Hey, I've got a story to tell...

Dear Community Family,

Another Community Impact (February 28th) with amazing results! You truly are the hands and feet of our Lord. We had 463 people serve on that Saturday! Our Neighborhood Food Drive collected 9,253 lbs of food! So many lives touched, Thank You!

I love to tell stories…and if you hang around me long enough…you’ll hear me say “Hey, I’ve got a story to tell…” and it’s usually a story where I’ve seen God at work.

Saturday morning before we went out to serve, I shared with you a personal story…for those that didn’t hear it I’ll share it again.

This happened a few months ago…and it’s a true story. I was running errands and I had my kids with me (2 boys). One stop on my list was to buy something for my husband at Radio Shack. Since I am technology challenged this isn’t my favorite store, however my boys love that store and want to examine every gadget. I had so many things to do, I simply wanted to run in, buy the item, and run out. On the way there in the car, I told my boys, please don’t touch anything in the store, we are going to run in and run out…run in and run out…run in and run out. That was the goal Run in…get the item…and run out.

Goal accomplished! Yeah! In the car and off to the next thing on my list, when my youngest son (age 10) asked me, “Mom, do you think that lady was homeless?” I asked him to repeat himself, because I had no clue what he was talking about. I then asked, “What lady?” and he said, “The lady outside of the store.” I asked him why he thought the lady was homeless and he said that she was digging in the trash can. I was so focused on running in and running out that I didn’t see anyone. Feeling guilty that I missed something so obvious, I tried to convince him that she must have dropped something in the trash and that she was trying to find it. He said, “No mom, I think she was homeless, she looked hungry, and she was dirty.”

Wow, how could I have missed that? The trash can was right outside of the store, it was so close. How could I have not noticed? I am an Outreach Director…I’m supposed to notice things like that!

I missed 3 things that day, I missed an opportunity to feed someone that was hungry, I missed an opportunity to serve God, and I missed an opportunity to teach my children about the hungry and homeless people in our community.

Since that day, I keep a post it note near my computer screen. It says, “God, What do you want me to notice today?” I pray that prayer often…and He always faithfully answers that prayer.

I want to challenge you to pray that prayer often, and watch for Him to answer.

Thanks again,

Nancy May
Outreach Director
Community Christian Church

People went out of their way...

Hi Nancy --

I did the Community Food Drive in my neighborhood and at my job. I could not believe how wonderful the response was!!!! People went out of their way to donate canned goods, paper products and other items. I was so happy to see the bags waiting for my pick-up on the doorsteps of my neighborhood !!!! Let's do this Community Impact again.
In God's Name,
Patti Meador

The whole thing was a "pay it forward" act of service

Hi Nancy,

As always, on behalf of my family and the entire Community Christian Church Family...THANK YOU SO MUCH for the outstanding work you do for Broward County citizens with the role you play as Outreach Director.
Regarding the Neighborhood Food Drive...it was OUTSTANDING...by far the most organized, easy to participate in, useful service project I have seen from any Church I have served at in recent years. Many of my neighbors were also impressed and contributed more than one bag each. My 16 yr. old son Colby, attached the bags to our neighbors doors on Wed. (he signed all the paper work himself). Sat. morning, he and I drove from home to home picking up each generous donation and then delivered them to Church...done...WOW...could it have been any easier.!?*!!? The best part was how the whole thing was a "pay it forward" act of service. Colby and I were blessed...our neighbors were blessed by participating...our Church was blessed...the food banks were blessed...the families who use the food banks will be blessed...and on and on in God's perfect plan for instilling in us a desire to show love and kindness to others ESPECIALLY those in need...Thank you so much Nancy and your staff of helpers at Community Christian.

Blessings,
Colby and Sandy Zinser

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written: "He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever." 2Cor.9:8-9

I asked God what I should notice...

Hi Nancy:
I just wanted to share this with you....
Today was a special day for my grandson and I, going to the community center and seeing how happy we were able to make the people there was the greatest feeling ever.
My grandson Jaden is 15 months old and they adored him so much, asked me to come back - I would love to make it something we can do once a month for them or more if possible.
My heart felt so full being able to sit there and talk to them, show them they are not forgotten by us nor GOD...they are never alone.
I met Margaret, Michelle, Sylvia and many more.....I asked God what should I notice today and I think I noticed the JOY & HAPPINESS I was able to bring to many...to see them get up to dance, clap and sing ..the greatest JOY to feel...
I love serving the Lord this way and Look so forward to doing it again, in this way and many ways.
Thank you for letting US be a part of something so wonderful and joyous.
Carol DeMeo - and Jaden.....

I am almost speechless as I write this...

