It's been a unique year so far
It’s has been a unique year so far – while women served at the Center during the first six months of the year increased in number, we were unable to serve for several months in the Clubs since they were closed. However, even with those limitations, we were still able to make a huge impact for our Sisters -- providing meals, resources, toiletries and — most importantly — support, love and encouragement and that’s largely due to your ongoing financial and prayer support!
January – June, we:
served nearly 5000 meals.
provided nearly 1000 clothing packets and/or toiletry kits
made 425+ referrals to partner agencies, organizations and other critical community resources
Hundreds of individuals from 75+ different churches/church groups and numerous organizations/families prayed, collected items, cleaned the Drop-in Center, helped care for the yard/facility, wrote letters and cards of encouragement, provided meals, donated financially and mobilized to serve in all aspects of the ministry.
We’re especially grateful the Drop-in Center has remained open throughout the Covid 19 crisis, as we’ve seen other ministries that were forced to close or severely limit services. And although we only recently started back in the Clubs, we’ve managed to keep in touch with/continue to serve our Club friends (and those who couldn’t get to the Drop-in Center) through two new private social media pages.
Sisters continued to receive critical medical care, professional therapy, case management and support services through tele-health and other creative strategies. And several new Sisters courageously chose to take a first step to seek treatment for addiction and trauma! Two are in short-term care right now – with one planning to transition to a long-term facility soon. Other Sisters continue to ask questions and are considering steps in that direction.
So, while it hasn’t been the year we planned, we’re excited about what God’s done, and we can’t wait to see what he’ll do throughout the rest of this very different year!
We’ve just started back distributing leggings and t-shirt clothing bags, so if you are interested in helping with that, get in touch for details on where to drop those off – we have a team working on those at an offsite location.
Because of COVID, we don’t have a Summer training planned for new team members, but we’re praying to be able to schedule one this fall. Watch FB for info on that if you’re interested.
There are some other ways to help out in the meantime – including meals for the Drop-in, food and gifts for the Clubs, facility maintenance/cleaning, and a few other volunteer opportunities, so just get in touch with us if you’d like more info on those!
We will be having an annual event – Making a Difference for the One on Tuesday, October 20 at 7 p.m., so hold the date for that and watch for more details soon. As long as we’re able, it will be some sort of an Open House event featuring great exhibits, speakers, stories – and we hope you’ll join us! If we’re unable to have it in person, we have a backup plan, so watch for more details to come!
It’s great to update you on what’s happening with the ministry! If you have questions or need more info, just give us a call at 533-5946 or drop Melinda an email at melinda@nataliessisters.org.