Productive day ---- Kind of

Sorting, sorting sorting, with the cell phone growing out of my ear was the way I spent my day. I took time during lunch to meet with a local pastor of an influential church about Kokomo Urban Outreach. He was very supportive. I returned to the warehouse in the afternoon to sort some more. It looks like we wasted our day since anything we sorted was replaced with more bags of clothing. We have got to get the stuff out. We now have families arriving at the warehouse each day and while it looks like a lot, people are not finding their particular size.

Today I had a women with a six year old daughter come in she needed clothing for her daughter which we had trouble finding, but we were able to help. This woman also needed a car badly, she said, 'I know you can't help me because I need a car." I told her I would do what I could. By afternoon I had a car for her. A 87 Toyota, it is in good shape and it is free. She wept.

At about 5:00 we had a married couple with a 13 and 14 yr old boy and girl. They were refereed by a local apartment complex that is offering one month free rent and utilities, with no deposit for displaced families. They came in expecting to receive some warmer clothes, they left with coats, dishes, beds, dressers, a dryer(they had a washer) and we hooked them up with a sponsor. They were completely overwhelmed and where in awe. The husband has a job interview tomorrow and he received several nice shirts, pants and ties. We were also able to provide them with a gas card and a gift certificate because we had no boys size 16/18 jeans for their son. I bet we have them in the piles we just have not got to them.

Many of the workers want us to stop accepting clothing. However, I am not because we need teenage clothing, winter coats, little s clothing. We had the six year old and hardly had any clothes for her. Our volunteers are dropping away, as the work is hard, long and non stop. Most workers have not missed a day. We have few new workers, because I quit calling the radio station with the hopes people would stop coming in for awhile so we can catch our breath. I am not complaining but as we often find, people are willing to give stuff and money(which doesn't hurt) but time is harder to give it costs.

That's enough of the rambling tonight. It is all worth it when we see families with nothing leave with more than can be put into their car. I have know I have the strength to keep going for the joy of the Lord is my strength. Please keep the prayers going for us. Jeff