUMINA has been able to help get some of our families off the street and into a decent home. Several churches awarded LUMINA funding, so that we could offer rental and utility support, to keep other families in their homes. LUMINA is partly funded by grants from the Eastern PA Women of Faith of the United Methodist Church.