We provided food cards last week for families in need to buy Thanksgiving groceries who would otherwise have insufficient means to celebrate Thanksgiving.
In addition, we purchase winter beanies for kids who had no means to buy their own. We ordered beanies with the school’s colors and logo as that the kids could be proud of their school. We had our first freezing temperatures this last week. The beanies came just in time.
The following is a testimony of the school counselor:
Through Servias’ ministry, I feel like I’m constantly walking around with the mindset of “Who can we help today?” Last week, I had a meeting with a parent to start her daughter in speech therapy services. This child started here at the end of last school year, and her older sister just started last week. There had been a lot of concerns and red flags, so I wasn’t sure what to expect when mom came to the meeting (honestly, I wasn’t even expecting her to show up.) During the meeting, mom opened up to us about her struggles as a single mom, working a job making $11 an hour, not being home in the afternoons, the older sister makes dinner every night, etc. I gave her a Crest card and just told her that we can see how hard she is working to take care of her kids and we wanted to bless her and partner with her. She was so very thankful, and then shared with us that her husband took his life last year, and she and her daughters found him. It was just another reminder that we truly have no idea what our kids experience when they aren’t at school. But I also know that by providing her with something tangible to show that we care, the mom immediately felt like she could trust us. There have been things that we’ve been needing mom to do that she hasn’t taken care of- and now, she is eager to do whatever she needs to do.
We appreciate the faithfulness of those who are able to give. We are ministering to the poor as Jesus commanded!