Our
Team Seaside headed back over to Alvin again yesterday. Chris and I met with them at the church to
help load up the vehicles and have a prayer with them before they left. The plan was to do another mass feeding and
distribution of supplies. This week,
however, they added a new wrinkle in the mix.
They took a load of clothing as well.
Get it? New wrinkle …
clothing? Come on, I worked hard on that
one. About mid-afternoon I got a text
from the pastor and his wife of the little church there in Alvin. Let me include it here:
“Pastor
Kelley. You’ve got one of the most
helpful & givingest people around.
They have been a tremendous blessing to these folks in Alvin, so I know
y’all’s treasure in heaven is going to be enormous. God bless you all. Pastors Domingo & Lucy”
Yep. I’m pretty proud of these guys. And one of the best parts of the Alvin team
is that, although there is a solid core that goes every week, there are new
folks going with them as well, some experiencing this kind of ministry for the
first time. Must be a God thing …
Chris
and I headed a different direction after seeing off that team. We loaded up our car to the hilt with
diapers, baby food, baby wipes, baby clothes, and baby toys (sense a theme here, yet?). Our destination was the Crisis Pregnancy
Center in Texas City. They have become the
warehousing point for distribution centers they have set up in three different
communities. In fact, the lady we worked
with yesterday, when she heard what we were doing in Alvin, gave us some fliers
to distribute among the young moms there.
The information directed them to the nearest center to them, the one in
Santa Fe, where they can receive items like diapers and other baby needs
weekly. We weren’t sure at first if they
would accept our clothing donations.
They are trying to take clothes only if they have been sorted by age (size), gender and season. We had the size part down, but when she saw
the quality of the clothes she was happy to receive them. She was also tickled to see the toys that we
brought. They are putting together
packets to give to moms, and they try to put a small toy in with each
packet. We brought in a huge tub of just
what she was looking for. She did let us
know that the biggest need they have lately is for diapers in the bigger sizes –
4 up through 6. They are well-stocked on
the smaller sizes.
The other
big thing they are working on is a way to get port-a-cribs into the hands of
parents who find themselves sometimes sharing a floor with several other
families, many of whom have no experience with babies at all. If the child could be in a port-a-crib or
pack-and-play, he would be safe from random feet passing by and bodies rolling
over. The initiative is called Safe
Sleep. They have received a matching
grant whereby a company will match every dollar they get designated toward
these cribs. I for one really appreciate
it when an appeal is this openly genuine, actually needed, and remarkably specific. My old Granddad heart is touched at its core
when babies are being taken care of and the ministry is being done right. Nice job, ChristyAnne and staff …
1
John 1:8-9 says, “If we claim to be
without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and
just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
Father,
we’re still praying for the Alvin folks and all the issues they still face. We also pray for the Crisis Pregnancy Center
and their staff and all the folks they minister to every day. Would you pass out some of that
non-understandable peace today? They …
we … could all use it. Amen.
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