September 2010

Dear Churches,

Thanks so much to all the churches who put together teams and participated in our second annual walk-a-thon that took place on Saturday, September 4! It was an amazing day! The weather was picture-perfect and the crowd grew to over 800 people by 10 a.m. Over 60 of our current residents from our Hope Family Center, Bethel Mission facility and Door of Faith facilities were present. Many of them shared their cardboard testimonies as folks walked around Copper Creek Lake. We had a moment of silence as we stood in solidarity for the homeless around the lake. As the walkers finished the Walk they received a free lunch provided by the Iowa Barbeque Society. It was a great day! We raised over $55,000! If you didn't get a chance to participate this year, we hope you can join us next year on Saturday, September 3, 2011!!! We will continue to update our website with pictures and a video from the day's events. Click here to see the 2010 Walk results. Check back often!

Looking for ways to engage your church in the mission field in your own backyard this fall? Call us to learn about opportunities to volunteer, to schedule a guest speaker to come to your church, to schedule a tour of our ministry with your church group, or to organize a donation drive of needed items for our ministry. Feel free to call me to discuss any of these opportunities and many more!

We hope you will join us in our annual Scan Away Hunger event, which starts the day after Thanksgiving and runs through Christmas Day at all metro Hy-Vee and Drugtown Stores. You can contact our office at (515) 265-7272 to order Scan Away Hunger plates for your congregation!

It seems early to be thinking about the holidays, but click here to see how your church can plug in at Hope Ministries during this holiday season!

A few more dates to put on your church calendars now:

• Our second annual Wake Up Call Youth event, Friday, May 6, 2011
• Our eighth annual Hearts for Hope Women's Tea, Saturday, May 7, 2011

The keynote speaker for both of these events will be Gracie Burnham, a missionary who was kidnapped with her husband and held for over a year by rebels in the jungles of the Philippines. She will speak about how our faith can help us survive the challenges of life, and much more…

Check our Web site in the coming weeks for more information about these two major events.

If you have questions or would like additional information, please don't hesitate to contact me at (515) 265-7272, ext. 109.

God bless,

Mary Kohlsdorf
Church Relations and Ambassador Coordinator