glory outreach

6. For the present clothes closet at Salem to be closed and all usable clothing to be transferred to the Glory Outreach site. (It is going to be necessary for one of the clothing closets at Salem to be maintained as an "off-season" storage area only . . . right now Glory Outreach has Spring and Summer clothing and the Salem site will hold winter coats . . . that transition is still a work in progress!!)

In seeking God's blessing & direction, we established a core team that would prayerfully come up with a plan. Eight to ten class members met regularly on Friday nights for six weeks to work through a Bible study called " My Purpose, His Plan: Sharpening Your Skills for His Mission". This study helped us to focus our efforts and identify what our "Ministry" would be, while staying focused on carrying out the "Mission". We wanted to make sure that as we carried out the "Ministry" of meeting physical needs that we did not forget the "Mission" of sharing the Gospel.

1. The Site Team, headed by Jim & Darlene Keener, has worked hard in finding an appropriate site, covering all the details & meeting all the requirements with the county, and overseeing the preparation of the site, which has involved cleaning, painting, repairing, decorating, and even the planting of flowers out front! This team has also secured a contract with Mike Alsop for the use of the space. Mike has graciously agreed to rent the space for $300.00 a month, which includes all utilities. The site team came up with a plan for our class members to make monthly pledges in order to cover this cost. By doing this, we felt that it would send a strong message to our chuch family that, as a class, we are seriously backing up this project! As a result, our class has pledged to cover the cost of rent for the first full year! After the first year, if the mission is thriving and meeting needs, then a proposal will be made for the church budget to reflect this monthly cost. In addition to all of this, the site team is promoting Glory Outreach in the community verbally and with flyers that can be seen at various key locations.

2. The Food Team, headed by Janice Sadler, has researched the issue of hunger in our community, what other programs are out there, and what our specific program should look like. This required making contact with the Fredericksburg Food Bank for guidance. They have inspected the site, given guidelines for storage & the distribution of food, and have recognized us as a 501c3 non-profit organization so that we can utilize their food resources (at .19 per pound) in the event that our pantry stock is running low. They also will provide free turkeys and such at Thanksgiving. The FFB serves as a safety net for us, but our primary source of food will be donations. We received __? #__food items from the Salem "Brown Bag" Sunday alone!! We will plan to do these "Brown Bag" donation days once a quarter and see how our supply holds out. Also, we plan to have "donation sites" around the county at various businesses.

3. The Clothing Team, headed by Jacquelin Richardson, is overseeing the collection, sorting, hanging, and organization of the clothing at the site. The clothing will be divided into an Adult Section and a Children's Section. This team will oversee a "clothing drive" twice a year with the changing of the seasons. In order to keep the supply of clothing "fresh" there will also be a period of time at the end of each season when clients will be allowed to take all that they can get stuffed into a bag. Clothing donations will be accepted at the site during hours of operation only. We can not let the site get piled up with bags of clothes at the door!! This team has set the standard that they will accept only clean clothing, no underclothing (unless it is new and in the original package), and definitely no household items!! We are not the Goodwill!!!

4. The Family Connection Team, headed by Julie & Lee Gotschalk, is the team that helps to hold it all together. They serve as the "administration" portion of the mission, with a focus on effectively reaching and connecting with the families that we serve. This team has put together a policy manual that addresses the maintance and care of the site, the application process for clients, procedures for food and clothing distribution, and guidelines for sharing the gospel with those we serve. The manual will be "volunteer friendly", meaning that our volunteers will be able to read it and know exactly how the program works and what is expected of them. All volunteers will be required to sign a sheet saying that they have read the manual. The application process for clients is simple and requires minimal information, but it is a necessary part of the process. We need to keep track of who is utilizing our services and how often for several reasons. First, the Food Bank wants to know how many families we serve each month. Secondly, we want to monitor how often we are serving particular clients. Like other programs in the county, we have set limits on how often a person can be served and how much they can take. Clients may be served at the Glory Outreach site twice a month. If there are on-going, severe needs then we will try to meet their needs, but they will be directed to other county services as well.

5. The Mission Evangelism Team, headed by Brenda James, is covering the project with prayer. This team's main goal is to keep everyone focused on The Mission, which is the sharing of the Gospel. This team is making Gospel tracks, Bibles, and pamphlets describing other Christian services available to clients. They are also stocking the Kids Corner with Biblically-based toys and coloring pages. The Mission Evangelism Team is making sure that all of our volunteers are trained in "relationship evangelism" before they serve at the site. This involves a fun hour and a half of learning the "dos and don'ts" of approaching people, reviewing the Roman Road scriptures for sharing the plan of salvation, casually sharing your testimony one-on-one with someone in the group, and learning how to use the "Evangecube" tool as another way to present the Gospel. This team is also providing a "bookmark" for each client. On each bookmark the following things will be printed . . . Glory Outreach, our mission statement, our mission verse, the hours of operation, the church number as a contact, and something we are calling "Pointers and Promises". This is where we are asking the church family to get involved. We're asking that you share a "pointer", which would be a food preparation tip or a clothing care tip, and a "promise", which would be a matching scripture verse. An example would be . . . "pointer" - that cold water takes blood out of clothing so that it can be white again; "promise" - ". . .wash me and I will be whiter than snow" Psalm 51:7. A box is located in the foyer for "Pointers & Promises" to be turned in.

Lastly, we have chosen to be open every Tuesday evening from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. These hours will be expanded as the need increases and as we build up our volunteer base and supplies. We are encouraging others in the community to get involved and volunteer at the site. Of course they will be provided the opportunity to get trained prior to their service. The Encouragers Class members have had two training sessions, but we will schedule some more training sessions as soon as we get enough "non-Encouragers class" volunteers interested. We also picture our teenagers getting involved at Glory Outreach. It will be a great opportunity for them to earn some "community service hours" before they start filling out those college applications.

God has done tremendous things in pulling this all together. It is very much a work in progress and He continues to sustain the whole thing. We believe that as long as we stay focused on giving Him all the Glory for what is happening, then He will continue to bless it according to His will. We look forward to your group taking an active interest in the future succes of this Mission and I want to thank you for giving me the opportunity to bring you up-to-date on its progress.