The 20 students, 10 male and 10 female, who make up the Africa University Choir will be among the guests at the Dare to Share Jesus 2000 Florida Annual Conference Event May 30-June 2 in Lakeland and will perform at the event’s closing worship service Friday.

The visit to Florida is part of the group’s United States tour that includes stops at General Conference in Cleveland, Ohio, and visits throughout the Southeastern Jurisdiction.

The students are from the United Methodist affiliated university in Zimbabwe, Africa, and represent seven African nations, including Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mozambique.

Delegates to the Dare to Share Jesus 1999 Florida Annual Conference Event collected and donated materials for more than 500 Flood Buckets in response to last year’s Flood Bucket Challenge. Many of those Flood Buckets were distributed to survivors of Tropical Storm Irene through United Methodist churches in Canal Point and Florida City.

This year, the Florida Conference Disaster Response Team is once again challenging delegates to collect Flood Bucket supplies for the Dare to Share Jesus 2000 Florida Annual Conference Event May 30-June 2 in Lakeland. The conference’s Disaster Relief Truck will be available throughout the event to collect donations. This year’s goal is, again, enough supplies for 500 Flood Buckets.

Florida Bishop Cornelius L. Henderson is also challenging delegates to collect supplies for School Kits as part of the Council of Bishops’ Initiative on Children and Poverty and Hope for the Children of Africa. The School Kits, which contain scissors, paper, a ruler, pencil sharpener, pencils and crayons, will be sent to Mozambique to help children get back to school after that nation’s recent flooding.