The congregation’s support of 12 families for Thanksgiving was very successful. With the help of Ada and Fred Bray and Steve Garchow, all the food was delivered. The Outreach Committee expresses its thanks and appreciation to all the church families who supported this activity, especially Ada and Fred.
As the food was distributed to the families, with Maree Garchow’s help, we gave each family a Thanksgiving card from Faith, a copy of the Portals of Prayer published in Spanish, and Jewel gift cards that could be used to purchase turkeys and other perishables.
As the food and these items were given to each family, their reactions were very heart-filled. For Dick Hocking, who was helping to give out the various items and load food into family cars, he received many thanks and shaking of hands. For Ada, people were expressing themselves to her in Spanish. These comments revealed the true impact that these families were feeling about the congregation’s support for them. One young man said, “Now my family can eat today.” A young, single mother with three small children, including a baby in a stroller, said that “she won’t use the gift card for a turkey because she was immediately going to purchase milk and eggs to feed her children.” Another older woman said that she was overjoyed that the Lord had blessed her and her family; she was nearly overcome with joy.
For those of us who were together with these families, it’s hard not to weep tears of joy. We are continually reminded of what Jesus said in Matthew 25:37-40: Someone asked Jesus, “When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, indeed, whenever you did this for one of the least important of these brothers of mine, you did for me!” What a blessing for the Faith congregation.