Hello First Alliance family,
I hope you all have had a great couple weeks! In the last weeks we have been able to celebrate graduations, special days (Congrats Zeke, our worship pastor, and his new wife Ali!), and anticipate transitions with reopenings of business and other organizations. Among these transitions, we have experienced God’s steadiness and unfailing love in this season that seems ever-changing.
Among transitions, I come to you with one other change when it comes to OUT at FAC. Over the last 10 weeks, we have partnered closely with our two elementary school partners and have watched real collaborative relationships between our church and the two family resource coordinators, SueEllen Young and Monica Hall, blossom. Here are some “fast facts” about this last season of partnership with Wellington and Booker T Washington elementary schools…
- We have held FIVE “Drive By, Drop Off” Food Drives and have enjoyed tremendous participation from our church family!
- We have watched 40+ volunteers take time to collect, organize, and drop off food during this unique season of ministry.
- We have provided approximately 60,000 meals through our food drives and other resources given by our resource-generous church.
- We have seen new levels of collaborative partnership with two local partners that are already bearing fruit in long term plans to serve alongside each other in loving the families of our city.
As we take time to celebrate, we also look towards what our next phase of ministry in our city looks like. Our partners at Wellington and Booker T have indicated their plans for food collection and distribution are changing as they transition to the summer. We have set them up with lots of food and other resources to continue to serve the families they are entrusted with and look forward to planning multiple events this summer that we will be able to participate in. Please keep your ears open for those opportunities. Because of the change of methods along with our specific partners, SueEllen and Monica, needing a time of rest and recharging, we will be changing some of our focus to another local partner. We are excited to serve alongside Jani Lewis and Natalie’s Sisters for this next season.
Natalie’s Sisters’s mission is “To extend hope, support, and God’s unconditional love to sexually exploited women through a first-touch approach providing respite, relationship, and referrals to community resources.” and has the vision of “Seeing sexually exploited women restored to their families, their community, and to God as they realize their true identity and full potential.” We had the opportunity to give them a gift from FAC for Covid-19 relief because of your generous giving during this season and along with this gift, we are excited to serve! We will continue our “drive” every other Wednesday (our next one being Wednesday, June 3rd) with a new list of items we need to collect. These items will be put together into bags that Natalie’s Sisters will utilize in their ministry. The needed items are…
Snack Bags
These include four non-perishable items. Please collect pre-packaged, individually wrapped items…
- Protein – peanut butter and crackers, Vienna sausages, protein bars, tuna or chicken salad packets or kits, slim jims, jerky
- Salty – chips, crackers, nuts
- Sweet – candy bar, pudding, snack cake
- Fruit – cup of fruit, applesauce, raisins
Toiletry Bags
Each include travel size items including…
- Deodorant
- Soap or shower gel
- Shampoo
- Conditioner
- Lotion
- Baby wipes (or washcloths)
- Razors
- Additional items like tissues, chapstick, etc.
We are so grateful that we are continuing to move OUT towards the world in mission. We are thankful for your participation in the food drive and serving our two schools and we look forward to your engagement with this initiative for Natalie’s Sisters! I am so encouraged by our church and the way you are serving and operating in great generosity during these uncertain times.
Though we have many transitions and changes, our God remains EXACTLY the same!
Grateful,
Zach