June 30, 2012
Just like the mail delivery, rain, snow or 107 degree heat guests were greeted by smiling volunteers ready to show God's love at the food pantry. 155 families came through our doors including 18 new families. Many were sweating from unairconditioned cars and homes. They were welcomed with cold water and cups of ice tea made by some of the 53 volunteers that came to help. Another 26 volunteers helped stock shelves on Tuesday. When guests walk into the pantry doors they are greeted by Kathy Bower. Kathy sits behind the desk helping to register guests, but she knows first hand how it feels to be on the other side. She warmly greets each person, many are on a first name basis. She explains why our pantry is different and you can feel in her description how special the pantry is to her. Kathy lives alone and the pantry has become her family. Each guest is immediately made to feel at ease as many are apprehensive about their situation. Thank you Kathy for your special gift and for spending every Thursday giving to others.
One of the guests that I helped yesterday said that she did not have screens in her windows at home so she could not open them. She had no air conditioning and only one fan. If you are able to donate a fan, please bring it to the food pantry box in the ministry area or I would be glad to pick it up from you just let me know. I could not stop thinking about her as I went to bed last night.
Thank you to everyone that donated baby wipes. They were so appreciated and gone within a few guests. We are once again in need of those as well as oatmeal, granola bars, cake and brownie mixes, juices and boxed dinners. We are almost out of canned meats as well. We always need toilet paper and dish soap. Next Thursday is our laundry soap giveaway week. It is very easy to make and only requires 3 ingredients plus water. We need around 150 bottles each month. Currently only a couple of people are making all of these. If this is something you would be interested in helping with at home, please let me know and I will pass your information on to Joe Stroup who oversees this project. My family actually uses this soap for our own laundry so it may help you save a few dollars by making your own.
June 17, 2012
We had 146 families including 16 new ones last Thursday afternoon. It amazes me each week that we have that many families in need of groceries. 20 volunteers helped stock on Tuesday and 58 volunteers helped on Thursday. How can you and your family get involved? Bring in a can or box of food and put it in the collection box in the ministry area. It is great for our kids to see that we need to reach out and help other families from our blessings.
Luke 12: 48 says, "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked."
If you wanted to concentrate on 1 item to bring in, we are in desperate need of baby wipes. Of course, these cannot be purchased with food stamps and new moms of babys could really use them. We also need oatmeal, pancake mix and syrup, pudding, cake, brownie mix, peanut butter, jelly, boxed dinners and snacks for kids.
We are very excited that through various contributions we will be able to offer each family a gallon of milk each week through the end of the year. This is a huge blessing!
June 10, 2012
How about some great news to start your week off with. The Meijer "Simply Give" program raised $16,000 for our food pantry! A total of $8000 was bought in gift cards from all of you and Meijer matched it. What a blessing. We had 150 families last week including 19 new families. I know when I grocery shop for my family and just pick up what feels like a few things it can come up to 100 dollars so the Meijer donation is much needed. God is so amazing. As our numbers stay steady and even continue to climb I wonder sometimes if we will run out of food. God always provides. I feel like as long as we are doing something that pleases him God will bless us. We are grateful to the 18 volunteers that helped stock on Tuesday and 59 on Thursday that helped. We needed everyone of our volunteers that helped especially in this heat.
Our needs this week include healthy cereal, pancake mix and syrup, boxed cake mix and icing, oatmeal, juices, cornmeal, dry beans, rice, kleenex tissues and toilet paper. We are also in need of paper bags and plastic bags. We always need dish soap too.
As many of you know, we make our own laundry soap. It has 3 ingredients and is very inexpensive to make. If you are interested in helping make this please let me know. We ran out last week and could use some more volunteers to help.
Please continue to pray for our pantry guests, our pantry volunteers and pray that food will continue to come in especially now that school is out for the summer. Put a can or box of something in your car to drop off next time you are at church. Our drop box is in the ministry area. Remember that every 1 can make 's a difference.
June 2, 2012
It was a busy afternoon at the pantry Thursday with 123 families including 13 new families. We had 26 volunteers on Tuesday stocking, checking dates and sorting items for Thursday. We had 58 volunteers helping on Thursday. Hamilton Southeastern school donated many perishables from their end of the school year giving families a choice of carrots, salad, yogurt, apples or cheese sticks. They also received a meat item and some milk that we received from Gleaners.
Our big needs this week are peanut butter, bags of sugar, cereal, oatmeal, canned pineapple, pancake mix and syrup, cereal, soups, fruit juice, boxed potatoes, size 6 diapers.
Since school is out for the summer our needs for food have increased. Thanks to Dawn Campbell for making grilled cheese the past 2 weeks. It is a huge hit for guests of all ages. She plans to continue to make grilled cheese as long as we have cheese to do so. Thank you so much for all of your donations. Every single one counts. Our motto is "Every 1 can make a difference"
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