Deanies Thoughts~

Hello to you my dear friends in Christ! I am trying to be faithful about posting my thoughts on my blog each week. Yesterday was the first day for me to be back to work at the Samaritan Center where I volunteer one day each week. I usually work on Fridays. I don't work there between Thanksgiving and New Years. The facility is closed the last two weeks of December and the week between Christmas and New Years. So I have had a little vacation from my volunteer job. In December there is Project Christmas Cheer. This is a wonderful place for anyone that lives in our county to come and get assistance with their groceries through the year and recieve a special Christmas Box in December. There are so many people that need help these days with feeding their families. I work at doing intake sheets for our clients. At the beginning of the new year everyone needs a new one done and of course new clients need intake sheets done. There were three of us working at that yesterday. It takes awhile to do because you have to get their personal information, income or lack there of, and their expenses. Our clients must qualify or meet a certain income requirement level to recieve food. We had over seven hundred families that signed up for Project Christmas Cheer this past year. I do not know the total of families that recieve food each month. It is a lot of families.

This is an all Faiths Organization, operated by a board of directors that are volunteers that hire a director to manage the the volunteers that do most of the work along with three or four paid workers. The food is all donated. Some from local businesses and food drives. Harvesters at Kansas City, Mo. provides a lot of the food for our clients. Commodities are given out there also to those that meet the goverment regulations. God works in many mysterious and wonderful ways. This is just one of His ways to prove that His people still love and care for the less fortunate in their areas. We also have the Samaritan Center Thrift Shop. It is operated on the same way as the food pantry. Only the general public can go there to shop for clothing items and household items, books or anything that you or I might not want to use any more but is in good condition. These are all donated by other people and the workers are volunteers. Someone once ask me if the Samaritan Center accepted furniture, I replied to them yes if it is something that you yourself would use.

My Sunday School lesson this week was about:

"Discovering Fresh Hope"

We can find in God's presence love, direction, and find fresh hope for living joyfully, even amid dire circumstances. There are so many folks that need God's reassurance when it just might feel like He has forgotten them. When bad times come into our lives or when others turn against us, we can know that God is always for us. When we seek Him and honor Him, He loves us. And when we disabey and disappoint Him, He loves us still.


You know we should always give our very best to the Lord. If it be our time, our resources or ourselves.
Have a Great week!