Gifts Received this Week

Dear Freedom Ministry Partnership Team:

I have good news and bad news to report to you this  morning.  On the bad side, I freaked my back out at the Food Bank on Saturday and have been in bed for 3 days.  What an experience, never before a problem with the back.  Hoping for quick recovery.

On the good news side of things.  Lyle Bailey and his brother David brought 200 cases of fresh vegetables to the food bank Saturday.  This went over very well as you can imagine.  Big thanks goes out to Lyle and David.  David drove the vegetables from North Carolina where he has founded a ministry of serving the poor with food collected from participating farms.  We are looking at ways that we can partner with David for the future.

Finally, we received a gift of $25,000 last week.  This is awesome and terrific given that our goals this year included raising funds to support the food bank.  Our target was $25,000.  Unbelievable.  LaSheita and Antoine were so appreciative as this came at just the right time to support additional food purchases and contribute to the furnace project.  LaSheita will be providing us monthly accounting of funds dispersed from this funding.

Lastly, in discussions about how our Partnership can further serve the food bank, we have been asked to consider taking the fourth Saturday during July and August and be the primary workers that week.  We will have help from Raul and Walter, but basically we will need 6 workers each week including set up, registration and hand out.  Please consider who we should invite for this service, of course, including our selves.

Pretty good week for the team,

Andy

Jodi holds an Event

Getting ready to go to the food bank but first wanted to send you this update.  Jodi Miquel works at Matheny School as art teacher and she held an event last week making salad bowels with her students.  They then sold the bowels for $10 each and donated the proceeds to Freedom Ministry food bank.  She raised $1166 from the event.

The Lord is good all the time.  What a wonderful thing.  Just wanted you to know.  If you see Jodi at church, give her a big hug.

Tammy Taylor joins the Team

First let me introduce Tammy Taylor who has agreed to join our team.  Tammy has a world of passion for Christ and is very excited about our ministry of serving the poor and supporting the Freedom Ministry volunteers and partners in Plainfield, NJ.  Tammy will be taking the champion role in fundraising for us.  Our next meeting will take place July 12th.  Please check you calendars for availability.

A final huge thank you to Jeanette Branca for creating our new logo and supporting us as we finalized the design through one editing process.  We are blessed that she "volunteered" after we begged her to do so.  Thank you Jeanette, you are the best.

Freedom Ministry is now partnering with an Hispanic congregation using their facility.  This is a huge positive step for the ministry and is providing many opportunities for cross congregation support and fulfillment.  The facility plan is rounding into shape with the roof and the furnace replacement in the plan.  Funding is being sought for both projects but labor has been identified for the program and hoping to find appropriate hardware for replacement materials.  Habitat for Humanity is playing a key role in donating materials for the roof.  This is huge.

Finally, Lyle Bailey has been in contact through his brother who has started a food program in North Carolina.  The program is converting fresh vegetables into case lot for donation to clients.  We have a commitment for 200 cases  of mixed garden vegetables coming soon.  The good Lord is amazing in his support and grace for us.

Thanks everyone for your foundational work on this ministry.  We have moved far and many miles to go before we sleep.