Daily Blessings

Hope Ministries gives thanks to God for the following daily blessings:

And a Child Shall Lead Them
 
Last evening a young boy named William came into Bethel Mission with his parents.  His parents advised our deskman Jeff Scott that William had saved his money and wanted to give it to, “help the homeless men.”  They wanted to do so anonymously.  Jeff was moved by the gesture, and realizing chapel was about to start, asked William if he would be willing to go into the chapel and share what he wanted to do with the money with the residents attending chapel.  William agreed.
 
William, his parents, and Jeff went into the chapel, where William was introduced and shared how he saved his money, $40.00, so he could help the residents. With that, the residents rose and gave William a standing ovation.  Jeff Scott, William’s parents, and several residents were moved to tears.

•An area church provided 40 WE CARE KITS and an assortment of other items in addition to three donation checks.
•On Saturday of this past weekend (following a morning visit to tent camps) we had three groups gathered in the Chapel at Bethel. We asked the morning tent camp group to share with the others some of what they felt about what they saw and experienced. One of the girls confessed to everyone that she had run away from her family three weeks ago with her boyfriend and they were planning to live along the river like the people she saw that morning. She said that her aunt and cousin invited her to come along on the SAM Team experience that that she was SO thankful they did. It was a life-changing experience. As she cried others consoled her. She announced to the group that she was ashamed for what she did and loves her family and plans to go home. She said she knows how blessed she is to even have a family who loves her. What an amazing thing to experience!
•On Sunday, a church committed to providing 150 We Care Kits and a Sunday School class pledged to raise $1,000 for Hope Ministries!

We continue to be blessed by our many residents in recovery. Recently, three STAR residents at our Door of Faith men’s recovery facility displayed an integrity we admire! The men went out on a spot-labor job for the day. At the end of the day, the employer gave each an envelope with their day’s pay. The men discovered that they had each been overpaid (total $265). They let one of our men’s ministry staff members know of the error and he contacted the employer to let him know of the mistake. The employer was thankful and realized he’d given the men the wrong envelopes. The money was returned the following day. Praise God for honest men!

•A local church recently participated in our SAM team outreach and during their experience, they learned of several needs of the tent camp residents. As a church, they took it on themselves to collect the items and then, along with a Hope Ministries staff member, personally delivered the items!
•A local business is donating pallets of pork patties!
•A long-time donor called to double his monthly pledge! Calls like this continue to bless us!
•A local farm is donating 15,000 pounds of meat! Praise the Lord!
•A work group from a northern Iowa church arrived with an SUV and trailer full of bags of clothing, 100 We Care Kits and 12 cases of canned vegetables!
•A local clothing company conducted a winter wear drive and donated five huge garbage bags of winter wear!
•Donations of turkeys for this year’s Thanksgiving dinner continue to come in! One local company is donating over 100 turkeys. And an area locker is smoking the turkeys.
•A woman called just to tell us she’d been inspired by the testimonies on our website. What a blessing!
•Women from Stratford traveled down to Des Moines to deliver over a dozen handmade quilts.
•A local teacher called to let us know he is encouraging his class to raise money to buy two turkeys for our Thanksgiving meal!
•A local company has committed to providing at least 20 Hope Boxes this Christmas!

• We received a donation of 2 children’s bikes for the children at the Hope Family Center.  The bikes were donated by 2 children that helped their parents purchase them.  They are used, but in very good condition.  What a blessing to have young hearts giving to those in need.

• One of our Hope’s Helpers responded by buying six Women of Faith tickets for our mom’s at our Hope Family Center.

• A business owner of a consignment shop donated most of her inventory and equipment to Hope Ministries for our voucher program and our Thrift Center.

• Capital City Lutheran Church senior group provided a huge basket and bag of personal hygiene items.

• A VIP volunteer who struggles with a life-threatening illness continues her faithful service at our administrative offices.

• A resident of Pleasant Hill makes creative and colorful hair ties (scrunchies) which are being sold in our Thrift Center to support our ministry to the homeless and hungry.

• An anonymous friend of Hope Ministries continues to send he “2 Cents Worth” comments to the Des Moines Register in support of our ministry.

• Despite, suffering from hip pain and depression a donor was faithful in sending her gift to Hope this month!  

