$19 Surprise

Kid Crossing and Project Share.
2nd and 3rd grade boys 11:30 a.m. small group set a goal to earn (not beg!) $10.50 for Project Share. It would be enough to provide food for one person for one week.

Here are some of the things they did:

• gave up video games and worked extra jobs around the house instead.
• raked and shoveled leaves.
• asked for chances to do extra jobs.
• collected eggs from the hen house and sold them.

Here’s what they earned and gave:

$19.50!

The story continues. They are working again this week, because they are certain they can help feed even more people with Project Share gifts! Their goal? $40!

Indoor yard sale.

For the second year in a row, I have had the honor and humbling experience of being involved with “Project Share: Food. Love. Hope.” Crossroads Community Church, my church, has taken on the daunting task of trying to raise $41,000+ for the November 23, 2008 special collection. If the goal is met, the money will be spent to feed 1000 families for a week this December.
As for my part, I have been holding an online, indoor rummage sale since October 19th. I collected things to sell by sending out a mass email to everyone in my address book and asking them to “forward it” to all their friends. The result has been amazing! I have received TONS of stuff from clothing, books, house ware items to hardware, toys and fishing equipment. The variety has been wonderful! Selling things this year has been a bit more of a struggle with the economy being so bad. I have tried many sales techniques…from grab bags, $1 a bag (anything you can fit in the bag for $1) 25 cent sales, buy one get one free sales and donations only. I advertise the ongoing sale at least daily on the garage sale web site and twice I even overcame my fear and plugged the sale on live radio! That was a hard one for me.
During the last 4 weeks, I will admit, the mess has gotten on my nerves. I describe my living room as looking like “Salvation Army chaos”! But, when I feel frustrated, overwhelmed or just plain tired of the hassle, I am reminded by our Lord of how truly lucky I am to have a roof over my head and there are people in this community without adequate housing or nourishment. This is the very reason Project Share exists. It is NOT about me. If this world is ever to be won for Him, it will have to be done largely through the undistinguished services of simple folk, one-talent people with no outstanding opportunities, each throwing in what seems a very unimportant effort. Please pray for all those who are and will be touched by Project Share.

Kathy.

Real food. Real needs.

Two weeks ago when Crossroads received the list of box recipients’ addresses (which is confidential) from Community Action Agency, I recognized an address as that of a child in my son’s classroom.

I’ve noticed this little boy eating breakfast and lunch at school every day since the beginning of the year. His family cannot afford to buy enough food for those 2 daily meals. The boy eats breakfast and lunch only when school is in session, skipping, for the most part, weekends, school holidays, and weather related closings. It is heart-wrenching to think he has nothing to eat when he doesn’t go to school.

The Sunday after seeing their address on the Project Share recipient list, I looked across the lobby to see this little boy, his mother and 3 of his young siblings; they are not regular attenders of Crossroads. I can’t help but wonder if they attended because they wanted to check out what kind of church would be delivering a much needed box of food to them on December 6. I pray this family will return to Crossroads and hear the gospel message that will ultimately feed their spiritual need and give them the hope part of Project Share: Food. Love. Hope.

Faythe.

Can you see God’s Hands?

God’s hands are all over Project Share, His blessings are abounding!!

Listen to this – Burt Fenby from Community Action Agency has assured us that there are 1000 box recipients and the agency has stopped accepting names. This has happened in about 3 weeks!

Pro-Pak Industries from Toledo has generously donated all of the boxes we will need for the project! You read that right, donated!

Some of our team members along with Borchardt Brothers in Blissfield completed an inventory of the food warehoused at Hunter Moving and Storage this past Monday. Everything is there (except for some rice but it will be there next week).

We have over 400 volunteers who have signed up to help with Project Share on Friday and/or  Saturday.

We are now just 29 days from Project Share: Food. Love. Hope and it can’t come too soon for those who are hungry and awaiting a box of food.

Some items for focused prayer in the days ahead:

*  Project Share offering – November 23

pray that the money necessary to pay for the food will come in!

pray about your personal sacrificial gift to the project above your regular tithe dollars

*  Pray for those who will be turned away because we have 1000 recipients already

pray that help will be available for these folks elsewhere within the community

*  Our team

pray for safety, health and strength

pray specifically for the mapping and routing team as the push is on to find the most

direct route to nearly 1000 homes!

See you Sunday!

Faythe Emens

Wendy Bender

Co-Leaders, Project Share: Food. Love. Hope

Impressive Numbers

These just in from our Project Share Leader Team:

As of 11.7.08 Community Action Agency has signed 1000 recipients up to receive a Project Share box. That’s the entire goal and it isn’t even Thanksgiving yet! There are some hungry people out there and you’re helping.

