"One" Passionate Group of Kids on a Mission for NCM
Mitchell Whisonant is an energetic ten year old with a real passion for serving serving others. Mitchell and his friends helped stock the NCM pantry shelves with food items collected during a church-wide food drive. This included over 200 bags of food!
Mitchell's "Kids on a Mission" team put together 75 personal hygiene kits for the homeless, 50 tea bags,40 bags of laundry detergent,22 bags of rice, and 12 bags of coffee. It is amazing to see how God is working in the hearts of a one compasionate group of kids, and what can be done. Mitchell and his friends from One Heart Church are proof of how a servants heart benefits the community and the Kingdom!
letters:
Another Children's Restoration Network Hope Scholarship Recipient Graduates from College
We are happy to announce that we have another New Hope SCholarship Recipient graduate from college this year, in 2010. This student is graduating from Fort Valley State Univeristy with his Bachelor's Degree in Social Work with a minor in Criminal Justice. He plans on working with DFACS for a year and then pursue his Masters in Social Work at Georgia State University.
Thank you to everyone who has volunteered their time or donated funds for our New Hope Scholarship Program; it is truly a life-altering program.
We congratulate all of our New Hope Scholarship Recipients for their hard work and dedication.
Sincerely,
Cliff Kinsey
Thank you Perimeter Family!
Community Outreach Christmas 2008 at Perimeter resulted in over 500 bags of groceries, 650 children being provided for, 700 toys collected, 150 family sponsorships, 2000 sandwiches, and over 1000 hand written cards of love
It seems I write/update you all when we need something, so, today I wanted to do something a little different! Our shelves are as full as I have ever seen them!! Toys are in abundance! Food cases line our hallways and intake offices!! We put the call out for help and you all have risen to meet the need in our community! While we hear that local food banks are struggling and some have had to close their doors, we flourish and have been able to provide for huge increase of need here in Buford, Sugar Hill and Suwanee.
We have been blessed with donations from a restaurant supply organization, who gave us so many extra large bags of pasta/sauces/vegetables that we, in turn, were able to share them with Quinn House who actually cook meals for people.
We have had a record number of children step up and host food drives either in their neighborhoods or schools. We have hosted several field trips from area schools who come in to help (after hours). We have had corporations, medial offices, and civic organizations find creative ways to benefit the community - WE ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE - TOGETHER! There is no such thing as a small donation when we all come together we make a BIG difference.
I promise to be in touch early in the New Year to share service numbers with you and to ask you to continue the mission as the need promises to be great into the new year and beyond!
God Bless and Merry Christmas!
Maureen Kornowa
Executive Director
North Gwinnett Co-Operative Ministries, Inc.
Thank you and the Perimeter team for all your support during the Christmas Season. You made many children very happy, those in the extended stays most of all, the mothers and all the people there could not believe we would spend Christmas Eve carrying toys to their children. God Bless each of you for making this possible.
Mary, Duluth Hands of Christ
Thank you so much!!!!!! The boys are going to be so excited!!!!!! Your sponsors were so nice and helpful. I don’t care if I don’t get a thing for Christmas because my Christmas wish has already been granted. MY BOYS WILL HAVE THE BEST CHRISTMAS EVER!!!!!
I can’t express how grateful and thankful I am for you and your church. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!
May God Bless You and Your Entire Church!!!!!
Best regards,
Nancy
Thank you so much for your time, talent and hard work. The lofts are PERFECT and we never could have accomplished this without you. Thank you for supporting our school, our teachers and our students.
Dr. FA McLeod, Berkeley Lake Elementary School
Good Samaritan Health Center of Gwinnett:
We recently received a letter from a patient that truly gets to the heart of why we exist. The letter began, "I would like to inform you [Dr. Varghese] that I will not be able to continue my medical visits with you...I have to cancel all my future appointments." What appeared to be the start of a disconcerting letter from a patient turned out to be an inspiring Good Sam success story.
Like most of the Center's patients, Ms. C. came to Good Samaritan Gwinnett during a difficult financial time in her life and needed affordable healthcare services to manage her diabetes. The high cost of health insurance premiums and her modest hourly wage made health insurance unfeasible at the time.
Ms. C. is a pleasant, middle-aged woman who works in the food service industry. As an established patient for over two years, Ms. C relied on the Center for her primary care needs. She received well-woman exams, annual mammograms and regular follow-up visits. Dr. Varghese, Ms. C's primary care physician, managed her diabetes through health education and a regimented medication program. Ms. C. also utilized the Center's Eye Care Clinic for her yearly eye exams. As a result of the eye exam and the new eyeglasses she recieved free of charge through Good Sam's partnership with Lion's Lighthouse Foundation of Georgia, Mrs.C has also recieved the gift of improved eyesight.