Dear Nancy:

Tina and I have always looked forward to each and every CommunityImpact event we've been a part of since we joined the Community Family and each time, we have been blessed more than we could ever have imagined. Today, however was such a blessing that I am almost speechless as I write this. This morning when we arrived to participate in the Community Impact Day at Kids in Distress, you had explained that a group of young people from The Faith Center across the street from our church had called you and asked if they could join their efforts with ours as we went out to be the "hands & feet" of ourLord in the community. As coordinators, we welcomed the help and thought it would be a great idea to have two churches working side by side as we went to Kids in Distress. As it turned out, we had so many people in our group that we were able to have 5 people from our group join another group that was a little short-handed. What happened for the following 4 hours was nothing short of God just showing how awesome He is! We were met at Kids in Distress by two of the nicest ladies we could have ever hoped to work for - Shiela and Maggy and two of their dedicated maintenance guys. 3 more members of the Faith Center joined us at the work site for a total of 8 people from Faith Center that joined us. We pulled weeds and laid mulch on the entire 5 acre campus and the whole while we were being blessed by this outstanding group of young adults from the Faith Center. We were able to share stories and testimonies of how God had worked to pull all of this together for them to work with us and it was one of the most rewarding days of my entire life (and that is no exaggeration). The group was searching the web looking for some way to outreach in thecommunity and came across "Community Impact" and decided to pursue being a part of it. I AM SO GLAD THEY DID!!! These young adults have such a strong heart for God and such an incredible passion to serve that it was an absolute HONOR and PRIVILEGE to serve with them. I pray that we can have them with us on many future Community Impact Days! What an incredible day! What a diverse group we had - we had a father and son team and a mother and daughter team along with us plus these wonderful people from The Faith Center. When we were done, we all joined together in the middle of one of the court yards and ended the day with prayer (including the ladies from Kids in Distress) and then sang Happy Birthday to one of their maintenance men, Angel. When we parted ways with our new friends from The Faith Center, we shared hugs like I've never felt before and knew that the very Presence of God had spent the morning with us at Kids in Distress. I know that our efforts meant a lot to the staff at "Kids" and I am sure that God was blessed by the outreach, but I also know that for me personally today was much deeper than that. I can't explain what happened to my heart today, but I am still almost in tears nine hours later because of the profound effects of what we experienced today. It was a total out-pouring of love and fellowship and sweat for the King of the Universe by everyone involved. Thank You for all your hard work to continue to make these Community Impact Days a reality. Community Christian Church has given us the opportunity to put a physical and visible hand out there to the community around us and let them know that the God we serve is REAL. I''m sorry this is such a long email - I know you are very busy, but I just had to tell you about what a special day this was!
Thanks again Nancy!
Sincerely,
Duane King

Wanted to tell you what I noticed...

Wanted to tell you what I noticed….
I realize how often the homeless are put down and demoralized. They are often faceless and dismissed. I guess kind of like what you experienced.
They really are ‘real’ people, with real hopes and dreams. I witness several, without hesitation, step in to help haul things to a pod making room for beds.
These men were not personally benefiting from the new room but were more than willing to help.
Real people down on their luck if you want to put it that way.
Not faceless and not nameless.

Joann

A few things I noticed today...

Hello Nancy,

I took your story to heart this morning and challenged myself to see what God wanted me to see at the Health Care Facility. Here are a few things that I noticed today that I haven’t noticed in my previous three Community Impact trips or in the numerous other times that my family and I have visited outside of Community Impact:

1. I noticed that some of the same faces and names are still here
2. I noticed that some are not
3. I noticed that as my life has continued onward their lives still revolve around these same walls and corridors
4. I noticed how few staff are actually working and attending to patients
5. I noticed that as energetic and talkative as Helene once was; she now has been reduced to barley sitting up and can’t talk for very long
6. I noticed their eyes and faces lit up as Tango (the dog) and the kids approached them
7. I noticed the little old man who cares for his wife had the same smile on his face and his love for his wife was still very apparent.
8. I noticed the tears in one of the Community Christian volunteer’s eyes as she pushed a patient to the dining room for coffee.
9. I noticed a very rare smile on the face of one of the patients as she listened to Megan play the flute
10. I noticed one of the patients ate the flower that was made for her in arts & crafts (had to add some humor)

This was once again a very rewarding experience.

Mike Avery

I noticed...

I noticed today that it is not only the people we went to help that needs us. It is everyone that you come in contact with. I met 3 boys from The Hope Center helping out as well. As I talked to them or to any one else, I realized that everyone can use a kind word at any time. People might look like they are fine but in fact have a lot going on inside. Even our own people at Community.

Mayra Nelson

Wonderful group of people painted...

Saturday, November 1st here at St. Herman's Community was definitely a success! We had a wonderful group of people that painted here and at our other group home. They did a great job. The youth from your church were great - when the children didn't come until later, they spent time talking and listening to my developmentally disabled residents here and playing games with them in the yard. The barbecue was good - we did have to run inside a few times due to some rain, but eveyone pitched in and a good time was had by all!Thank you and your wonderful church for all that you do!
God bless,
Janet Rihl

The pets were a big hit again...

We had a large group and everyone was eager to participate. The residents and patients were excited to see us and some of them remembered us from our last visit. Their eyes lit up and they would smile as we approached them. We took some of them outside where they made comments like “I am bathing in this beautiful sun” and “I haven’t felt the wind on my face in a long time”.

We had a group of Spanish speaking individuals with us on this trip which was wonderful because there are a lot of Spanish speaking people at the facility and our communications with them in the past was limited. After we were done the group came to me with tears in their eyes and thanked us for allowing them this opportunity to serve.

The pets were a big hit again and we even had a couple of small children there that brought huge smiles to the residents and patients.

Thanks again and let me know where and when you need my help next time.

Mike Avery