The emphasis for 2010, in case you forgot – the homeless, the hungry, and families in crisis. Here’s what’s going on and what’s coming up:
SHELTER FOR THE HOMELESS FROM THE COLD_This past Tuesday night, a dream became reality for the Church of West Orange. Several leaders involved had been strategizing about how to provide shelter and food and warmth for the homeless who would take them up on the offer when the weather fell toward freezing temperatures. Well, THE FREEZE WARNING MINISTRY melted into reality. Thanks so much to the Church of Christ of West Orange (their campus is at 1450 Daniels Rd south of 50) for providing the facilities to shelter. Thanks to Next Community and Northland West Oaks and St. Pauls and the Bread of Life and others who took part in making it happen.
The freezing temps will continue to be a possibility (including tonight) for the next two or three months. So, we have an “on-call” system of sorts to be ready when the forecast calls for the temps to fall. If you would like to volunteer tonight or into the future to spend the night at the shelter, set up or clean up, serve food, do laundry afterward (blanket and pillow cases), or anything else you can think of, please email Larry Black (LBlack2666@aol.com). Also, check with your local church leaders who may already have a focused assignment to see how you can help.
Here’s the breakdown for how it stands now:
- Next Community _ supper, back-up for other items
- Southwest Church _ laundry
- Northland West Oaks _ supper
- St. Pauls Pres _ clothes and possibly cleanup
- Church of Christ of West Orange _ host shelter for Mon, Tues, and Thurs nights as well as storage
- Bread of Life _ food supply needs
- Westpoint Church _ breakfast and toiletries
PLEASE NOTE: There will be a meeting for those interested in learning more about how to help the homeless or who want to be trained more specifically for the FREEZE WARNING MINISTRY. There will be two alternatives (same meeting, two options): one on January 14th at 7pm at the campus of Next Community (46 East Miller St in Winter Garden) and the other on January 17th at 4pm on the campus of St. Pauls Pres off of Hwy 50 across from West Oaks Mall in Ocoee.
PLEASE ALSO NOTE: if your church family has a facility that could be used as a shelter, or if you know a local facility / organization that might want to participate to provide shelter, please let us know. We still need shelter lined up to be “on call” for Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights. Thanks so much.
ONE MORE THING: we need pillows that have a plastic covering (like the ones used in hospitals). You can get them at WALMART. Please email me if you are able to supply some (info@WestpointChurch.org).
Please be praying for this amazing ministry to truly love and serve those without a warm place to rest for the night in cold temperatures.
PROVIDING NECESSITIES TO THE HOMELESS AT THE LABOR POOL_every Tuesday morning, volunteers head out around 5:30am to provide coffee and specific supplies to those in line at the Labor Pool. If you would like to participate, please contact Scott Billue (pastorscott@nextcommunitychurch.com).
Supplies to be handed out at the Labor Pool continue to be needed. Socks, work gloves, hats, underwear, sweatshirts, T-shirts, and the like. Please continue to collect them in your gatherings on Sundays and other venues. Let us know, and we’ll tell you where to drop them off.
ALSO, bike lights are needed to provide for the homeless who have bikes and ride at night. They cost about $10. If you would like to provide support for a few, let us know. Thanks.
CD BY THE HOMELESS_as previously announced, we are underway with the recording and production of a CD by homeless musicians (and a few other support musicians) to be sold to provide support for shower trailers for homeless families in the West Orange area. We will keep you posted on the progress of the CD. Please be in prayer for everything to go smoothly. More importantly, please be in prayer for all those involved to experience the nearness of Christ like never before through this amazing project!!!
MUSICIAN DAVID BAILEY_you don’t want to miss musician David Bailey share his story and his songs January 24th. He has been featured in national news shows and more for his battles with cancer and his steadfast faith. For details see the poster in an earlier post below.
CAREER FAIR FEB 4TH_“Re-Energize and Re-Charge Your Job Search” with this amazing seminar on the campus of St. Pauls Pres February 4th from 7pm to 9:30pm. Sponsored by Christian HELP, the Central Florida Employment Council, and WESH 2 news, this is sure to be a catalytic event. More details to be posted next week. In the mean time, call 407.834.4022 for details.
MOVIE NIGHT_be looking in the next week for some details on a 2nd annual Church of West Orange Movie Night right before Thanksgiving. The movie featured this year will be “No Greater Love.” Details coming out next week.
SERVE TOGETHER_as we did last April, we will come together for a HUGE SERVE DAY in April this year. Details to come!!!
A LITTLE BONUS_one of the leaders with the Church of West Orange has a recipe for a homemade laundry detergent for clothes washing. The demand to know it was pretty high at the mtg, so we decided to post it here.All supplies can be purchased at a Target or WALMART or Publix, mostly in the laundry aisle.
SUPPLIES:
- Fels Naptha Soap or Ivory Soap (looks like a bar of soap)
- washing soda (arm and hammer makes it…different than baking soda)
- borax powder
MIXING AMOUNTS for 2 gallons:
- 1/3 – 1/2 bar of fels naptha (or full bar of ivory)
- 1/2 cup of washing soda
- 1/2 cup of borax powder
- 2 gallon bucket
DIRECTIONS TO MAKE:
- grate the soap and put it in a sauce pan with 6 cups of water
- heat until the soap melts
- add the washing soda and borax and stir until it’s dissolved.
- remove from heat.
- pour 4 cups of hot water into the bucket and add the soap mixture and stir.
- add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of water and stir.
- if using laundry detergent bottles, pour into the bottles now.
- let the soap sit for about 24 hours and it will “gel” (it won’t be a gel and it won’t be liquid…some of each)
- use 1/2 cup per load (measure but is usually a cap full of a laundry bottle- may need to shake before use to mix)
ENJOY!!!
Love y’all! What a blessing to be the church together.