2009 Kick-Off/2008 Recap

We served 9% more meals in 2008 vs. 2007.

THANK YOU!

Contrary to what you’re seeing in the national news, not everything is all doom and gloom.

From our standpoint, Filling The Void has never been better positioned to meet the needs of the hungry, homeless, hurting and those who need healing.

Thanks to your kindness, involvement and continued generosity, we finished 2008 stronger than we’ve ever been on every front.

Compared with 2007, we witnessed a 23%* increase in donations (from $22,000 to $27,000), served 9% more meals (from 7,700 to 8,400) and were blessed with about 100 new volunteers.

Dating back to when we first started in 2003, more than 500 volunteers with Filling The Void have now distributed more than 22,500 sack lunches.

In short, we’re grateful – extremely grateful – and we’re humbled that you choose to partner with us to lift up the poor – both physically and spiritually.

* Denotes donations for charitable purposes only. Separately, we received an additional $3,600 to fund our administrative expenses. For more information on giving, please refer to our Website.

THE YEAR AHEAD

For 2009, you’ll see us begin a discipleship program for the people we serve who desire more in-depth Bible teaching, dramatically increase the number of our outreaches in Denver, and pull together another block party or two in Tulsa like the one in September where 300+ people came.

These steps will allow us to provide even more opportunities for volunteers, increase our interaction with the needy so that we can pray and believe for miracles in their lives, and have new venues for promoting the possibility of a total turnaround in life.

DECEMBER'S GOOD DEEDS

For Christmas 2008, we distributed almost 200 presents to men who are living at two of the shelters in downtown Tulsa: provided fruit, juice and muffins for the Christmas breakfast at Tulsa’s Day Center for the Homeless: and delivered a check to the Denver Rescue Mission to help pay for about 50 meals for men in need.

GOOD NEWS ON GAINFUL EMPLOYMENT

One of the men we serve who lives at the YMCA in downtown Tulsa landed a job as a night stocker at a Wal-Mart. We're so happy for him, because he is extremely diligent about working. And in case you've missed some recent local news, Tulsa's downtown Y is scheduled to close in January 2010. Residents will have an opportunity to be relocated to new apartments that are being constructed about 2-3 miles from downtown. You can see the story in the Tulsa World.

HOW BEING LATE TURNED INTO SOME LOVE

One of the departments within the Williams Cos. in downtown Tulsa “fines” employees $1 for every minute they’re late to a meeting. It’s all for fun -- just to get folks focused on greater efficiency. Well, over the course of 2008, some tardiness turned into a $300 gift for Filling The Void, plus the company match! Williams has always been great about helping us lift up needy lives.