What do you do?

 

     

What do you do?

Every time Tony and I tell people about Living Bridges Ministry, inevitably the question comes up: “What do you do?”  We are humbled that people care enough to ask and want to know more about this ministry.  We also realize that through social media, we are “meeting” many people whom we don’t ever get to have personal contact or conversation with.  Many of them are curious what we do also.  So this blog post is a summary of each of our programs and what the volunteer needs are that go with those programs.

   In his song, Do Something, Matthew West sings:

I'm so tired of talking
About how we are God's hands and feet
But it's easier to say than to be
Live like angels of apathy who tell ourselves
It's alright, “somebody else will do something”
Well, I don't know about you
But I'm sick and tired of life with no desire
I don't want a flame, I want a fire
I wanna be the one who stands up and says,
“I'm gonna do something”

After reading about what we do and what our volunteer needs are, we hope you will take some time to pray about how/where you can become involved.  Come “do something” and make a difference in South Valdosta!

Kids’ Connection

  Our Kids’ Connection program was our very first Living Bridges program! It runs from June through September on the 2^nd and 4^th Saturdays of each month. The format is similar to Vacation Bible School only we are at the park.  Families come and the kids rotate through 3 stations where they get a Bible story, a craft activity, and a game or music time. While the kids are doing that, the adults are hearing a devotion.  The adults then make something to take home or they play bingo.  We all come back together as a group and eat lunch.  It takes 12 adult volunteers and several youth volunteers to successfully run a Kids’ Connection Saturday. 

Trunk or Treat

  Trunk or Treat at the park provides kids the chance to have a safe environment to get treats and play games.  Volunteers decorate their cars in a family friendly theme and then hand out school supplies, small toys, candy and other goodies to the children who come through. We have roughly 30 spots for Trunk or Treat this year and it will be held on Saturday, October 24^th from 5-7pm (car decorating and set up begins at 4pm.) In addition to those who set up cars, we need about 6 volunteers for registration and to help make sure the cars stay stocked with candy/prizes.

Thanksgiving Luncheon

  Our Thanksgiving luncheon is a potluck Thanksgiving meal.  Living Bridges provides the hams and everyone brings sides and desserts.  At this event, we hand out sacks of staple grocery items like flour, sugar, oil, etc to help our families through the holiday season.  The Thanksgiving Luncheon needs about 8 adult volunteers to serve food and sign in our guests.

Birthday Party for Jesus

  Held in December, our Birthday Party for Jesus is much like a Kids’ Connection program day.  We have 3 stations for the kids and the adults play Bingo to win prizes that they can give as gifts or keep for themselves.  We also collect board games throughout the year to distribute to our families as gifts in an effort to promote quality family time. We hope to have a new toy to wrap and send home with each child. We need 12-14 volunteers during the birthday party to run the stations, serve the food and help with gift distribution.  About a week before the party, we will have a wrapping workshop and 3-4 volunteers will be needed to wrap toys for the kids.

Transformations

  Our newest program, Transformations, is a 10 month long 3 phase program geared toward helping people out of poverty and into self-sufficient living. The first phase helps participants identify how it is they are in poverty and then to set realistic goals toward getting out of it.  The second phase helps with skills like how to fill out a job application, how to build a resume, and interview practice. The last phase teaches sound financial management decision making skills that will help guide participants in both the spending and saving of the money they make. Several volunteers are needed for this program in the following capacities: to serve as mentors for the participants, to speak during one or more nights of class on one of many topics we will be covering, to be a mock interviewer and share constructive feedback with our people, and to serve in the prayer circle that prays for this group.

Clothing Exchanges

  Clothing exchanges take place in the spring and fall and allow people from the neighborhood to show up and get 1-2 gently used outfits for each family member. Then they can exchange gently used clothing that their family has outgrown for more of our clothing in any size.  Our March clothing exchange needs 12 volunteers.  We anticipate needing about 16 volunteers for the one in the fall.

Mom’s Connection

  Mom’s Connection is a program similar to MOPS (Mothers of PreschoolerS.)  It gives moms with children of any age a place to come and enjoy fellowship.  While at the Mom’s Connection, mom’s will receive a devotion, information relevant to the stage of life they are at, and a snack will be provided.  Activities and supervision for children who are not in school will be provided for each of these meetings. Mom’s Connection will meet on 2 weekday mornings each month and will only go on during the school year.  It will take about 8 adult volunteers to run each meeting.

As I said at the beginning of this post, we hope you will be prayerful about becoming involved.  Some volunteers come out once or twice and others are there almost every time we have something.  We are blessed by all of them no matter how often they come. Consider getting your Sunday school class, your small group, a couple of coworkers, or a few friends together so you can work as a group! For more information on our ministry or about volunteering with us (including specific locations/times for each program), please email info@livingbridgesministry.org.