January 2015

UPDATE:  Amazingly, a very generous donor has purchased all the food that we will need until the first week of February to ease the chaos while I am out of the country.  Volunteers have stepped forward to fill the packing and delivering of bags while my daughter is managing things in my absence.  Thank you to everyone for the critical roles you play as we love our community in the name of Jesus!  


As many of you know, the Peyton family has been working to adopt a one year old boy from China.  We have recently been given permission to go to China to get him and bring him home to be his forever family!  We are so excited to meet our Lucas and, in planning to be away for 16 days, I am preparing for others to take on responsibilities with Bear Necessities.  I will, on Monday, post whether we have any food needs. A very generous donor has offered to buy a bulk of the food and possibly all of it.  Their shopping will take place this weekend and so, please check back on Monday.

Until then, I have updated the SignUp Genius so that you can sign up for dates for the upcoming second semester.

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0f4aaeaa22a64-volunteer

If you are someone who prays, I would also ask that you be in prayer for our family as we experience huge changes.  Our older children will remain home while my husband and I travel to China to get their baby brother.  They understand the necessity of this but it is still difficult to be apart… even if Meemaw and Papaw are here to spoil them the whole time! Please also pray for our new son as adoption is beautiful and painful.  He will be losing everything he's ever known in order to be a part of our family.  I can't imagine how scared he will be.  Finally, please pray for my and my husband's safety and health as we travel.

Many Blessings to you!

Dorinda

This weeks needs & Merry Christmas!

A huge thanks to Meadows Parkway Preschool for the huge donation from their canned food drive. After that we only need a few things. This week we need:
       
2 jars of peanut butter
10 sleeves of ritz crackers

Bags will go home on Thursday.  Deadline is Wednesday.

Thank you to everyone and Merry Christmas! :)

This week's needs

Bear Necessities needs a few things this week so if you're at the store and are able to help, it is VERY appreciated:

22 cans tuna
18 15 sleeves ritz crackers
18 14 cans soup
27 23 cans corn

We also began serving three additional children this week.  That brings our total at both schools to 31 students.

Thank you for being a light for Christ in our community!  Throughout time God has used his people to reveal himself to others and that's what Bear Necessities is about; serving Jesus by serving others, revealing the God who provides by sharing our provision, loving others as He has first loved us.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today all of our families picked up all the fixings for a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner at John Weldon.  This yummy meal, as has been mentioned, was donated by Grace River Church.  The families also received two boxes of Girl Scout cookies and a VERY full stocking for each child.  These were donated by a group of Girl Scout leaders in our community.

Volunteers are packing right now and we've already counted for next week and we have everything we need to pack next week's bags!  Thank you to everyone who donated this week!

I pray everyone has a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!

Packing for Thanksgiving and THIS WEEK'S NEEDS

It's not difficult and it doesn't even take very long, working together to do God's will that is.  Actually, that's not always the case.  Sometimes it is difficult and takes what seems like forever but not this morning!

A group of people that included members of our Bear Necessities community, the John Weldon staff and the Grace River Church Family met at John Weldon to pack up Thanksgiving meals for the families from John Weldon.  God provided leaders, liaisons, packers, decorators, donors, organizers, distributors and a place to store the meals until delivery.  Sure, one person could have accomplished the task but it would have been daunting and exhausting.  As Pastor Chris Highfill read in Acts before we began, I was reminded of how God had put that same scripture on my heart at the birth of Bear Necessities:

The Believers Form a Community

 ⁴⁴ And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. ⁴⁵ They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. ⁴⁶ They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity ⁴⁷ all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved. (Acts 2:44-47)


For two thousand years Christ has called believers together to share the blessings they've been given with those in need and the privilege of doing that work for the Lord in this community is great!  From the beginning, God has provided enough for all and gives us the honor of working with him to distribute it within our communities.  It is His way to provide for us... just as he provided leaders, liaisons, packers, decorators, donors, organizers, distributors, shoppers, a place to store the food and the food itself, He always provides.  It may not be in the way that we expect.  Sometimes we have to work together for it to happen but that's His way too.  This whole community thing has always been His way because He loves us and He wants us to love one another.

Thank you to the staff at John Weldon, the people at Grace River Church and each of you within Bear Necessities for continuing to be the kind of community described in Acts 2.  My heart swells with great joy and love that I get to join with you!

 

Don't forget that we still have needs for this week so that we can send food home with our kids on Tuesday.  Our deadline for this is Monday:

12 cans of soup
26 ravioli
28 easy mac envelopes

I also went ahead and counted for the following week since I know we'll all be busy enjoying family next weekend and stuffing our faces with turkey!

The following week's needs are:

28 beefaroni
28 easy mac envelopes
28 cans peas

Have a blessed weekend everyone! 

Needs for Thanksgiving Week

Tomorrow we will join together with Grace River Church to pack Thanksgiving meals for our families and I'm so excited to be doing so.  I'll do my best to get some photos of the packing and post them.  With Thanksgiving being next week, the kids only have school on Monday and Tuesday.  That means that instead of a Wednesday deadline, we have a MONDAY DEADLINE for all our food.  This is what is needed to serve our kids:

12 cans of soup
26 ravioli
28 easy mac envelopes

I also went ahead and counted for the following week since I know we'll all be busy enjoying family next weekend and stuffing our faces with turkey!

The following week's needs are:

28 beefaroni
28 easy mac envelopes
28 cans peas



Thanks to everyone that heeds the call to care for our community!  I pray each of you is blessed by the Lord and grasps just how dearly you are loved by Him!

Thanksgiving Update and This week's needs

Thank you to everyone for the wonderful response for the Thanksgiving meals.  The volunteer positions filled quickly.  Donations are still being received and may be made online (recommended) or mailed:

Grace River Church

PO BOX 1031 

O'Fallon MO 63366

Online at 

http://www.graceriver.cc/give/

This coming week we will need the following items to be able to fill the bags for our students:

Ritz cracker sleeves- 12
easy mac envelopes- 28
green beans 28


The earlier we can check this off the list, the sooner we can look at the next weekend as, with Thanksgiving, that will be a very short and busy week.