Volunteering at Hope Ministries this Saturday

From Kevin VandeKrol:

For those of you who weren’t there this Sunday, or who were there but wanted more information on this – we have the opportunity to volunteer this Saturday, July 17th from 9:00-3:00 at Hope Ministries. Hope is one of the largest homeless organizations in Iowa, operating Bethel Mission (a men’s shelter), the Hope Café (a soup kitchen that serves 3 meals every day of the year), a thrift store over on the east side, and a number of other ministries focusing on homelessness and poverty.

Every Saturday they have church groups of 10-20 who spend the day volunteering at a few of Hope’s outreaches. I had the opportunity to do this with another church group last year and it was a phenomenal experience. Here’s what the day looks like: In the morning, we’ll help sort donations at the bargain center. We’ll then eat lunch at the Hope Café and tour Bethel Mission, and at around 1:00 we’ll actually go down to the homeless camps by the river and help pass out supplies and pray for the people down there. (We’ll be led by a guy from Hope who has been doing this every Saturday for 8 years, so he knows most of the people and does most of the talking.)

I apologize for the late notice on this. We were going to try to do this sometime in August or September, but when I called to schedule, they said they were booked all the way through January. Then they called me back a few days later to tell me that one of the church groups had cancelled for this Saturday and we could have their slot if we wanted to. So we decided to give it a shot! If we aren’t able to go this Saturday we may not have a chance until next spring sometime.

Please email me at kvandekrol@gmail.com if you’re interested in going or if you just want some more information on it. We have six so far, and the goal is that we’d have at least 12, but we can have up to 20. We may end up having to cancel if we don’t have enough people. Let me know by Thursday if you can make it.

Also – this isn’t restricted to just people at Two Rivers. If you know someone who would like to come that doesn’t go to our church, feel free to invite them to come along!

Thanks,
Kevin