Saturday, September 17, 2011

God is Amazing......

WOW, a lot has transpired for the ministry since last summer. We received a donation from our Christmas offering at church. That was a huge blessing! David was able to buy a laptop, create a website for the ministry, and buy all the software from a company that sells to nonprofit organizations; Tech Soup. Our new web address is www.byhishandsministries.org. We are now open the 1st and 3rd Saturday of every month and as of this weekend  September 16, 2011 we have given out over 15,000 items to families in need.

We also had our 1st annual coat and blanket drive in December. It was a huge hit. We were able to give away every coat  and blanket that was donated. We been working with Least Of These Ministries, which is also a ministry created by some people in our church. They cook and serve box meals at various locations in the Jackson and Gwinnett County areas. We went with Least of These and gave out coats as they served meals. Least of These also comes and serves food while the Clothing Closet is open on the 3rd Saturday of each month.

This spring, our biggest supporter via prayers and word-of-mouth is David's sister Tammy. She had a clothing drive for us in Odessa, Texas; yes I said Texas. She collected so much clothing that the shipping was way too much for anyone to handle. So our friend and also member at our church, Kenny Dove, asked his boss if his company would cover the shipping cost. THEY DID and when all was said and done, 2 pallets of clothes was shipped and arrived within one week of the set-up. God continues to amaze me!

We were also in need of lighting and fans in the clothing closet and a couple of our church members helped out; thanks Stovall Construction for your financial donation and Ron Bower for your time and knowledge for the install! We now have light everywhere and can tolerate the heat since we are located in a portion of the church that does not have central air.

We have also been going around to local garage sales, giving out our cards, and letting people know if they would like to donate clothing that doesn't sell we will give them a tax receipt. We've gotten a couple of calls on that.  All I can say is GOD CONTINUES TO AMAZE ME!