On To Oh-Ten

Prayer is a huge part of our ministry. This photo
was taken at our Nov. 6 outreach in Tulsa.

STARTING A NEW DECADE

Filling The Void started the new decade just the way you thought we would. On Jan. 1, we were out on the streets, sharing the gospel, serving others and greeting them with great big smiles.

In the first three weeks of 2010, we’ve already held seven outreaches in Denver and Tulsa – serving in excess of 550 sack lunches.

The end of 2009 was just as busy – or shall we say blessed!

In December, we delivered Christmas gifts to two shelters, served a dinner at Tulsa’s Day Center for the Homeless and distributed 200 brand new shirts and jackets days before a blizzard hit.

Financially, God’s blessings – through your giving – kept us immune from the nation’s economic distress. We received $37,077.26 in donations, up 37 percent* from the prior year.

That level of support allows us to reach further. We continue to expand in Denver. And we’re doing more work at some of Tulsa’s shelters in addition to our core mission field on the streets.

On a personal note, we’ve also re-established a strong relationship with the man who started in our mentoring program last year before we lost touch for several months.

We were so excited when he came back. He’s transitioned from us teaching him to helping others at our outreaches himself. He keeps asking, “How can I give back?”

That’s what it’s about, right? It’s how your dollars and donations make a major difference. Thank you for helping make it all possible!

* Denotes donations for charitable purposes only. Separately, we receive additional funds for our administrative expenses.

OTHER NOTABLE NUMBERS

By our count, we served about 5,367 sack lunches in 2009.Dating back to 2003, our lunch bag tally stands at 27,918. (That includes figures for 2010 so far). We’ll definitely serve our 30,000th sack lunch this year, and maybe even No. 35,000.