Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Feeding Our Communities

This past weekend Fiskateers and Scrapbook Royalty collected non-perishable food items for those in need at various locations across Southern California. Here are some of their stories:

From Cheryl Waters, Lead Fiskateer, at the Orange County Rescue Mission:

Wow . . . what a fantastic and impacting day Saturday was as we collected food for the hungry during our Fiskateer food drive. I spent most of the day at the Orange County Rescue Mission in Tustin. It was a day of watching the local fiskateer community make a difference in their community. I was so excited to see fiskateers and their generosity! It was fantastic.

First came Tanya and her family. Her two boys are darling and so wonderful to know she is setting an example for them. Tanya and her family made it a family event and that was awesome to see. Then Cori arrived about the same time as well as Michelle and her son. Cori even brought items that were packaged in orange. It was awesome to see the fiskateers show up in orange and the OC Rescue Mission residents started to recognize the fiskateers as the day progressed . . . those in orange. It was neat that fiskateers had an opportunity to meet each other. Here is a photo we took together.

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Michelle decorated this beautiful bag! What talent and you could really tell she created it with love. I loved the message it shared! It really warmed the residents/students hearts and it was displayed throughout the whole day. As the day concluded one of the gals asked if she could keep it and take it to her room as it really encouraged her. They emptied the contents of the bag, separated the food and she was the proud owner of this beautiful created bag by fiskateer #915. It was neat to see how the folks there were touched.

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I was so encouraged as I heard testimonies of how the OC Rescue Mission was providing opportunities and hope for those involved. I didn’t take photos of those working/staying on campus as I wanted to respect their privacy. Some of them have recently lost their homes and belongings and are struggling financially because of the recent economical situation. Others have struggled for years with different issues but all seemed to really find hope at this place. I was so blessed working along side these individuals for the day. We all have seasons where we need to receive and other seasons where we can give. I enjoyed learning a lot about the mission and the great work that is going on there. There is a lot of opportunity at the Mission. I must say as well, they sure are organized.

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Others that gave included Susan, Laurie R. and her girls at the crop in the city of Orange, Anita, and others. It was a successful day and a great way to conclude our Fiskateer food drive.

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I am looking into the possibility of teaching a class there at the OC Rescue Mission as a lot of the ladies seem very interested. I’m excited about the opportunity.

Remember too that the mission is open during the week for drop off. So although we are concluding our Fiskateer Food Drive there are still opportunities to give.

Elena, Maxine and others were in their own corner of the world collecting and greeting fiskateers. You are a generous and giving community! Thank you for being you. You are making a great difference! Keep up the wonderful work.

From Jennifer Priest, collecting for Victor Valley Christian Church Food Bank:

We also collected canned food for Victor Valley Christian Church's Food Bank as part of the Fiskateers' and Scrapbook Royalty's "Feed Our Communities" Food Drive this past weekend. I helped collect 180 items of food over the last two weeks!! WOOHOO!! I just had Xaver and Katie count them. Check out this pile in my front room:


I am taking it all to the food bank later this week ;) I am sure they need it and this will help alot of hungry families. Thank you to everyone for your generosity.

2 comments:

Elena Lai Etcheverry said...

yeah! awesome collection!

Cheryl ~ Fiskateer #002 said...

Way to go ladies. Awesome effort. SBR, Fiskateers . . . you are sharing the love!