You may make donations through PayPal at [email protected]. Our purpose is to show Christ and share Christ with underprivileged children and women of the streets. This is our 14th year (starting in 2009) to provide some of the children of a local school with food for the weekends. These children otherwise would not have food due to their home lives. Years ago, after the Backpack Ministry was established, a woman was found in a cornfield in Gallipolis OH, I had read about it in the paper but no one seemed to care after the short insert into the Herald Dispatch. I learned the next week that she was a prostitute and she was the mother of one of the Backpack Kids. I instantly became burdened not only for the children of these women but also for the women. The Lord has blessed us to be able to make a small difference in these two areas. I am often left speechless when I see the doors that have been opened by The Lord. The Brown Bag Ministry is where we put some food in a brown lunch bag along with a Gospel tract. We simply hand out brown bag lunches along with a card with a phone number on it, to call us when they are ready to get off the streets. Each girl (woman) we met gets a fake name such as “Hope”, “Grace”, “Joy”, and even “Patience”. Our goal is to show the love of Christ, to show them that if they chose the path The Lord has laid out for them they CAN make it. Since Nov. 11 2011 we have estimated we have met over 500 girls on the streets of Huntington with new ones getting bags each week. It is our goal to help them get to detox and out of town rehab, most importantly to see that they accept The Lord as their Savior. We have 2 ladies that write letters each week to the girls that are in jail and we have women that do jail visits and when requested we send them Celebrate Recovery Bibles. In the Bible Nehemiah had a broken heart for his crumbled city Jerusalem, his anguish led him to cry out to God. He didn’t run and tell everyone his plan, by not doing this he was able to gather strength in The Lord. Nehemiah went and observed the crumbled walls, devised a plan, rallied the troops and then acted on his God given direction. There were many obstacles before him and his laboring fellowmen. But in Nehemiah 3:12 something jumped out at me while studying. It says “he and his daughters made repairs”. Women were a part of building the walls of Jericho; we women are to be a part of rebuilding the walls of Huntington! To see Huntington change we first must change the hearts of its people. Those that can help others need to extend out a hand of help and those that are in need to too accept it. This will only work if we seek God's will and put our faith and trust in Him and not ourselves. Our teens at church have a genuine love for the Back Pack Kids also, each year they hold a special VBS in the inner city of Huntington to specifically reach out to the Backpack Kids during summer, there has been so many salvations through this ministry outreach alone. This has recently encourage them to open a teen clothing pantry. This Teen Clothing Pantry will be available to our local High Schools, Middle Schools. They have developed a website and QR Code for the counselors to give to the teens and they are able to pick out their own clothing, it's like an online store. The items they pick are then delivered to them or their counselor. We aren’t just here to pass out food, we are here for the long haul, we believe that discipleship is vital in having a solid Christ centered life. Not only do we believe it, but we also see it first-hand. Our ministry verse is found in Jeremiah 29:11-13
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not evil, to give you a future of hope. Then you will call upon Me, and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me, and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”
I am just a “normal” person (using that term loosely). I am a full-time realtor, a daughter, mother, grandmother…and such, The Lord always seems to have a crisis arise when I have down time in my day. I have some amazing 911’s, that’s what I call my friends that are a phone call away to jump in and pick someone up, drop someone off…
You might think there is a lot of Jesus in this and you are right, it’s all about Jesus, He just allows us the privilege to be a part of something awesome. Pray with us that we can continue to form loving friendships with these girls in need and that they will see Christ in us. . We pray that we are able to reach the Backpack Kids at an early age by being a positive influence in their lives that they never feel like the streets, drugs and prostitution are their only choice. If you would like to purchase items from out Amazon Wish List here is the link for food items for the Backpack Kids weekly needs
https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/2XTHH8281LP30
You may also make donations through PayPal at [email protected].
