Community Outreach PRAYER GUIDE
"IF my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14
Please pray for our partners agencies listed above, that each will be successful in reaching our common mission to assist at-risk children and families in our communities.
COMMUNITY KITCHEN OF MONROE COUNTY
1515 S. Rogers St. Bloomington, IN 47402 (812) 332-0999
website: http://www.monroecommunitykitchen.com/
Debbie Hopson, Volunteer Coordinator
PURPOSE: Offers, without question, free meals from two locations, meals to at-risk youth participating in non-profit youth programs, summer breakfast delivery, and backpacks of weekend food supplies for low-income children.
Backpack Buddies
Children receive a backpack of food each week to help their families with their weekend food needs. We are currently providing this service at Fairview, Summit, Arlington, Clear Creek, Grandview, Highland Park, Templeton, Binford, Edgewood and Lakeview Elementary Schools. We have approximately 270 children enrolled in this program.
Sherwood Oaks has partnered with The CK through Carefest projects, food donations and a summer Sunday Lunch Program.
PRAYER NEEDS: Food donations and volunteer teams to help with the BackPack Buddies program.
THE WAREHOUSE
1525 S. Rogers Street
Bloomington, IN 47403 (812) 333-3951
(Next door to the Community Kitchen)
website: http://www.warehousebtown.com/
Dave Weil, Executive Director
PURPOSE: A privately funded 501(c)(3) non profit that exists to positively impact the community by providing a safe pace for sports, recreation and the arts; using relationships built through these activities to share the love of God through the story of Jesus. Some of their programs include: Pastor’s prayer breakfast, college and young adult ministry, sports activities, and open graffiti. The North and South exterior walls of The Warehouse are open for graffiti artists to create work anytime during the week or weekend---as long as it is family-friendly.
Sherwood Oaks has partnered with The Warehouse through Carefest projects.
PRAYER NEEDS: Volunteers to oversee afterschool programming for students. Financial support for renovation and programming expenses.
SHALOM COMMUNITY CENTER
620 S. Walnut St./P.O. Box 451, Bloomington, Indiana 47402 - (812) 334-5728
website: http://shalomcommunitycenter.org/
Mark Emerson, Volunteer Coordinator
PURPOSE: Provides a daytime respite and resource center for Monroe County residents who are living in poverty and experiencing hunger, homelessness, and lack of access to health care and basic life necessities.
Sherwood Oaks has partnered with The Warehouse through Carefest projects.
PRAYER NEEDS: Loving care for the homeless who take meals, receive mail, do laundry at Shalom Center. Prayers appreciated for strength, patience, and compassion for the staff who work long house to meet the needs of the under-resourced in Bloomington. Volunteers are needed for food service and for intake receptionists.
NEW HOPE FAMILY SHELTER
301 W. 2nd St.Bloomington, IN 47403 - (812) 334-9840
website: http://www.nhfsinc.org/
Elaine Guinn, Executive Director
PURPOSE: Provides temporary shelter for homeless families in Bloomington and Monroe County and, in collaboration with other agencies, helps those families regain housing by addressing the problems that led to homelessness.
Current Needs: Laundry soap Paper products (tissues, toilet paper, paper towels), dish soap, Kroger gift cards, hand soap, disinfectant spray, office paper, postage stamps, gas cards, bus tickets. Young people staying at the shelter need help accessing physical activities! Consider donating money specifically to pay for ice skating outings, trips to the rock climbing gym, and passes to play at the YMCA.
Volunteer Needs:
- Hope Builders: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c044fafa628a5fc1-hope
- Ice Cream Social
- Hosts: http://www.signupgenius.com/index.cfm?go=w.ProcessDateWindow
- Family Night Volunteers: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c044fafa628a5fc1-nhfs
- Homeless summit and landscaping Day of Service, 9/24/16 http://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b094ba9ae23a46-summit
Sherwood Oaks has partnered with The New Hope through Carefest projects and weekly work teams / HopeBuilders.
PRAYER NEEDS: New Hope needs to find a new home before 2020. We learned that when the hospital moves (our property is owned by IU Health) we will need to vacate the homes we've occupied for just $1 a year for the past 5 years. We just learned this in recent months but already we've put together a task force (with several high level key players in the community to help us in our search - next we'll need to raise funds.)
