July 2005 Report

TOUCHING 200

Your support helped meet the needs of four families in July and provide meals to another 188 people through five outreach occasions. We also witnessed a surge in selfless volunteer spirit. On July 20 alone, 11 people beat the summer heat to pass out sack lunches on the downtown streets.

BUG BOMBERS

As our name indicates, we tend to provide relief where there might not be another remedy. That’s why we gladly paid $220 for pest control on July 1. We dispatched an exterminator to bomb the bugs, kill the creepy crawlers and rid the roaches from a local home where four children had been living in unsafe, unsanitary conditions. The Department of Human Services can’t give us all the details, but we hear there’s a happy ending.

BACK TO SCHOOL

DeAngelo and Ebony have a beautiful family – five children in all. Their oldest two, ages 10 and 7, needed new clothes. We could have sent them to a local clothes closet for apparel that’s been around the block, but we didn’t. We believe there’s something to be said for dignity and respect, so we sent them shopping at Target instead. On July 27, the two kids got new shoes, new shorts, a couple pair of pants and jeans, several new shirts and a children’s Bible, to boot.

SE HABLA ESPAÑOL

We’re determined to brush up on our Spanish. In the meantime, we’ve recruited four bilingual volunteers and learned to say “¿Te gustaría lunch?” Sensing another open door to reach across the cultures, we also sent $300 to Safe Harbor in July. They provide groceries to about 25 East Tulsans every Tuesday. Ninety percent of their clients are Hispanic. We believe we’ve planted our seed in good soil. Eighteen people have given their lives to Christ at Safe Harbor in 2005.

LIVING OUT LUKE 14:13

We really enjoy what we do. But it’s really not all that novel. We’re just following the footsteps of Jesus. He has a true passion for people. In Luke 14:13, He said, “When you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed.” So when we give out lunches, we ask Him to lead our steps to such as these. He always does. On July 6, we found two men in an alley. One was sleeping on cardboard. The other was awake, but physically, he only had one eye.

FULL HOUSE

We passed out 500 flyers. We ordered 20 pizzas. On July 24, we were ready to host our 6th free community dinner this year at Hallelujah Church (see picture below) near downtown. Our previous high in serving folks here was 50. In fact, we usually have food left over. Not this time. Not one ounce. Sixty-eight neighbors came through the church door – so many in fact that we had to run for more cold drinks and 50 hamburgers from McDonald’s. Next time we’ll order plenty more pizza.