• We received an incredible donation of 69 brand new 100% leather bomber jackets (retail price $299 each) that will be sold at our Hope Thrift Center on East University for $100 with the proceeds supporting our food and shelter programs.

• Two used cars were donated and will be made available to two of our recovery residents.

• The month of July resulted in a 60% increase in donations to Hope Ministries over the same time last year.  This was a tremendous blessing as summer months are traditionally lower giving months.

• A husband and wife were planning to have a huge (truck-load) garage sale and instead contacted us and asked us to pick it all up as their donation to our Hope Thrift Center.  They said they wanted us to sell it to help those we serve. 

• The men from the Newton Correctional Facility have chosen to be part of a faith-based program at the facility and decided to tithe from their wages to Hope Ministries.  We received contributions from over 60 inmates averaging amounts between $1 and $5 each.

• A Grand View College nursing student went on a Community Awareness Tour and anonymously sent in a $30 donation.

• Eight children (ages 5-10) conducted a food donation campaign in lieu of birthday presents.

• A local company provided three computer monitors we can use for our ministry.

• One recovery graduate gives back more than 20 hours a week volunteering to drive our truck and serve in other needed areas in ministry.

• A donor recently said, "you can't out give God and I love to give because I can."

• A family drove from Grinnell to bring 19 Bibles and who want to do more. They have expressed an interest in volunteering and want to take a tour of our facilities.

• Numerous people volunteered, gave food and other in-kind donations for the Hope 4 Freedom Fourth of July Picnic. Thanks to all of you! Here are a few examples of those who helped:

• Cargill donated 500 hamburger patties
• One anonymous woman donated 420 hotdogs
• A church small group donated 400 bags of chips
• One woman gave 420 slices of cheese
• Iowa State Guard sent representatives to volunteer
• Image Transform and Performance Display donated large banners
• A church small group provided all the decorations
• One woman provided 500 plates, cups, napkins, knives, spoons and forks

• Two Door of Faith residents (Francisco and Bill) just returned from a mission trip to Mexico a couple days ago.

• Hope Ministries received 1^st place for our website at the AGRM Convention

• A subscriber to our May 2005 Hope's Helper Urgent Needs e-mail and his men's small group purchased and donated two brand new push mowers, a weed wacker and gas can.

• We thank God for the Ankeny United Methodist Church Women - Delores Circle - who sponsored a paper drive for Hope Family Center and collected 38 rolls of paper towels, 24 rolls of toilet paper and 14 boxes of Kleenex.

• A small group from Cornerstone Church in Johnston totally transformed the Family Center property with landscaping.

• A couple was exploring our website and felt inspired to send us $1000.

• A lady called to inquire about volunteering because her employer would provide $150 in match for her volunteer hours.

• Red Lobster in West Des Moines has chosen to partner with Hope Ministries' and is providing a meal a week at our Door of Faith men's recovery center.

• Lutheran Church of Hope's "God Squad" refurbished eight men's bicycles and delivered them to our Door of Faith recovery center.

• COSTCO in West Des Moines donated 33 evergreen trees for landscaping at Hope Family Center.

• The Remodeler's Council of Greater Des Moines sponsored a city-wide donation drive called BACK TO BASICS with Hope Ministries' as the beneficiary as they continue their donated remodeling project at Hope Family Center.

• A faithful donor sent us a most inspiring and encouraging hand-written letter with a check for $5.00

• One of our recovery graduates is part of a team helping to "replant" a church in Colfax.

• A volunteer purchased two cases of Purpose Driven Life books and is teaching the series at the Door of Faith men's recovery center.

• Our Hope Ministries' softball team one their first game in three years!

• A generous donor delivered 114 dozen eggs to Bethel Mission for our Table of Grace meals program.

• A Hope's Ministries' VIP volunteer baked a cake for the STAR graduation.

• Our Bethel Mission cook expressed a need to staff Della Uhlenhopp stating that our coffee maker had just broken.  Litterally minutes later, a man arrived at Bethel Mission with a donation of a coffee maker.  God is Good!

• Hope Ministries received official notification of approval as a Sustaining Member of the Evangelical Council of Financial Accountability (ECFA).

• Three men graduated from the Door of Faith STAR recovery program.