The grateful letter mailed to Dr. Varghese on January 13, 2010, was actually a praise report from Mrs. C. explaining that she had signed up for open enrollment for both medical and dental insurance on her job. Her financial situation has improved and she is now able to afford the health benefits offered by her employer.
Ms. C goes on to write, "I want to thank you and your staff for all that was done and for the friendly faces and smiles. God is good. Enclosed is a donation to say thank you and God bless you all as you serve Him."
Ms. C.'s experience is a testimony to the fact that the account of the Good Samaritan parable told in Luke 10 is still happening on a regular basis here at the Good Samaritan Health Center of Gwinnett.
I want to thank you for the critical role you play in helping us demonstrate the love of Christ to our neighbors in need.
Sincerely,
Kimberly Adams
Executive Director
Wellspring Living:
I walked into the lodge for C’s graduation yesterday. Pastel tissue paper flowers were hanging from the ceiling. C’s favorite meal, Sub sandwiches :-) and fruit were prepared. (Kind of healthy....) The room was filled with excitement over this special time. After everyone finished eating, the program began with a welcome. One of the newest girls read Psalm 100 and then each staff member gave out their special awards. C spoke and shared a poem that she wrote to her family saying thank you for consistently supporting her through her hardships and thanking the Victory Program staff for their care. C’s parents shared their gratitude to staff and how proud they were of their daughter’s change of life. The program was going along much like other graduations I have described until Sophie began to play C’s favorite song, “My Little Girl” by Tim McGraw. The song began to play describing his daughter as beautiful from the outside in, and then C’s dad did the most precious thing. . . He took C’s hand and they began to dance. What a moment! All of the girls and most of the rest of us were moved to tears. What could be better than seeing a girl who is now successful in her schoolwork and making wise choices AND reunited with her family and moving home!!!!!!
THANK YOU FOR BEING A PART OF HER STORY!!!!!!
Blessings, Mary Frances Bowley
President Wellspring Living, Inc.
Norcross Coop Book Bag Bonanza:
It was a modern day miracle, an unbelievable story of the multiplying of loaves and fish! I'm referring to our Book Bag Bonanza and your faithfulness. The Wednesday before our event we barely had 300 book bags to pass out to our local students starting the new school year. Just 3 days later, on Saturday morning, we distributed 733 BOOK BAGS, Halleluiah! Your generosity is overwhelming! Each time I thought we must have no book bags left, more appeared! So much so, we even had a few left over and were able to give them to deserving students unable to attend the event. THANK YOU just doesn't seem adequate, perhaps it's best said in the 733 smiles we received in return.
World Relief:
Transportation to Perry, GA – In recent months, many of you donated money to help us secure transportation for refugees who started working at the Perdue chicken plant in Perry, Georgia. Your generosity enabled us to help refugees purchase the van in the photo. This van has been an incredible blessing. Thank you for making it possible.
Hi Hope Center
The Willis House Project
What do a Ballroom Dancing Club and Perimeter Church have in common? They both support Hi-Hope. Members of the dance club who meet at Perimeter Church semi-annually take on yard work and this year the construction of a working garden at the Willis House. The five gentlemen who live at the Willis House as well as residents from the Beverly House and Russell House watched, supervised
and appreciated the efforts of the volunteers. Now if those tomatoes would just hurry up and grow.
For additional information and a story in the the Gwinnett Daily Post, click here.
rainbow village:
I am the 28 year old mother of three beautiful children. My life before coming to Rainbow Village was awful. I was with a man that abused me mentally, sexually, physically, and financially. He was also abusive to our two year old son. He was a very controlling man, so much so that I could not have a cell phone or a car. I left my husband while 5 months pregnant with twins. I was afraid and unsure of what the future held for me and my children. My son and I stayed in a domestic violence shelter in Fulton County for one and a half months. After the birth of my twins I got a job and heard about Rainbow Village. I completed an application and went through the interview process with the case manager for Rainbow Village. You can imagine my relief when I was told I had been accepted into the program. Rainbow Village has become a safe haven for me and my children. They have taught me how to budget my money and how to manage a savings account, how to be responsible for myself and not be dependent on others, and most importantly they have given my family lots of love. They have even made our holidays special! Rainbow Village has taught me how to live on my own. I no longer have to depend on my parents, a man or anyone else. Rainbow Village has become my family and I thank them for everything!
Let the Celebrations Begin!
Families become homeless every day for all sorts of reasons -- unexpected exorbitant medical expense, domestic violence, job layoffs -- but it isn't those events that really devastate. It's that no one seems to see them go down. It's the hopelessness that finishes them off -- one minute they're there, the next they're gone. It is as if they never really existed.
