Last Sunday I went to New Covenant Lutheran Church In Scottsdale. They are our biggest donor of water this year. Even with a relatively small number of active members (just about 300), they manageged to donate 600 cases (24,000 bottles) of water so far and raised already enough money to be able to donate another 98 cases every Friday until the end of August. And, to top it all off, they already started a designated fund for Heat Respite 2019! What an amazing congregation! Thank you so much!! Everyone I met was very appreciative and supportive of our mission to provide our less fortunate neighbors with a safe place during the day, water and food!
A big THANK YOU goes out to Bill Cope, who takes time out of his busy schedule running a small bussiness. Fridays is his only day off, yet, he still drives down from North Scottsdale to deliver the water to us.
During the last week we saw a rising number in attendance. We went from about 150 per day to nearly 200! That means our Grace Room is running out of supplies really fast! We need shorts, socks, underwear, tshirts, pants, small (travel size) hygiene items, bags (duffel bags, back packs), shoes, sandals, flip flops, belts. If you have anything extra, please consider danating to the Grace Room. Thank you.
Also, a big thank you to Jeff Jirele. He drives every Thursday to Midwest Food Bank in Gilbert to pick up supplies for our kitchen.
Not only do we have amazing ministry partners, but we also have an amazing staff at Grace. Here are just 2 examples.
Lester Andrews, the caretaker at Grace, is there whenever something is needed, whether something is broken, a whiteboard needs to be hung, we need a quick Costco run, or someone needs to pick up bus passes.
Adrienne Kaye, the office administrator, keeps all the paperwork in order, answers calls, and even takes in donations.
All together, the staff of Grace with Pastor Sarah Stadler in the lead, is supportive in every way they can be to make this programm run the way it’s supposed to. Thank you!!!!!!
Upcoming Raffle : Requesting modest donations
On August 31, the last day of Heat Respite, we're having another raffle for our attending clients. We are asking for gift cards (maximum $10), bus passes, maybe even a backpack for a grand prize. If you want to donate something for the raffle, please drop it off at the office during bussiness hours, directly at Heat Respite at Hope Hall, or hand it to Pastor Sarah or Solveig Muus on Sundays after worship.
If you have any questions, need a special time to drop donations off, or want to volunteer at Heat Respite (we still have 4 weeks left), please contact me at (602) 551-9234 or email at outreach@graceinthecity.com.
Thank you and GOD bless,
Sven Lenkewitz
Heat Respite Coordinator