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September 2023

September 14, 2023
in Alleviation of Poverty, Food Backpack Program, GiveHope, HCC, Local, Outreach, School Outreach
by cefiggins
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People Are Hungry

Food Insecurity is a hard word to describe in our presumed affluent St. Charles County culture. Food insecurity is when you don’t have enough money to buy the healthy foods you need, or if you have to skip meals because you don’t have enough money to buy more food. The reality is St. Charles County actually has the third largest percentage of people facing food insecurity in The St. Louis Area Foodbank service area. Food insecurity can be caused by many things – an accident, an unexpected illness of a family member, underemployment, or simply having children not in school during holidays, spring breaks, or the summertime.

HCC Food Backpack Ministry is another aspect of our School Outreach to meet the physical needs of our neighbors. Each week our dedicated teams of volunteers pack nondescript food backpacks to meet the physical needs of about 100 local school children in 8 different schools across St. Charles County.

“Our program sends a bag of food home with a student each week.  The bag is designed to feed the student for the weekend with simple meals and snacks.  We don’t have any qualifications to participate in this program.  The program is mostly utilized by the “Free and Reduced Meals” families.  Free and Reduced Meals is a federally funded program that provides breakfast and lunch at school for students based on financial need.  Our program has the unique ability to also help students during short-term events that don’t require a family to apply for Free and Reduced meals.  All of the students participating are selected by the counselors in the schools we serve.”

-Shelly Swart, HCC Food Backpack Crew Leader

Here are a few ways you can support this ministry.

Pray. Yep, you guessed it. I think prayer is kind of a big thing. Prayer is constantly needed to help increase all of our faith in God. Prayer is needed for all of us to understand that we can trust God in hard situations like these. Pray about how God might want you to serve in this program or how He wants you to continue serving in this program. Pray for the children and families receiving this supplemental food so that they will see how God is providing for them. Pray for volunteers serving in this ministry that God would provide divine opportunities to unleash hope to the school, families, and children.

Collect food. Consider hosting a macaroni and cheese drive, canned ravioli drive, or protein/granola bar drive. Donate these items to the HCC Food Pantry to be used in the Food Backpack Program. This is a great way to get your neighbors involved in addressing food scarcity in our community and to raise their awareness about the needs around them as well as introduce them to some of the ways HCC serves St Charles County.

Serve. Join one of the packing teams. Consider serving as a driver to deliver to the schools. One of the wonderful things about our School Outreach Teams is that a child or his family can interact with a Harvester Christian in so many instances. Perhaps a child who attends Becky David and sees Harvester Christians delivering coffee to her teacher. Then the next week that same child saw Harvester Christians dropping off a food backpack to supplement what was missing from her pantry that week. Perhaps this child utilized a scholarship in order to participate in HCC Basketball-Cheer and begins to hear the Good News from her coach and other caring adults in the league. All of a sudden the child has a network of support grounded in biblical motivation. All of this creates a trustworthy relationship and a bridge to the church. We have served out of love and obedience. God does everything else.

In a perfect world, a child would not have to depend on a food backpack to get them through the weekend or a school holiday. All of their needs would be met. But even in a lost and wounded world, we can unleash hope through cans of ravioli and boxes of mac n cheese.

Important upcoming dates:

Food Backpack Program resumes on September 11

HCC Basketball-Cheer Registration opens September 25th at 8 a.m.

Guest Services/Local Outreach Gathering- we want to celebrate all of our volunteers. Join us on October 27 for a little food, fellowship, and vision for the coming year!

See You At The Pole September 27 at 7 a.m.

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September 14, 2023
in GiveHope, HCC, Local, Outreach, packapack, School Outreach
by cefiggins
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How God Used Hotdogs & Expo Markers To Unleash Hope

God has always used the weirdest things to guide people to Him. Aaron’s staff. Rahab’s scarlet cord.Baalam’s Donkey. Hotdogs from Harvester Christian. You know. Those kinds of things.