As of 11.2.08 more than 400 Crossroads volunteers have committed to a serving opportunity on either December 5 or 6. Here’s my great idea: if we charge each car of volunteers to park, just think about all the extra donations available for Project Share.  Or not. Hey, it works at Comerica Park.

A little girl is giving up her father’s work Christmas party on December 6 to help others through Project Share. No idea who this young lady is, but here’s something for all the teens and adults who come December 6: Let’s make that day so much fun that she, and everyone else present, can’t believe they’d have done something else!

And, if I could brag on my Kid Crossing 2nd-3rd grade boys 11:30 small group: they’ve all decided to do extra jobs around the house, earn a bit of $ and donate it to Project Share. Their goal? $10.50 to feed one person for a week. Any matching donors out there? It could be fun to multiply their gifts – like the boy’s lunch of bread and fish that Jesus grew to handle a crowd of thousands…but without the fish smell.

Doug Winters

Project Share is great…I swear!

“A couple of my co-workers had a money jar going where they put in a quarter any time either one of them swore.  A couple of weeks ago I asked them what they were doing with the money and they didn’t have a plan.  I proceded to tell them about Project Share and about how many families were going to be fed and how many volunteers are involved in the project.  They thought it was a good cause so Project Share will get the money even though they have both done a good job of cleaning up their language.

Here’s the really cool part.  One of the two came in this week and handed me an envelope and told me that he was really impressed with what he heard about Project Share and how so many people get involved and because he is on the road so much he wanted to contribute now in case he wasn’t around when we collected the offering.  I opened the envelope when I got home and there was $50 in it!” Lee.

Project Share 2008 is rolling.

Welcome back to Project Share’s blog. You’ll find stats, challenges, and stories (your stories, we hope!) about all God is doing to anyone and everyone connected in any way to Project Share.

A brief run-down for 2008:

• The food?  A week’s worth of food to 1000 families this year…a 20% increase over 2007.
• The price tag? About $45,000.
• The offering? Sunday, November 23 at all three Crossroads Community Church worship experiences.
• The assembly line? Friday, December 5 at the Christian Family Center, north end.
• The delivery date? Saturday, December 6 departing from the Christian Family Center, north end.
• The celebration? All morning long, Sunday, December 7 in all three worship experiences (8:30, 10, 11:30 a.m.)

And now, for the stories…

Another appreciated Project Share box story

Stories are turning up in the most surprising places. One of our Project Share volunteers stopped by a local store Saturday evening and stumbled onto this story:

One of my two friends who works in the shop has 8 children, seven of which still live at home. She looked at me with tears in her eyes and said that someone had delivered food to her house earlier in the day. I asked if it was in boxes marked in red or black. They were. My friend and her husband are Christians. It has been hard for them since they moved up here. One of her sons is special needs and her second eldest daughter is an unwed mom. The baby grandson has medical issues which takes them down to Toledo. Money is really tight for them and this was a great blessing

Project Share pictures

If a picture is worth a thousand words, here’s your chance to speed read about 50,000 words: Project Share Photos.

Project Share boxes delivered.

The snow was falling as 2 semi-loads of food pulled up from Feed the Children. They were greeted by hundreds of volunteers ready to unload, process, label, and deliver 50 tons of food to almost 900 Lenawee County families.

The stories brought back by the delivery teams are remarkable:

“We knocked at the door of our first family’s delivery. The woman answering the door just stood and stared. Tears came to her eyes and she poured out her gratitude for the additional food. We all stood together crying and hugging.”

“I wasn’t going to do any deliveries, but agreed when we started running short on drivers.  I was so blown away by the thankfulness of the box recipients, I came back and took another load for delivery.”

And this thank you from a recipient:

“I just received the project share Christmas box. I want to say THANK YOU
so much. I just ran out of toilet paper and paper towels. I just said that
I needed to go buy some and the gentleman and 2 girls showed up with the
boxes.
I haven’t been feeling good about myself, and have been depressed. A lot of
things have been going on in my life. When I opened one box it had some
Avon things in there that I could never afford or wouldn’t buy because of
the price. It was for wrinkles. Well I just started crying when I opened
these boxes feeling blessed. There were things to put in water to drink
that were sugar-free. One of my sons is a juvenile diabetic so he can drink
them.”

And this from a family that donated and participated this past Saturday:

“We decided to give to Project Share in the name or in honor of our parents and in honor of our boys’ school teachers.  The boys have each made a homemade ornament for each grandparent and teacher.   We are going to give those to each along with the small Project Share cards, including a little note that lets them know that we donated to this cause in their names.  We are going to include the newspaper article and some pictures as well. “