August was a busy month! Networking, meeting people, making connections, volunteering, observing various communities & their needs, what is already being done to help these families and individuals out, and where the gaps are.

SERVICE PROJECTS:

Aug 7 – Worked alongside fellow believers from the Good News Community Church to pack food boxes and distribute them to the people in Nampa, ID. They distribute around 10,000 lbs of food every other Wed.

Aug 12 – Met the people at the Idaho Youth Ranch Thrift Store in Eagle, ID. Cleaned and organized their retail shoe area.

Aug 13 – Idaho Youth Ranch Thrift Store. Throughly cleaned and organized their sales area for shop/handyman items.      

Aug 17 – Church grounds cleanup. Helped clear away large weeds for an upcoming outreach.

Aug 19 – Idaho Youth Ranch Thrift Store in Eagle. Straightened book sales area. Hung clothing.

Aug 20 – Central Boise, ID. Idaho Youth Ranch Large Warehouse. Sorted donations into categorized totes and labeled them for resell.

Aug 21 – Nampa Good News Food Pantry. Packed and distributed food boxes to the community.

Aug 23 – Salvation Army Food Pantry. Assisted people with signing in, filling out paperwork, then loading boxes with food onto carts and taking them out to their cars. Knowledge of Spanish language was helpful.

Aug 25 – Eagle, ID. First organized Walk and Pray at the Park for THE HEM.

Aug 25 – Idaho Youth Ranch Thrift Store in Eagle. Dusted and organized decorative household item shelves.

Aug 27 – Central Boise, ID. Idaho Youth Ranch large Warehouse. Went back and forth between sorting donations into categorized totes, taping them and organizing them onto pallets. Toured clothing processing area.

Aug 28 – Nampa, ID. Traveling Table Food Distribution with New Life Church of the Nazarene(Nuevo Vida) in Nampa, ID. Packed food boxes and bags. Handed out approx 50 boxes to cars immediately lined up to receive. Bags of food were delivered to a nearby senior housing area. We drove what remained to another nearby needy area in Nampa. Grateful people from a low income housing area, most not owning cars, walked over for what remained. Due to the demand, we had no choice but to turn some away.

Aug 29 – Nampa, ID. Salvation Army Food Pantry, Nampa. Assisted in moving the entire food pantry from one room to another. Organized. Taped boxes and filled them with pantry items to be given out.  

TARGET VERSE FOR THE MONTH: “So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, working away at the wheel. But the jar that he was making from the clay became flawed… so he made it into another jar, as it seemed right for him to do. The word of the Lord came… can I not treat you as this potter treats his clay?… Just like clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, house of Israel…” Jer 18:3-6

LESSONS LEARNED: I entered the room searching for Sharon, whom I had come to help. The room was filled with round tables, plates and plastic silverware. I also saw men and women: tired and worn out, eating or physically exhausted, leaning forward with their heads resting on their arms. Many of these people had their belongings setting next to their chair in a battered bag or suitcase. Life had treated them hard and they were overwhelmed, but for the moment anyway, they had a chance to relax, until the facility closed for the day. What would you see if you walked into and saw this sight? Broken, ruined lives, at the end of the road and out of potential? Or, lives with the potential for God to come in, make them beautiful and new again? I believe God sees the later! The verse above reminds us that lives God created to be beautiful can get ruined. But, that doesn’t have to be the end of the road!! God can, as the Loving, Skilled, Master Potter, take lives and make them into something beautiful again! That is the vision for THE HEM!

SMILES: A homeless man at food distribution day brought his guitar and volunteered to play background music the entire time people were going through the line receiving their food. What a way for him to give back! Another gentleman showed up….undernourished, but so very cheerful and chatty! We chatted a bit, and as soon as he heard my name was Susanna, he asked if I had heard of a particular song. Immediately he whipped a harmonica out of his pocket! He played the tune “Oh Susannah!”, the whole time his eyes twinkling. That brought joy to my day!