People sometimes ask me what we do at the ministry center. The short answer is yes because that's the word we try to use most often. I can best explain by telling you about this past Saturday. This was a random busy day for us at Hope for Healing.Org.
You've already seen some of the furniture that they learned how to make. We do these things with the juvenile offenders that serve their community service with us. The parent of one of the kids that we worked with stopped by on Saturday. She wanted to let us know that her child was promoted to the next grade. According to her, we're responsible for encouraging her student to stay in school. That news made my day.
We worked out a trade with the homeless shelter in New Market. They came and got most of our knick-knacks. In return, they're bringing us more ladies clothing to give away. It was a good thing too. With school about to start clothing is on the minds of many.
After they left, our summer youth coordinator was able to pull some things together for an outreach event that's coming up. We'll be at Calling All Men in Sevierville on August 7 & 8. It's up to her to help get the display ready. She's doing a great job with it! It's basically the same display that we took to the Jesus in the Park event except with more information about us.
Later in the afternoon a woman stopped in with her kids. She's a former victim of domestic violence and is relearning how to live her life. The problem is that she has no dishes, clothing, pots or pans and is without a bedframe or other furniture pieces. That is, she was without until she came to us. Now she has clothes and a few dishes. Her kids have a couple of toys each. If we can find someone with a truck she'll have a couple of pieces of furniture.
After she left we started helping one of our stimulus kids. When she first came she said that she didn't paint. She also didn't seem to be very interested in learning. Somewhere along the way that changed. She is now painting a table to give to the daughter of her friend. It's a cute table. I am positive that the little girl is going to love it!
By this time it was 7pm. Gayle's husband called to remind her about dinner and coming home. It was time to pack up. Before that happened there was a little more work to do.
Just as Gayle and Allie were beginning to leave a guy in a pick-up truck stopped. He says he is living out of his car. The inside of the car looked the part. Problem is that the man has no food. Could we help him out with a box from our food pantry? Sure. Plus, we had a couple of bottles of water and some canned sodas. It wasn't much but he seemed grateful.
As we were leaving a lady was putting her newspapers in the dumpster. We thanked her for that. The newspaper and cardboard helps. We don't get much but it all adds up.
Also on Saturday we had some very generous donors stop by. Without them we would be lost. We do ask for a donation when people get items but that doesn't happen very often. We genuinely appreciate all of the support we get. Whether you are supporting us on the internet or dropping off at our ministry center we appreciate it.
When we're not busy at the center we're answering email, updating the blog, working on the website or trying to stay afloat financially. There's plenty to do. Volunteers are always welcome. I hope this answers about what we do. If not, leave a comment to let us know. We always like hearing from you at Hope for Healing.Org.
Here are some photos of the ministry center. The kids recreated the table and the other furniture pieces that you see. We're proud of them at Hope for Healing.Org!
It was the last day that the kids on the stimulus grant were working. One of these kids came to us in 2005 as a juvenile offender. This year he came as an employee. That's how much his life has been changed. The next two kids that are working for us both have learning issues. They all suffer from a lack of confidence but did very well with us.
You've already seen some of the furniture that they learned how to make. We do these things with the juvenile offenders that serve their community service with us. The parent of one of the kids that we worked with stopped by on Saturday. She wanted to let us know that her child was promoted to the next grade. According to her, we're responsible for encouraging her student to stay in school. That news made my day.
We worked out a trade with the homeless shelter in New Market. They came and got most of our knick-knacks. In return, they're bringing us more ladies clothing to give away. It was a good thing too. With school about to start clothing is on the minds of many.
After they left, our summer youth coordinator was able to pull some things together for an outreach event that's coming up. We'll be at Calling All Men in Sevierville on August 7 & 8. It's up to her to help get the display ready. She's doing a great job with it! It's basically the same display that we took to the Jesus in the Park event except with more information about us.
Later in the afternoon a woman stopped in with her kids. She's a former victim of domestic violence and is relearning how to live her life. The problem is that she has no dishes, clothing, pots or pans and is without a bedframe or other furniture pieces. That is, she was without until she came to us. Now she has clothes and a few dishes. Her kids have a couple of toys each. If we can find someone with a truck she'll have a couple of pieces of furniture.
After she left we started helping one of our stimulus kids. When she first came she said that she didn't paint. She also didn't seem to be very interested in learning. Somewhere along the way that changed. She is now painting a table to give to the daughter of her friend. It's a cute table. I am positive that the little girl is going to love it!
By this time it was 7pm. Gayle's husband called to remind her about dinner and coming home. It was time to pack up. Before that happened there was a little more work to do.
Just as Gayle and Allie were beginning to leave a guy in a pick-up truck stopped. He says he is living out of his car. The inside of the car looked the part. Problem is that the man has no food. Could we help him out with a box from our food pantry? Sure. Plus, we had a couple of bottles of water and some canned sodas. It wasn't much but he seemed grateful.
As we were leaving a lady was putting her newspapers in the dumpster. We thanked her for that. The newspaper and cardboard helps. We don't get much but it all adds up.
Also on Saturday we had some very generous donors stop by. Without them we would be lost. We do ask for a donation when people get items but that doesn't happen very often. We genuinely appreciate all of the support we get. Whether you are supporting us on the internet or dropping off at our ministry center we appreciate it.
When we're not busy at the center we're answering email, updating the blog, working on the website or trying to stay afloat financially. There's plenty to do. Volunteers are always welcome. I hope this answers about what we do. If not, leave a comment to let us know. We always like hearing from you at Hope for Healing.Org.
Here are some photos of the ministry center. The kids recreated the table and the other furniture pieces that you see. We're proud of them at Hope for Healing.Org!
1 comment:
Ms. Gayle...I got in touch with the lady I work for and gave her your number, so she should be contacting you soon. Also...I am going to wait until next week to blog about your ministry.
Be blessed...Debbie
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