Our Cupboards are Bare—- Food Pantry Donations Needed

Posted: Jan 07 2012

In 2011, the Heartland Food Pantry distributed over 145 boxes of groceries.  Each box contained a weeks-worth of food (with meal ideas and recipes) for a family of four.  That's a lot of food! 

On January 22, we will conduct a church-wide food drive to replenish the food pantry so we can continue to bless those in our church and community.  We ask that you purchase new items from this shopping list.  Volunteers will collect the items at the Heartland entrances before Sunday services.  Of course, food donations are welcome all year…simply place items in the collection barrels located in the atrium.  Thanks for helping feed those in need.

Provide Meals for Youth Leadership at the Hope Center

Posted: Sep 27 2011

The Hope Center feeds all the kids that come for their leadership training program Monday, Tuesday and Wednesdays during the school year.  On Monday and Wednesday they feed 15 kids and Tuesday they feed 30 kids.

They are needing volunteers to provide these meals.  The food can either be store bought or homemade as long as it is brought to the Hope Center by 3:00 pm.  There is a online sign up at:

http://www.volunteerspot.com/login/entry/6923456347664440108

If you have questions on this, feel free to shoot Matt Nagel an email or give him a call here at The Hope Center.

Matt Nagel
Operations Director
The Hope Center
816.931.6290 x117
mattn@hopecenterkc.org
www.hopecenterkc.org

Bailey’s Volunteer Story

Posted: Jul 06 2011

Andie and I arrived in Joplin about noon. We parked at New Creation Church and introduced ourselves to the volunteer coordinator. She seemed... tired. Se directed us to a supply room. There we met Tracy, a woman from Prairie Village. She was ther with serval of her chidren.

We found out we would be helping a woman named Mariel clean out her house. I won't lie: I was a little disappointed. They started giving us tool belts and masks and I kept thinking about my construction-based mission trips before: “I'm useless,” I thought. I watch and hand people nails. I felt like we’d be getting in the way instead of helping, but she was assured us that this was where we were needed. We were introduced to another family of volunteers from a church in Wichita, to Mariel and her boyfriend. Mariel was spunky, only 26 years old with a great laugh, cropped black hair and an "off-duty" mom t-shirt.

Mariel's has two children, Allison and Natalie, 4 and 8. Her boyfriend Chet moved to Joplin five months ago from Idaho. Their apartment was completely destroyed. Mariel was able to save a lot of her furniture. She moved her family into her father's house and was able to purchase a house. Mariel was hoping to move her family in within a week. This house, however, was absolutely trashed, but not from the tornado. It was an abandoned and trashed by a previous renter.

We had to wear masks because the air was so foul. The kitchen smelled like something had died in it. My friend Andie and I were sent to clean the attic. I was really grateful: In the attic were old cigarettes and children's spelling lists, futons with blankets and about a million mice. Furniture and dressers were still packed with clothes. Insulation was falling from the ceiling. The floors were covered with stuff left behind by the previous family. We threw as much as we could out of the windows to add to the huge junk pile we built by the front curb.

At one point, Andie and I went to Mariel’s father's house to get more cleaning supplies and got to talk to her and Chet. Wanting to be sensitive, we didn't ask about the tornado, but information slipped into our conversations. Chet spent several days after the tornado pulling people out of houses. Mariel was fired from her job because she had "a lot on her mind" after losing her home. She worked nights as a shot girl so she could be with her kids during the day.

At about 4:30 people called it a day at the house. We made enormous progress as a group. I had this great sense that God had used us just as much to encourage as to clean. We were able to show that Kansas City has a heart for Joplin and just want to be there to help in whatever way we could. I was struck by the diversity of the volunteers: we worked with people from Belton, Wichita and others from all over Missouri. We drove back to the church to sign out and record our hours (apparently FEMA donates money based on volunteer participation). From there, we were encouraged to drive through the part of town that had experienced the most devastation.

The destroyed houses and trees didn’t surprise me as much as the touches of humanity on the destruction. Every house, after it being searched for survivors, was spray-painted with an "X". Next to the “X”, was painted "we are OK." I was struck by the courage these people possessed in spite of having lost the safety and comfort of their homes, they still wrote “We are OK”. I also couldn't help but think about the lost suffered by those in houses that didn't have anything sprayed next to the painted “X”. People left yellow flowers and American flags as memorials in places by the rode.

The most powerful thing I experienced, I think, was the hope expressed in the city. It was worth the trip just to be allowed to witness this hope. Everywhere, spray painted on houses, on signs and other buildings were messages like "We will rebuild."

I’m so glad Heartland is promoting something like this. It was an incredible experience and New Creation Church is doing an awesome job. I loved feeling like I could play a little part in this huge effort. The whole thing was really convicting me about the power of God’s love shown through people.

: ) Bailey

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