Get Your Serve On, Post 2

So I kinda left you all on the edge of a cliff yesterday, hu?

Sorry about that...

I have this THING for posts that are too long, and if I did this all together it would be WAY TOO LONG.

So please forgive me!

One of the things that I decided through my prayer is that EVERYONE deserves good food, and a hot meal. I have taken a few different actions on this point.

In March I joined the Least of These team at our church. The Least of These, at that time provided meals  twice a month at the local homeless shelter. My contribution to this effort became making 150 desserts for the meals twice a month.

Each time I would try to make something appealing, homemade, and a touch healthy!

I enjoy taking surplus foods and making them into something tasty... and the reports I get back from the servers is that the folks getting them enjoy it too!

I also try to make it a family event, and the kids help out too!

In about June we added the homeless in the town that our church is located in (the shelter is in another town, about 15 miles away). We would just make a little more and set some aside for the people in our community. We would go down to where they camp and feed them there.

For a LONG time these men and women have been on my heart.

Just in the past month our church has received permission to feed these people each week. This feeding would only be 15-20 meals each Friday. It really is not worth pulling the whole Least of These team together for this few meals, and these folks have really been on my heart. So I volunteered to put the meals together on the weeks that we are only feeding in our town. This past Friday was the first time my family and I did this.

So I used a tray of enchiladas that were left from the feed before (we froze them of course, and I reheated them for this week), and the kids and I added:

Spanish Rice

Beans

Cookies

Apples

Juice Boxes

We packaged the food up to stay warm and the rest in bags to stay cool and then headed down to where they would meet us.

The people were so kind and so thankful. It was a good time of fellowship and sharing Christ's abounding love. Audrey really enjoyed letting her light shine and talking to people.

After a bit we headed out and let them enjoy their meals in peace, but so thankful that we could provide a simple hot meal for them and shower them with a bit of love. I am also so thankful for the Lord's provisions in my life, for without His constant blessings my children and I could be right there too!

Along the lines of providing food, our Least of These team recently participated in the local Hunger Walk. We are able to purchase food at the local food bank for 14 cents a pound to distribute to the homeless and struggling in our community. The Hunger Walk is to raise awareness of the plight of the hungry in our communities, but it is also a way for us to raise funds for our account at the food bank.

Nathaniel and I, along with Pastor Randy, maned the refreshment stop, where we got to hand out water and goodies to the walkers and be a source of encouragement. This was a great task for Nathaniel, as I don't think he could have done the walk with the hills involved, and I wasn't looking forward to pushing his chair up those hills!

Audrey participated in the walk with Susan, who is the director of the Least of These ministry at our church. I was so proud of her, she walked the whole 2 miles happily and let her little light shine on!

It was a great day of fellowship, bringing awareness to an important cause and taking a stand for what we believe to be important. Even if it was a simple task, I still feel that SO MANY MORE could have taken a few hours out of their afternoon and participated, so I was proud of my kids for doing this! An added bonus was that Audrey got her picture in the local paper!

The other area I have been working in is not done yet, but the seeds have been planted and we are watering them!

It is very heavy on my heart to use the surplus groceries in the area to provide food to those that are making ends meet but just barely. Another local church is currently doing this, but they are small and the need is taxing on them. I would REALLY like to join forces with them and provide at our church too. Each church could be open one day a week and we could bless and serve more people. This is still in the works, as we at my church are still seeking more refrigeration and freezer storage on grounds, and the other church is considering how this would best work. But I am in deep prayer over it, and if you would like you could join me! I would LOVE to see this up and going before the winter and holiday season hit too hard.

As I said in the first Get Your Serve On post, I do NOT share these things to bring glory to my children and I, but more to encourage you! There ARE things in your community that you can do to share the love of Christ and be his hands and feet, no matter WHO you are or what you are dealing with.

What have you done recently to Get Your Serve On???

I will be back tomorrow with the final post in this go round of our OTHER service project we have been working on.... can't wait to see you again!