Top 10 Volunteer Needs at South Side Mission

Hal "the Handyman" Lundstrom volunteers for South Side Mission in our Hope Builders program which provides large and small repair jobs for south side homeowners.

Have some time on your hands that you'd like to dedicate to the Lord's work? We can help with that! South Side Mission's Associate Executive Director, Connections, Sean Allen shares the latest top 10 most-needed volunteer jobs at SSM:

Elderly Services - visits, transportation (groceries, doctors), and
communications (letters, birthday cards, phone calls)

Elderly Services - counselors (financial, grief)

Elderly Services - nurses (home/health assessments)

Benevolence Center - gardeners and medical closet coordinator
(organize/clean)

Mission Marts - sorting, folding, stocking, cleaning, helping
customers

Youth - after-school tutors

Youth - boys/girls club mentors

NPC - weekend meal preparation and serving (small groups)

NPC - bible study leaders and life skill mentors

King's Kids - toy sanitizers

To begin your volunteering journey at South Side Mission, please call (309) 676-4604 and ask for Sean or email him at seana@southsidemission.org

The Lord Loves to Impress with Fish

It's fish week at the Culinary Arts Training School of South Side Mission.

And even though it's been more than 2,000 years since the Lord caused a tax coin to be found in a finny friend's mouth or nets to be filled to overflowing by disbelieving disciples, Jesus is still doing miraculous things with fish.

First, Chef Chris received a donation of a whole lot of crab boil mix recently, which he put aside for just the right opportunity. Well, on Monday, an anonymous donor showed up with three large styrofoam coolers full of live and large Louisiana crawfish. CATS students boiled up the mix of seasoning, potatoes, corn on the cob, onions and finally crawfish in big pots and as they say on the bayou--voila! You can see the result in the photo!

Second, thanks to our generous friends at Dixon's we received a great donation of sashimi-grade yellowfin tuna, which the Culinary Arts Training School turned into sushi, complete with Wasabi vinegar sauce! In the photo you can see how the students rolled the tuna in sesame seeds before lightly searing it.

And like all of our Culinary Arts Training School entrees, these were fed to poor people who come for our gourmet soup kitchen--the Lighthouse Diner.

It may be a far cry and two millenia removed from the two fish that Jesus stretched to feed a multitude, but our Lord still likes to surprise people with blessings from the sea.

RG LeTourneau, Friend of South Side Mission

RG LeTourneau yes THAT RG LeTourneau was a very cool footnote in an old binder I dusted off a the Mission recently.

RG spend a few years in Peoria, innovating in the field of earth-moving equipment. In the process, he became very successful. Believing that one cannot outgive God, RG decided to keep 10% and give 90%. His enterprises were very successful from his industrial processes to beginning the Christian Businessmen's Committee (CBMC). The Lord honored him in life and after, when LeTourneau Christian University was founded.

As it turns out, to no one's surprise and to my total joy, RG was a major donor to South Side Mission in 1945. Thanks RG for investing some of that 90% here.

Incidentally, there's a statue of RG LeTourneau in Glen Oak Park, over by the tennis courts!

Ministry By the Numbers - April 2010

The outstanding External Ministries team at South Side Mission, from left, Director of Elderly Services Robin Winfrey RN, Assistant Executive Director over External Ministries Rev. Craig Williams, and Director of External Ministries Rev. Bessie Rush pose in front of our Board room mural.

Decisions to follow Christ for the month

293


Average number of homeless women & children housed nightly

40


Families served with free clothing, furniture, appliances & housewares

557


Avg. Attendance at Roosevelt Magnet School before school Bible study

40


Attendance in our Laramie Street Sunday School, weekly

41


Attendance at our RiverWest Bible Study

6


Avg. Attendance at Trewyn Middle School before school Bible study

18


Elderly Services home, hospital or nursing home visits

48


Formerly homeless women moving out successfully

0


Avg. Attendance at Harrison Primary School before school Bible study

46


Food baskets given away at our RiverWest Satellite Office

11


Number of people completing a discipleship course this month

6


Average attendance at the Lighthouse Diner

22


Avg. Attendance at Manual High School before school Bible study

5


Kids enrolled in after-school tutoring

50


Churches that have Adopted Blocks in 61605

17


Food baskets given away through our Garden Street Benevolence Center

456


Attendance at our South Side Manor Bible Study

7


College Club kids enrolled in college

8


Food baskets given away at our Harrison Homes Satellite Office

48


Attendance at our Harrison Homes Bible Studies (2)

6


Attendance in our Chapel services, Laramie Street, weekly

40


Volunteer hours, as a ministry

1,477


Attendance in our Chapel services, Garden Street, weekly

253


Attendance at our B’Nai B’Rith Bible Study

10


Pastoral care visits & counsels (non-elderly)

54


Attendance at our Hurlburt House Bible Study

7


Hot meals to the poor

6,215


Financials from April 2010


Monthly revenue vs. budgeted

$254,342/$180,276


Monthly expenses vs. budgeted

$251,206/$253,877


Positive or Negative on the Month

+ $3,136


Yearly revenue vs. budgeted

$914,930/$796,104


Yearly expenses vs. budgeted

$957,426/$1,000,352


Positive or Negative on the Year

- $42,495


How we’re doing versus budget

+ $161,753


god reserves the right to not participate in a recession


What a joy it was for our pastoral care team to be able to sit down with Ed and share the gospel with him after a crew of Hope Builders workers redid his bathroom. It was literally falling into the basement due to water damage rotting his floor as well as floor beams. We had an excellent discussion with him. He had moved away from the Lord but certainly knew of his need to get closer with the Lord. He was very open to spiritual things and welcomed the discussion; no doubt the countless hours of work on his home by volunteers at no cost had visibly softened his heart. He is seeking to re-establish his relationship with the Lord and does read his Bible daily. He simply needs to be helped to get back into an environment of spiritual encouragement.


One of our past residents will be graduating from ICC in May. She started college while she was a resident here at SSM. Wendy was a poor, homeless, recovering addict who came to SSM for help. These barriers were overwhelming to her. She had no confidence or self-esteem. Wendy put her faith in Christ and took big steps to secure her future. God helped Wendy to overcome her obstacles and make them more manageable. Wendy became focused on having a career in accounting and she was able to find a temporary job. With each semester, she became more confident and she received encouragement from the staff along the way. Wendy moved out after completing Level III. She had a nice savings and she was able to move into a nice apartment. This was no easy task for her but she overcame her fear. Wendy was offered a full time position at the company she worked for as a Temp. She is an accounts receivable clerk. Wendy is happy in her new career and is grateful for the time she spent at SSM.


The Newtons adopted little Esther Anina Newton on April 16th! It has been a long and torturous four and a half years, but God is faithful. Thank you for your prayers!


Thanks for reading this report, but Praise the Lord for all He is doing here! Please pray for concerns, rejoice with us for victories and support us as you feel led.


In Christ,

Phil Newton, Executive Director