Sunday Night Outreach

Tonight was a big surprise to me. Since the weather has been nicer we have been having less kids on Sunday Night usually about 20-30. I did not expect many tonight because of the rain. At 4:15 14 kids came in we don't start until 5:00. We had one teacher at the church she took them to color pictures as we were a long way from being ready to eat. By 4:45 we had 40 kids by 5:00 we had over 50 kids. Some of the kids (as they were walking in 40 minutes early) were asking if they could have seconds tonight, they said they were hungry and it hit me--- it is the last day of the month. They ate about 2 1/2 cases of corndogs, 8 pounds of french fries and two restaurant size cans of fruit and drank five gallons of Kool aid. Two teachers were there and I was going to take the third class. With over 50 kids we did not have enough teachers. We had 4 high schoolers who would need their own class, 12 middle schoolers, about 15 elementary kids, and about 20 pre-schoolers/kindergarteners. Three of us could not do it, nor did we have enough craft supplies etc. we were ready for about 30 kids. We had two cooks and 5 servers three of which were there for the first time, we also had one "getter"(person who picks up kids). We had no option to keep things safe to feed the kids and send them home.

At 3:00 we had only loaves of bread to give the children, we usually have more. At 3:15 our friendly reporter, Tom Carey brought in 30 pounds of bologna, when he saw we didn't have much he went home and got some more things he had. The kids went home with full bags of food, enough to get through at least the next day or so. We also gave out a great deal of toilet tissue. I learned this week that some go to fast food restaurants and each family member takes 4 or 5 napkins home to use as toilet tissue. I do want to stress that not everyone that comes on Sunday night are in dire situations but tonight it seemed like there were more than normal. Please keep us in your prayers as next week we go outside into the complex for cookouts.

Thanks Jeff

Miracles

Yesterday I received a call from the Chaplin of the Miami Correctional facility which is located at Grissom Air Force Base at Peru. The inmates had a fund raiser and collected nickels and dimes and presented a check to KUO a check for $500.00. Wow!!! It was a surprise. The inmates wanted to join us partners hoping to keep those we work with out of prison. Everyday God surprises me. Today someone at the bowling alley gave Chris' mother a check for KUO. Believe it or not the door bell just rang(as I was writing this) and I picked up the mail after visiting with a friend. In the mail our family received gift cards to a local grocery store from another faith based ministry that gives away food. Along with that we received gift certificates from Hillsdale Church last Friday. God's people have been so faithful as they follow God. These gifts come at a great time as Chris gave away our milk and bread last night, last week she gave away most of our canned goods. We do have plenty of food in our house, you can tell by looking at us we don't go hungry. The thing I am learning is that you cannot out give God.

God is Good!!!

Last week was one of the busiest weeks that I have had here. We collected items for Easter Baskets, passed out fliers to area residents telling them there would be free Easter Baskets and on Thursday 260 Easter Baskets were made by parents for their children. Hundreds of toys and hundreds of pounds of candy were distributed.

On the same Thursday I volunteered at Morning Star Church for their Faith Fest Weekend which was a faith based Art Show and free dinner, along with story tellers etc. On Thursday nearly 400 children took field trips to the church to see the art work. Then Thursday night was the Maundy Thursday Service which is a big service for me, I did a one man play as I normally do on this day.

Friday I worked at the academy subed in English and at night was one of the speakers at a Community Good Friday Service. In the midst of this a dear man of the church passed away and we had a funeral and dinner on Saturday.

Of course Sunday was Easter. The first time in years that I did not have or attend a Sunrise Service. Actually, kind of nice. We had a new couple attend, they had received an Easter Basket for their two small children on Thursday. That night we had a community Easter Dinner. We had chicken and noodles, mashed potatoes, green beans, cake. We served 90 people. Our volunteers for the evening included: My stepmother Susan from North Carolina, her sister Carolyn, the seventh grade basketball team from St. Joan of Arc School, two sister in laws, brother in law, two nieces, a group from St. Lukes United Methodist church, along with the pastor and his wife and of course Chris, Norma, and Andrew. There were 24 volunteers in all. We gave away over 50 door prizes and had an Easter Egg hunt for the children.

I took Monday off. Mowed the yard and that's about it.

Tuesday I put out a newsletter for KUO and meet with the new director of the Kokomo Rescue Mission--Van Taylor. Good Day.

Today who knows. I am subing at the school on Thursday and Friday. Thanks for the prayers. Jeff

Today's Tribune

This appeared in today's Kokomo Tribune as a follow up to the article yesterday. Scores of people made this happen. Thanks Jeff

Thanks for all the stuff

Thanks for a great day. All this stuff collected in three days and almost everything gone today. Thanks for the help and prayers. Jeff

A Ton of Fun

What a fun day. A friend from Granger IN who is an artist came to Kokomo today for a Art Fun Morning for neighborhood kids as a spring break-break. The children learned about the color wheel and how to mix colors. Some of their work is in the pic above and will be entered in an Art show in a couple of weeks.

In the afternoon our friends were joined by neighbors and my family 13 in all who volunteered to go door to door and pass out groceries. We delivered literally a ton of food which included:

• 1000 pound of potatoes
• 250 pounds of bread and buns
• 220 pounds of bacon
• 500 pounds of caned food, macaroni and cheese and spaghetti
• 40 pounds of microwave popcorn

We knocked on about 350 doors at 4 apartment complexes, we started at 2:00 and got home at 6:30. It was great to have people residing in Apartments volunteer to bag up and pass out the food. One of friends from Kokomo met a very young mother with a very sick baby and held the baby and prayed for the baby. We met a woman with two small children who was praying for food when we knocked on her door. We met an older woman who lost her food stamps and was out. Some families have yet to received this month's food stamps and Spring Break has put a strain on families with children not eating at school. The children in Art had fun, we had fun passing out food and it was great to bring joy by serving others. Thanks for the prayers. Jeff
PS: If you click the picture above it will open in a new window and if you click on it in the new widow picture will enlarge.

The Weekend

Wow!!!!! What a great weekend. Here are my highlights:

Saturday

• Attended a Lenten Breakfast heard a good speaker
• The art class went well all the kids were there with their great teacher
• During Art Class the art teacher brought a man to my office. I thought I wonder what he needs...food, rent, etc. He came to offer bread. I actually have been praying for more bread as we want to pass out food to 200 residents as this is spring break and children are not eating at school, which could put a stain on food supplies in homes
• Also During art classes we received 1000 pounds of potatoes
• At 11 on Saturday Morning five of us went into neighborhood and passed out door knob hangers that reminded people to change their clock and we gave them a battery to replace in their smoke alarm. We did not go to the apartments as their smoke detectors are wired in their homes. We passed out 200 hangers while Morning Star Church passed out 800 in other areas of town.

Sunday

• Services went well. Still no one at 10:45. Looks like that will be falling by the wayside.
• Sunday Night Outreach went very well, the best yet.
• Three new volunteers including a man from St. Lukes that sat at a table and a young couple who attends the Free Methodist Church who is presently living in the apartments. Very very nice couple who want to continue to help.
  
• Sunshine until after 8:00 PM. I am one the few who really like daylight savings time. The later the sunshine the better I feel.

As I write this on Monday Morning I am getting ready to go to work at the Academy. I am working this week on M, W, F. On Tuesday we have a great friend that is going to do an Art Class in not just one but two of the public housing apartments. We hope that will also be the day we pass out food. God is so good. Thanks for the prayers. Jeff