Thanksgiving, A Time to Be a Blessing

Thanksgiving is a time to ponder all of the blessings in our lives with grateful hearts, but it is also a time to think of ways that we can be a blessing to others. Last night we were surprised to have many volunteers that had never come to Food for Life before, along with many volunteers from our very own church, North Hills Community Church. Our volunteers numbered 40 in all.

It was interesting to hear how some of last night's volunteers came to hear about Food for Life's ministry. Two ladies whom I met are taking a class on understanding poverty, and a fellow classmate of theirs, a lady I recently met, had told them about Food for Life. These two ladies came for the very first time to lend a helping hand. We also had a variety of people from North Hills, including some of the members of the youth group, who volunteered to provide some special music and share a couple of testimonies. In addition, Paul's aunt and uncle came and participated, and it was lovely having them, as we are always thankful to share the experience with our family members.

The kitchen volunteers prepared a lovely, Thanksgiving meal. We had a turkey dinner, complete with all the trimmings and dessert. In all we were able to serve 120 meals. Many volunteers were able to grab a turkey dinner and share the meal with the homeless and impoverished partakers.

It is sometimes stunning when the strength of addiction and unhealthy relationships is realized. A woman with tears in her eyes and a worn out appearance came to hear the Bible study and partake in the Thanksgiving meal. She has been to Food for Life many times before. At one time she actually worked at the Triune Mercy Center and had a place to live off of the street. However, because of reasons that I am not currently aware of, she lost her job, and consequently, her home. As it turns out, when she was doing so well, her husband was in prison. When he got out and she was reunited with him, she became influenced negatively. Upon losing her job, she turned to alcohol for comfort.

As she sat and shared her story, she could hardly hold back the tears. She shared that she has recently been sick and that staying on the street has been making her weary. She seemed to desperately desire to have a dry, warm place to stay, and her story and sad eyes tugged at the heartstrings of those who listened. Paul and I discussed what we could do for her and decided that we would offer to put her up for the night in a hotel. When I shared this news with her, she could hardly speak, the tears filled her eyes and words could not be found.

Paul decided to try to find out a little bit about her situation, and after asking some questions became very convicted that she is being badly influenced and possibly even placed in dangerous situations because of her husband and her brother, who apparently are addicts as well. He felt the need to warn her of the the dangers of these detrimental influences before he took her to the hotel. She stood and listened to everything that he said, admitting that his statements were true. Denial was not a part of her response, but instead she was in agreement that she was placing herself in some unhealthy and dangerous situations.

After his talk with her, he left her standing outside, where he thought she would continue waiting for us to finish cleaning up so that he could take her to the hotel. To our surprise, when we walked outside ready to take her, she was gone. Without a word, she had disappeared with those two men, her family members, who somehow drew her into the darkness to chase the cravings of their souls, cravings that will one day destroy their lives if the light of Christ does not lift them from the abyss in which they choose to dwell.

Please pray for a miracle, one that only God can do.

We would like to say a special word of thanks to all those who helped to make last night special. Most importantly, thanks be to God for saving all of us from darkness and shining His light into our lives.

~Charity

A Caring Community

Deborah Reading Ps 25:4-6


This week at Food for Life we had several touching experiences. A youth group came and ministered, a man far from home was able to get a bus ticket, a woman in need of kerosene for heat experienced provision, and a birthday celebration took place.

We were pleased to have the youth group from Brookwood Church come and spend time getting to know those who attend Food for Life's weekly Bible study, and they also came early and set up their sound equipment so that the youth band could provide the music for worship. In addition to providing the music, one of the youth shared his testimony. Paul and I were touched by the sweet spirits of the young men and women in the Brookwood youth group. They were not shy about sitting down and sharing a meal and their lives with the homeless or poor, something many people struggle to feel comfortable doing.

A new face graced us this week, someone who Paul felt led to help. A man with a story of addiction and prison came with a heavy heart, expecting little more than a plate of food, but pleased to also find a listening ear. As Paul heard his story about how he had been gripped by addiction and lost so much due to his own negative choices, Paul's heart was touched as he heard the man share about how long it had been since he had been home to Arizona and about how he longed to find a way to get back there again some day. Paul shared with a few of the volunteers that he felt led to provide a bus ticket to Arizona for this man as an act of kindness, and only moments later, one dear, faithful volunteer walked up and gave a $100 bill to provide the means for the ticket. The look on the man's face when he heard the joyful news revealed a heart of a gratitude for an act of kindness he had not expected.

Soon after the meals had been served, a woman who is often referred to as CoCo revealed a need for some kerosene to keep her heater running. It was touching how the volunteers stepped in to make sure that her needs were met. Paul's parents volunteered to go get the kerosene, a task that proved more difficult than they had expected. Marc and Bonnie had to go to several places in search of a container, and as they entered Lowes, which was to be the last place that they would try, the store was closing, and Bonnie got left outside as Marc made it through the door by the skin of his teeth. They quickly left with the container to go fill it with kerosene, and when the container was full, the price came to the exact amount of money given by another volunteer, ten dollars.

Lastly, I wish to share the story of a beautiful, birthday celebration. Deborah is someone who has attended the Bible study for years, and I have personally spent a good deal of time getting to know her during my time at Food for Life. She shared with me a couple of weeks ago that her 45th birthday was going to be on November 12, so I eagerly considered what I could do to show her how much we care and make this a special birthday memory. When I saw her on Tuesday, the day after her birthday, I asked her what she had done or if anything special had happened. She said that she made herself a cake. When I asked if she had received any gifts, she said no, that even the card that she had received from her church in years past had not come this year. After her tutoring session, we gathered all of the volunteers upstairs, which numbered 32 in all, and invited Deborah to join us. As we broke into song, wishing her a "Happy Birthday," and gave her the gift of a new coat, tears filled her eyes. She looked as if her heart was overwhelmed, but what she did not know was that our hearts were overwhelmed as well.