Yep, you read it right. Hotdogs from Harvester Christian Church provided a pathway to meet people in our community this summer. Whether at the Boys and Girls Club of St. Charles County or the City of St. Charles School District Back to School Bash you showed up to show love through the most unlikely of things. Just like God. Through Pack A Pack and all the bajillion back-to-school events, you served almost 1000 hotdog meals and provided just as many backpacks and school supplies to local teachers, families, and students.

HCC Local Outreach to our local schools is not limited to the summertime. We have School Crews consistently serving every month at Becky David Elementary, Harvest Ridge Elementary, Hackmann Rd Early Childhood, and Barnwell Middle. It’s important for our School Outreach Crews to commit to being as consistent as possible and as regular as possible at our schools to build trustworthy relationships. Our school crews provide relief and encouragement to administrators and teachers through teacher appreciation events. For example, on Thursday, September 21 the Barnwell School Crew will be volunteering to manage the Kona Ice fundraiser. On  Friday, September 22 we will The Harvest Ridge Crew is serving a bagel breakfast to teachers. School Crews have done everything from spreading mulch, cleaning school toilets, delivering school supplies and cards of encouragement to handing out hot chocolate and candy at Trunk or Treats and the parent pick-up line.

It could be easy to dismiss how showing up again, again could possibly lead someone to find and follow Jesus. But I bet in your own life you can point to the people who consistently showed up in your life with simple acts of kindness, grace, and mercy that caused you to encounter Jesus for the first time or become more like Jesus as you grew in your faith.

Sometimes it’s a bible in your hand. Sometimes it’s a package of expo markers. God asks for our trust and obedience in any situation. God can DO ANYTHING!

Important Dates

Food Backpack Program resumes on September 11

HCC Basketball-Cheer Registration September 25

See You At The Pole September 27 at 7 a.m.

Guest Services/Local Outreach Gathering- we want to celebrate all of our volunteers. Join us on October 27 for a little food, fellowship, and vision for the coming year!

Check back soon for your opportunity to join a School Crew and serve monthly at one of our local schools or email me to learn more!

 

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September 14, 2023
in HCC, HCC Basketball-Cheer, Outreach, School Outreach
by cefiggins
0 Comments

Does anyone have TOO much hope?

Basketball Cheer Season is coming up fast! We have been doing a TON of behind-the-scenes work to get ready for this next season. We are rolling out a new registration form for players and volunteer applications for coaches, referees, and all the other tons of volunteers needed to make the season run as smoothly as possible. We have been adding resources to this site to help coaches and referees feel as confident and supported as possible in their roles. We have been gathering bids on uniforms. We have been designing new banners and information signs to hang in the gym as another form of communication. By themselves, these tasks are not all terribly fun at all. But what IS fun is leaning in anticipation of what God will do using basketball and cheer to lead people to find and follow Jesus.

The energy in the Annex every Saturday from January through March is just incredible. We get to see kids of all ages learning the fundamentals of basketball and cheer. There will be so many applications later in their life from what they learn from being on a team and in the league. But the real difference will be HCC Basketball and Cheer Coaches planting seeds of faith and hope during devotional huddles during practice. The transformation will come from our volunteer leadership team continuously praying for people to find and follow Jesus. The Holy Spirit will move during devotionals and testimonies shared during halftime to parents, grandparents, and spectators. I don’t know anyone who has too much HOPE in their lives. HCC Basketball-Cheer is one way we get to unleash hope in our community.

Here are two simple ways you can unleash hope too.

Pray over registration. I know this sounds a little odd. But the relationship between the coaches, families, and players is powerful. Pray coaches are connected with families and players where a real difference can be made. Maybe it will be by the way the coach models themselves as a godly caring adult. Maybe it will be through the sharing of scripture or prayer as a source of hope.

