Good
morning, in our last blog post, I wrote about what we do as a ministry and
explained all of our events and programs.
I did that so that those who were unfamiliar with us could get more
information and so that those who volunteer in one program could get awareness
about what else we do.
Today,
I am going to tell you about our “Needs List.” In our newsletters and on our
website (www.livingbridgesministry.org), we share a needs list. It is a list of all the things that would be
helpful to our ministry if they were donated.
We take donations in various forms all year long. Our needs do vary
according to the program we are trying to prepare for.
We start our list with the most important
donation information (or the most pressing needs). This month we have a blurb about Easter Eggs,
which is on top because this is the season that everyone is purchasing those. People who are having Easter Egg hunts are
wondering what to do with the eggs afterward.
Also the eggs will be going on clearance immediately after Easter at stores;
which makes that the best time to purchase them to donate to us—as long as they
are NOT candy filled.
LIVING
BRIDGES MINISTRY NEEDS LIST
We are
collecting empty plastic Easter Eggs and plastic eggs stuffed with toys so we
will be ready for our Easter event next year.
Please don’t donate candy filled eggs as the candy will go bad before
next year.
Next on our list we have the needs for Kids’
Connection—our kids’ camp at the park that operates 2 Saturdays a month from
June through September. We are in the
process of learning our eligibility to receive food through the school district
because we feed kids/families that would be on subsidized lunches on school
days. At this time, we don’t anticipate
needing food donations, but that could change once the school gets its new
guidelines for 2015-2016 later this month.
Kids’
Connection Needs
80 bottles of water for each camp x 8 camps
Individual bags of chips to serve at lunch
Paper plates
Napkins
Baby wipes (to clean hands after craft time)
Plastic
forks/spoons/knives
Large
bottle of hand sanitizer
400
Brown lunch sacks (we send all the kids’ crafts/fliers/etc home in them)
Name
tag labels (we need about 400 of these)
While their
children are at the Kids’ Connection, parents participate in a devotion and either
play bingo for needed household items or make a take home project that they can
use or give as a gift. The list below is
what we give in bingo prizes.
BINGO needs:
Bath
towels, blankets, small appliances (coffee pot, mixers, toasters), pillows, everyday
tools like screwdrivers, hammers, wrenches, home décor items, yard décor items,
rubbermaid storage containers, laundry baskets/hampers, gift cards of $5-$10 to
stores/fast food.
Twice a year
we offer clothing exchanges. Families
can come in and some items clothing for each family member for free. Then they can turn in gently used clothing
that they no longer need to get even more items of clothing for any family
member.
Clothing Exchange
We are
accepting new and gently used clothing year round for our spring/summer and
fall/winter clothing exchanges.
We are
also collecting brand new underwear
in all sizes for kids and adults (we need these in all sizes by October).
Trunk or Treat
offers families a safe place for their kids to Trick or Treat. However; we can’t in good conscience give
candy out without giving toothbrushes and toothpaste as well!
Trunk or Treat
We need
100 toothbrushes (kids and adult sizes) and full sized toothpaste
Candy
Small
toys (like kid’s meal prizes), or carnival prize type toys (small balls,
stuffed animals, glow sticks, etc)
At our
Thanksgiving luncheon we feed our families a pot luck Thanksgiving meal. Living
Bridges provides the meat, a couple of sides and the drinks. Realizing that
other agencies give out food boxes for the Thanksgiving meal, we focus on
sending each family home with a bag of staple food items to help get them
through the holiday season.
Thanksgiving Luncheon
5lb sack
of flour
4lb
sack of sugar
Cake
mix/frosting
Bottle
of vegetable/canola oil
Cans
of vegetables
Cans
of fruit
Large
cans of soup
Last December,
we were able to bless our families with board games. These games were given to the parents to wrap
as a gift from them to their children.
The goal was to encourage quality family time. We were also blessed by a donation of toys
which allowed us to bless around 40 kids with gifts. The charity that provided that donation is no
longer in business and so this year we are going to have to collect donations
to meet that need.
Birthday Party for Jesus
Board
games are needed to encourage quality family time.
Also
collecting new toys Barbie Dolls, Legos, stuffed animals, action figures, etc
to give to the kids at our Birthday Party for Jesus.
As with any
charity, we have a small amount of overhead for office supplies and we have
miscellaneous items we need. So we have an ongoing needs list to capture those
things.
Ongoing needs:
Computer
paper
Colored
computer paper
Postage
stamps (postcard and regular letter)
Devotion
material and Bibles for the adults
Gift
cards to Hobby Lobby, Michaels and Oriental Trading for craft supplies
We are so
thankful for those who have donated to our ministry throughout the last year.
God has blessed us with wonderful donors so far and we know he will continue to
move on the hearts of those whom He desires to support us in one way or
another. We try to be the best stewards
possible with all of our donations. In addition to the items we collect, it
takes almost $300/month to cover expenses like renting the pavilion at the park
where we hold 90% of our events, paying for curriculum for some of our
programs, buying the meat for non-Kids’ Connection events, buying craft
supplies for Kids’ Connection, ink for the printer, licenses for the
county/city/state, buying miscellaneous things like banners/signs, table
covers, tarps to sit on, and to purchase any of the items above that are not
donated. We have also been able to bless
other charities with things we have left after an event. At Christmas, we were able to give extra toys
to Telemon (a charity who helps migrant workers). We have shared extra food
items with 3 different food pantries, we supplied devotion materials to a local
ministry, and we will continue to share our blessings with others wherever God
supplies us with more than our needs!
The awesome
news is that we are a 501c3 charity and any donation you give is tax
deductible. We write quarterly and year end donor letters so you can keep track
of your donations. Monetary donations
can be made through Paypal on our website (www.livingbridgesministry.org) or by
mailing a check to:
Living Bridges Ministry
9302 Davidson Rd PMB 175
Moody AFB, GA 31699
Again, we thank you for any role you play
in God’s ministry through us; whether it is by praying for us, donating to us,
or serving alongside of us. It is
humbling to see what God is doing through very ordinary people who answered His
call.