We can talk about life-skills classes and after-school programs and transitional housing all day long -- those are, after all, a few of the many resources Rainbow Village makes available to the homeless families who come here. But they are just tools -- they aren't the reasons families actually succeed in rebuilding their lives. Never was that more obvious than in recent weeks.
For example, on May 2, 60 volunteers showed up for Siemens' All Hands Day at the Duluth quadra-plexes, and they worked hard all day, landscaping and helping us prepare apartments for two new families. But that wasn't enough. Three of the volunteers helped a "graduating" mother of three pack up to move to a new place of her own, and then jumped in their cars, followed her to her new apartment, and helped her unpack!
On the very same day, members of McKendree United Methodist Church became the first to start work on cleaning up our new property, where we'll begin to see signs of the new Rainbow Village appear.
Then there was the Thursday before Mother's Day. Resident and graduate families were treated to a four-course dinner of shrimp Caesar salad, filet mignon, asparagus, garlic mashed potatoes and New York-style cheesecake while they were serenaded by Ann Lam on guitar. The food was provided by Rainbow Village corporate partner, Lexus Nexus...and cooked and served by the Cline family -- Jim, Patty, Carole, and Don -- and friends, Shane Mathis and Rick Baird. Outside, their children played games, supervised by our longtime partners from the Children's Restoration Network.
Close behind that came the annual Big Recess bash, with burgers and dogs grilled by Rob Vanni, "Mr. Mike" Wessel, Mike Addington, and our board chair, Loretta Salzano -- all monuments of constancy for the Rainbow Village children. Face-painting, outdoor games, and just plain fun was had by all.
Then came Gigi Stewart, founder of the Atlanta Chapter of Angel Cakes, and her two daughters, bearing four boxes. In each was a cake, specially decorated to order with the name of a Rainbow Village child whose birthday is this month. Every child's birthday will be uniquely marked from now on.
The secret to Rainbow Village's success is that here people rediscover that they exist --and the fact they exist is not only noticed, but celebrated -- by staff, by volunteers, by donors, and ultimately themselves.
Yesterday, the celebration came in the form of superheroes and names written in white icing. Today, it was the gift of a storage unit at no charge at Champion Self-Storage on Peachtree Industrial Boulevard.
Tomorrow?
movers and shakers:
We loaned 9 sofas to Camp Woodlands in Cleveland, GA. They helped to create a much more comfortable and conversational weekend! And, we've got 53 new men on our list of potential volunteers!
We arrived at the first residence on Saturday morning to make a delivery and found a lady in her bathrobe standing in an apartment without a stick of furniture. She said that she had just "moved in" that morning at 1:00am but seemed to have only clothes and her college-aged daughter in a back bedroom. She had tears and words of thanks in her eyes as we talked and prayed for her. We were very glad that we had been Mover and Shaker agents that morning.
We delivered to three families Saturday morning. All 3 have come from Bhutan in the last 3-4 months. They are Muslim but very open. All 3 families were very appreciative and helped with each other. We were able to talk and pray with them. Bennett has quite a ministry to the Muslims. The mosque is across the street from the apartments and the imam has visited Bennett several times to tell him to stop talking to his people. Bennett tells him they are coming of their own free will and they are listening and praying with him. They Spirit is opening doors for him.
victoria's friends god story:
God Stories from Valentine's Outreach
"The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ takes the slums out of people, and then they take themselves out of the slums. The world would mold men by changing their environment. Christ changes men who then change their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature." - Ezra Taft Benson
Dear supporters and friends, these are precious stories from Izin and Courtney, leaders who led two Valentine's outreaches last month. This is why we do outreach. This is indeed the thumbprint of God!
God bless!
Victoria
Thank you Perimeter Church! Thanks so much for making beautiful baskets for the Mary Magdalene Basket Outreach! Your gifs brought The Light into a dark night! Thank you for your prayers! Love, Victoria’s Friends
EXPANDING TERRITORY
Courtney tells us.... When we arrived at the first club, I asked the bouncers for the owner. Without even looking at me, they inform me she isn't there. They aren't going to let us in! Suddenly, a man in a three-piece suit appears and demands they allow us through. Talk about VIP treatment! I feel like we've arrived at a family reunion - hugs and kisses all around! We step out in boldness and asked if the girls want prayer. They do, and they are not ashamed to ask! We even get to pray with the house mom for healing. We meet a pastor's kid who rebelled. She read Redeeming Love, the book we'd distributed to all the girls for Christmas, and is ready to return home! She's is afraid. We will remain in contact with her. Another woman who has 6 children, is planning to bring her kids to my church for tutoring on Monday afternoons. The territory is expanding!