This Thanksgiving season, we have much to be thankful for, and seeing their faces each Tuesday reminds us of our blessings and the need to be a blessing to others.

We were pleased to serve 120 meals with the help of 32 volunteers for which we were deeply thankful.

Next week we look forward to serving a yummy turkey dinner.:)

Please continue to pray that in God's timing we will have a building of our own from which to serve.

~Charity

K5 Help Homeless

Jesus said unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 18:3).

I think children naturally have a compassionate heart for the less fortunate. Last week God used Anthony to help the K5 children of North Hills Community Church share their compassion for the homeless of Greenville.

Anthony has been a faithful volunteer for Food for Life on Tuesday nights. He has a heart to help people in need and encourage others do the same thing. He started a Homeless on Tuesday group on facebook to develop more interest and support for the ministry. This group has 80 members and refers about 60% of the traffic to our weekly blog.

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A couple of week ago, I shared with him a comment by a homeless guy how even a child could perform a simple act of kindness that could mean so much to the homeless. He thought it was a great idea and decided to get the 5 year old children from our church involved in this ministry. The following is how Anthony enlisted the children to minister to the homeless of Greenville.

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~Marc

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As written by Anthony,

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Two weeks ago the K5 children of North Hills Community Church were pleased to be involved in Food for Life’s weekly ministry. A friend of mine and his wife teach the K5 junior church service there. Through conversations about the ministry it eventually came up that it would be fun to get the children involved somehow. After reading in a blog run by a homeless man in Nashville about how receiving a bag filled with simple things that we take for granted can have a great impact on someone who has nothing. These simple things included items like toothbrushes, soap, razors, and other mundane items, the kinds of things that we can’t function without but think absolutely nothing about how easy it is for us to buy them. These bags are inexpensive and simple to put together.

As always, God is fully in control and had a plan for the children as well. It just so happened that the lessons in the junior church classes had been focusing on simple basics like home, family, and school and how God is related to each one. This week’s lesson was on Food. The passage was from Exodus 16 where the children of Israel are complaining about being in the wilderness and were willing to go back into bondage because they didn’t think their needs were being provided for adequately. How God showed His love and patience for the children of Israel by providing for their basic needs in the form of manna and quail. The children were able to have the opportunity to not only see how God provides, but how by providing for someone in need we can show the Love of Christ to someone else. Most children do not realize that there are people right here in Greenville that don’t have the basic necessities of life we so often take for granted. The children were able to see how caring for the homeless is showing the love of Christ, just as God was showing his love and protection for the children of Israel in the wilderness. Each child packed his/her own bag and wrote a personal message (or picture) for whoever would receive it. It was such a blessing to see children learning the joys of serving and caring for someone less fortunate at such an early age. My hope is that this brief exposure to such a great need will yield softer hearts later in life.

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~Anthony

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This Tuesday we were privileged to serve 80 meals with the help of 20 volunteers.

Wayne's World

For about two years, a clean-cut gentlemen with a colorful personality named Wayne has been attending Food for Life and building a relationship with Paul. On Tuesday night I spent some time getting to know a little bit about Wayne's World.

Alabama is the place Wayne called home prior to coming to Greenville. His childhood was a difficult one, with parents who struggled with addictions and a father who was abusive, primarily to his mother. While living in Alabama as an adult, he maintained a full-time job and had a small home and a wife. His job involved working for a family who hired him to be a household assistant, a jack of all trades. His wife came to the Greenville area because her family lived here and wanted her with them, and Wayne left Alabama to follow her with hopes that he could keep his marriage together, even though he saw it drawing to a close. He soon realized that his marriage was not going to be salvaged, and during the process of walking through his divorce, he lost his job and his home. He then found himself living on the streets, with hopes of one day getting off of the streets and back in a home.

Wayne has been homeless for as long as Paul has known him. He finds employment on a day by day basis at Labor Finders. This is a temp agency that employs by the day and pays by the day. The daily payment appeals to many street dwellers who feel a sense of fear about having to wait for a paycheck that will take two weeks to acquire, which is the case with all new full-time jobs. This the is the cycle in which most homeless people live their lives. People, like Wayne, will make just enough money after working for eight hours at Labor Finders to pay for an evening meal and a hotel room. However, because Labor Finders provides only temporary work, he may find himself the very next day "without a ticket," unable to work, and consequently back on the street without money or food.

When I asked Wayne if he had a prayer request, he shared that he fervently desires for Christians to pray that he will be able to get enough work to stay off of the street and eventually have the ability to live in a house rather than a hotel room.

My personal prayer request on Wayne's behalf is that he will be convicted and delivered from all sin that keeps him in bondage and that Wayne will become connected to a good church and a mentor family.

An additional prayer request that is of great importance is for a woman named Donnis. She is separated from her husband and expecting a baby in six weeks. She makes very little money and has two other children. She is currently living with her brother and has almost none of the items necessary for caring for her new baby girl. She has plenty of clothes, but apparently has little else. She is in need of a crib, bottles, diapers, wipes, and all baby items other than clothes.

We were pleased to serve 70 meals this week with the help of 18 volunteers.

~Charity