The Garden on Garden Street

Fresh salad anyone?

We just made our first of many cuttings of salad greens for the poor from one of our three large vegetable gardens. A couple years back we decided to supplement the food baskets we were giving out with home-grown vegetables. We planted tomatoes, peppers, green beans, okra, onions, carrots, beets, mustard greens, collard greens, and the several kinds of lettuce you see pictured.

Each month, we give out an average of 500 food baskets to the poor. They receive fresh veggies, five pounds of meat, bread, dairy products, and nonperishable food. Food baskets are available Monday through Friday at 12:30 p.m. at our Benevolence Center 2919 W. Garden in Peoria.

We also receive much in the way of fresh vegetables, which we give out in our food baskets. For example, every year, farmers give us a lot of sweet corn, which is gratefully-received by the people we serve.

The Mission also serves hot meals to the poor through our New Promise Center homeless shelter and Lighthouse Diner soup kitchen. Last year, we served more than 87,000 meals, in fact. The fresh vegetables we grow also find their way to the tables at the Mission, too!

Scripture says "one planted, one watered, but it was God who gave the increase." Thank you God for giving the increase to our vegetable gardens!

Ministry By the Numbers - April 2011

That's Dee Dee, a graduate of our Hotel Housekeeping Training School! She has "a future and a hope" in the words of Jeremiah 29:11.

Hello from the Lighthouse on Laramie!

HIGHLIGHTS FROM APRIL 2011

Decisions to follow Christ for the month
142

Avg. Nightly Census in our New Promise Center shelter
44

Families served with free clothing, furniture, appliances & housewares
345

Attendance in our Laramie Street Sunday School, weekly
24

Attendance at our RiverWest Bible Study
4

Children enrolled in our Kings Kids Christian Day Care
39

Elderly Services home, hospital or nursing home visits
57

Formerly homeless women moving out successfully
3

Food baskets given away at our RiverWest Satellite Office
11

Ladies in the New Promise Center who have established a church home
6

Boys Club attendance
50

Number of people completing a discipleship course this month
19

Average attendance at the Lighthouse Diner
15

Average attendance at Roosevelt Magnet School before-school Bible study
81

Girls Club attendance
55

Churches that have Adopted Blocks in 61605
21

Attendance at our Trewyn Middle School Bible Study & Prayer Meeting
18

Food baskets given away through our Garden Street Benevolence Center
517

Attendance at our South Side Manor Bible Study
9

Food baskets given away at our Harrison Homes Satellite Office
36

Attendance in our Chapel services, Laramie Street, weekly
48

Attendance at our Harrison Primary School Bible Study & Prayer Meeting
35

Volunteer hours, as a ministry
3,025

Attendance in our Chapel services, Garden Street, weekly
215

Attendance at our B’Nai B’Rith Bible Study
12

Pastoral care visits & counsels (non-elderly)
40

Attendance at our Hurlburt House Bible Study
8

Attendance at our Manual High School Bible Study & Prayer Meeting
9

Hot meals to the poor
6,508

Mother’s of Kids in the Youth Department Meeting
30

Kids enrolled in After-School Tutoring
75

Attendance at our Pleasant Hill School Bible Study & Prayer Meeting
19


FINANCIALS FROM APRIL 2011

Monthly revenue vs. budgeted
$303,284/$230,725

Monthly expenses vs. budgeted
$264,394/$297,239

Positive or Negative on the Month
+ $38,890

Yearly revenue vs. budgeted
$926,162/$782,900

Yearly expenses vs. budgeted
$1,022,462/$1,104,294

Positive or Negative on the year
- $96,299

How we’re doing versus budget
+ $225,095

The Lord Reserves the Right to Not Participate in a Recession

Our freezers at the Benevolence Center were empty and we needed one pound ground beef packages. We were all set to buy from our supplier at $2.50 a pound. But then the Lord intervened and we got a call from the food bank asking us to come down right away. We encountered a bonanza from the Lord and purchased over a thousand pounds of ground beef in our favorite one pound packs for just twenty-five cents per pound. You know how I always say that the Lord does not have to participate in a recession? He doesn’t have to participate in inflation either.

All four Hotel Housekeeping Training School students from this class have been hired by area hotels. God is good. Armosha Sturdivant has successfully placed all six of her grads this year so far.

The Lord has carved out a neat ministry as a subsidiary of our Elderly Services Ministry—a ministry to medically-fragile individuals. God continually sends medical equipment and adaptive supplies to us, like walkers and accessible toilet seats. We have reached out to nursing homes and other sources in order to give these items away to indigent people. The Marts have gotten into the action, too, with one store last month giving a nurse from nursing home clothes for a patient who had little. Not all the individuals we help are elderly, but all have a significant need.

Michael Ordaz, a graduate of our Culinary Arts Training School got a job at swanky Peoria Heights restaurant 309. This is a great gig!

Thanks for reading this report and Praise the Lord for all He is doing here! Please find me on Facebook or visit our blog www.southsidemission.blogspot.com, visit the website at www.southsidemission.org, pray for us and support us as you feel led.