DISARMED BY GOD'S LOVE THROUGH A CHILD Izin wrote.... Perimeter Church had made tons of Valentine's Day bags, and their 8th graders made homemade cards. What a message of God's love! All the cards were beautiful and uniquely different - like the women. The first woman took a bag and immediately pulled out her card. After reading it she said, "Oh my, I want to cry." Her eyes glistened. With that, the rest of the ladies looked for their own cards to compare.
I talked with a lady who was waiting for her alcohol level to go down. She was shivering and drinking one cup after another of ice water. So I gave her my sweater. Afterward, I found a new scarf amongst our donations and put it around her neck. She chatted with me quietly. When she was ready to leave, she gave me back the sweater and was about to return the scarf. "That's yours," I said. Her face was priceless. She hugged me and left wearing her jeans and small t-shirt and a big beautiful scarf around her neck into the cool night air. The scripture "I was naked and you clothed me" came up in my spirit. May our seeds grow and bear fruit unto our God.
Thank you, Perimeter Church and All Souls Fellowship in Decatur, for making baskets for outreach! Many thanks to the Perimeter 8th graders for making heartfelt cards for the ladies! Jason Kang, a talented photographer and member of Perimeter, took photos of these cards and the basket making event. Thank you!
Duluth co-op God Stories:
Flowers blooming in the Masters Bouquet
Just a normal day at the Hands of Christ Duluth Co-op but little did I know it would not be a normal day for one family who came for help? Mom and Daughter came for assistance with their rent. Mom was not able to work, and Dad’s work laying carpet was very slow. Daughter’s job, working as a hotel desk clerk paid a little over minimal wage. They were in need, and it seemed to them we were the last stop before eviction. We were able to help with the rent and gave them a weeks supply of food, and had prayer with them, asking God to meet the needs in their life, as we prayed and cried together. God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit entered in to the room and the ladies hearts were touched with God’s love. When reviewing their application before they left, I saw that the daughter worked at the hotel where I was attending church. I talked to them a little more about their relationship with God and invited them to attend Sunday Morning Worship with us.
Sunday morning came and as I entered the church there sat Rosa & Debbie. I would like to say they came back the next Sunday, but they did not. My husband and I would greet Debbie each Sunday at the hotel clerk’s desk and assure her we were praying for her family, and many months later they did return to church with dad (David) and now attend regularly.
Our church, New Life Worship Center has now moved from the Suwanee hotel to Duluth and David laid all the carpet in the new facility as a gift to God and the church. Come next week David will be laying carpet in our home, and yes we will be paying him for his labor, we have seen his work and we know what we will be receiving. Rosa now wants to volunteer at the Co-op. It was not a regular day one year ago at the Co-op. God had a plan, and I thank God we were able to see the transformation in Rosa, Debbie, and David’s lives, and witness this family becoming a part of the family of God.
What a joy it is to watch the flowers in the Masters Bouquet bloom, and to be a part of the Hands of Christ Duluth Co-Op Ministry.
Mary Roberts
Community Service Hours
Man calls wanting to do community service hours at the Hands of Christ Co-op. He completes his hours for the court and is now a regular volunteer, and he and his wife are now attending church with the director, Mary
Lady calls wants to do community service hours and is now a regular volunteer at the Hands of Christ.
No Goods but lots of Time
Duluth Merchant who once was able to give his goods to the Co-op lost his business and is now volunteering and giving his time to the ministry.
Testimonies
Talking pays off sometimes.
Not sure if this was taught by Steve Anderson??
Duluth Merchants chose Hands of Christ to receive the proceeds from their 2008 Benefit Dinner to help retire the building loan debt. Sharing the good news with volunteers paid off. One volunteer said she wanted to help the Co-op retire the debt on the building and brought in a check for $10,000.
For example, on May 2, 60 volunteers showed up for Siemens' All Hands Day at the Duluth quadra-plexes, and they worked hard all day, landscaping and helping us prepare apartments for two new families. But that wasn't enough. Three of the volunteers helped a "graduating" mother of three pack up to move to a new place of her own, and then jumped in their cars, followed her to her new apartment, and helped her unpack!
Then came Gigi Stewart, founder of the Atlanta Chapter of Angel Cakes, and her two daughters, bearing four boxes. In each was a cake, specially decorated to order with the name of a Rainbow Village child whose birthday is this month. Every child's birthday will be uniquely marked from now on.
"The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ takes the slums out of people, and then they take themselves out of the slums. The world would mold men by changing their environment. Christ changes men who then change their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature." - Ezra Taft Benson
EXPANDING TERRITORY
DISARMED BY GOD'S LOVE THROUGH A CHILD
Thank you, Perimeter Church and All Souls Fellowship in Decatur, for making baskets for outreach! Many thanks to the Perimeter 8th graders for making heartfelt cards for the ladies! Jason Kang, a talented photographer and member of Perimeter, took photos of these cards and the basket making event. Thank you!