Consider volunteering. HCC Basketball-Cheer League is run almost entirely by volunteers. Hundreds of volunteers are needed to coach, referee, share a devotional or testimony during half time, keep score, work in concessions, keep the gym safe and clean and so much more. If you have served in one or more of these ways in the past thank you so much! The league literally would not function without you.  If you would like more information, not to sign up I promise, just more information send me an email.

 

Important upcoming dates:

Food Backpack Program resumes on September 11

Registration opens September 25th at 8 a.m.

Guest Services/Local Outreach Gathering- we want to celebrate all of our volunteers. Join us on October 27 for a little food, fellowship, and vision for the coming year!

See You At The Pole September 27 at 7 a.m.

Parent Meeting Option #1 November 16

Parent Meeting Option #2 November 19

Coaches/Referee Clinic November 27

Practices begin the week of December 4

Games begin on January 6

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September 2, 2023
in Alleviation of Poverty, DTOTD, Local, Outreach
by cefiggins
0 Comments

212 Days

“For our neighbors who are on track for housing, it takes on average 212 days from beginning assessments to being housed. That is if there are no detours along the way. I am afraid that number will increase as our housing agencies are finding less and less affordable housing for our neighbors.”
– Todd Barnes, Community Council
If we have experienced being displaced from our homes I would guess it was because we having some renovation on our current homes or we waiting to move to another new home. On average that might last 60-90 days. You might be able to relate to living out of suitcases. Looking through boxes to find one of your three can openers. Getting tired of microwaved meals. Living on top of each other in cramped environments.
But what If you were without permanent housing for 212 days? Seven months of living in shelters, strangers’ couches, your card, and the streets. How would you get ready for work? How would you rest to have enough energy to go to work? Where would you prepare meals for your family? If training is required to keep your job where you study? Would you be able to get cleaned up enough to go to church? Would you have friends and neighbors you could connect with to get through the hard times? 
We need to be aware of emergency situations like the latest heat wave or the upcoming winter weather and how they impact our homeless neighbors right here in our community. Agencies around us are trying to better prepare for the next emergency.
Our community needs established cooling and heating centers with transportation. The experts in our community have been trying to advocate for real affordable housing. Municipalities, nonprofits, and ministries in our county have been trying to create a regional homeless shelter for years. There is no easy solution. At the base level, these solutions required millions of dollars and public support.
Just because it is a daunting issue don’t allow
Satan to convince you to turn away out of fear, apathy, or confusion.
  1. Pray for the safety and well-being of our homeless neighbors. Pray they are seen and known because of who created them. Pray for God to reveal to you one simple act you can do to unleash hope in our homeless neighbors. Seek God first.
  2. Educate yourself on the growing plight of our homeless neighbors in St. Charles County. Seek out information from the Community Council, Faith Haven House, and the Salvation Army.
  3. Do something. Carry bottled water, socks, QT gift cards and offer them to the people God places in your path. If they are not accepting of what you have to offer don’t allow your heart to become bitter. We do not know anything about their story. Contact your legislators and ask about what solutions they are working towards. Consistently volunteer with local nonprofits and ministries like Faith Haven House, and Salvation Army, and build trusting relationships with our homeless neighbors. Donate nonperishable food items to the HCC Food Pantry.
Mark 14:7 has always resonated deeply in my heart. Jesus says the poor will always be among us. To me, that means we cannot silently hope they will go away. We cannot turn our heads and pretend not to see them. We cannot allow Satan to overwhelm us with confusion about what is the right thing to do. We cannot listen to Satan’s whispers encouraging us to judge our neighbors or convince us that what we have to offer will not do any good.
212 is an unacceptable number.
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From the HCC Outreach Team:

Thanks so much for stopping by the Harvester Christian Church Outreach Team’s blog! We hope you find this resource helpful, insightful and encouraging as we strive to Unleash the Hope of Jesus back into our world!

This resource belongs to Harvester Christian Church in St. Charles, Mo.