VOLUNTEERS IN MEDICINE
811 W. 2nd St., Bloomington, IN 47403 - (812) 333-4001
website: http://www.vimmonroecounty.org/
Nancy Richman, Executive Director
PURPOSE: Provides free primary care, dental, and mental health services; treatment for acute and chronic conditions; and preventive health education for uninsured adults in Monroe and Owen counties meeting eligibility criteria.
Sherwood Oaks has partnered with VIM through monthly donations for medicine and Carefest projects.
PRAYER NEEDS: Our primary need is for people that are bilingual in English and Spanish, Russian, Turkish, Mongolian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Tibetan, and others as the need arises. We’ve become a medical United Nations!
HABITAT FOR HUMANITY
213 E. Kirkwood Avenue Bloomington, IN 47408 - (812) 331-4069
website: https://monroecountyhabitat.org/
Kerry Thomson, President / CEO 812-331-4069 x206
PURPOSE: Habitat for Humanity of Monroe County’s mission is to eliminate poverty housing by building simple, decent, affordable homes in partnership with qualifying families. Habitat homeowners pay interest-free, no-profit mortgages, which are used to build more Habitat houses. Because houses are principally built with volunteer labor, mortgage payments are affordable for low-income partners.
Habitat qualifying families, or partner families, are selected based on their need for housing, ability to repay the no-interest mortgage and willingness to partner with Habitat by earning 250 hours of “sweat equity” or volunteer time. Through the work of thousands of volunteers and organizations, Habitat for Humanity of Monroe County has built more than 160 homes.
Sherwood Oaks has participated in 3 Women’s Builds and sponsored 3 Habitat homes
PRAYER NEEDS: Volunteers to help build homes; partner agencies/churches to assist with construction expenses
SALVATION ARMY
111 N. Rogers. Bloomington, IN 47402 - (812)336-4310
website:http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/usn/plugins/gdosCenterSearch?query=47403&mode=query_1&limit=20
Sharyn Tennyson, Sharyn_Tennyson@usc.salvationarmy.org
PURPOSE: The Salvation Army was founded with the basic social services principles of taking care of the physical and emotional needs of the hungry and homeless and remains an outward visible expression of the Army’s strong religious principles. The Salvation Army programs include Christmas assistance programs, and helping with winter coats, food, clothing, rent and utility assistance and prescription eyewear.
The Salvation Army also operates Sally’s Place a downtown gathering place for senior citizens and older adults.
The SA is part of the Sherwood Oaks Adopt a Family program for Christmas gifts to under-resourced families and school backpacks.
PRAYER NEEDS: Clothing and goods donation for the kitchen; Thanksgiving and Christmas donations.
BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS 807 N. College Ave. Bloomington, IN 47404. website:http://www.bigsindiana.org/site/c.dmJZKiOUJgI8G/b.6451181/k.E74B/Big_Brothers_Big_Sisters_of_South_Central_Indiana.htm Mark Voland, Executive Director
812-334-2828x227
Danell Witmer Director of Development & Events
812-334-2828 x 226
PURPOSE: Serves the social, emotional, and educational needs of children by facilitating professionally supported relationships with adult volunteers in a variety of programs.
Being a Big Brother or Big Sister gives you the opportunity to help shape a child’s future for the better by empowering them to achieve. You and your Little can share the kinds of activities you already like to do. Play sports together. Go on a hike. Read books. Eat a pizza with extra anchovies. Or just give some advice and inspiration.
URGENT NEED: On September 24th we are launching our 30 Men in 60 Day’s recruiting campaign. We have a lot of boys on the waitlist and many have waited for a Big Brother two years or longer. That would be our specific volunteer need, to match more boys with positive male adults.
Sherwood Oaks has partnered with BBBS through donation and volunteer Bigs as part of the recent On Target / Befriend outreach.
PRAYER NEEDS:
Mark Voland:Our prayer request would be that BBBSSCI be able to reach and serve more children in the community so they can reach their potential. Every child growing up deserves a “Champion” in their life.
Danell Witmer: Pray:
- That we have more mentors step up to help the 80+ kids on our waitlist. 50 of them are male and really need male mentors. Pray we have a very successful Bowl for Kids Sake this year (it kicks off in November of 2016 for an event in February 2017). This event alone is responsible for nearly 50% of our overall operating budget. Last year we had a deficit of almost $40k from the prior year, so our budget is extremely tight this year…which means we can only keep enough staff for our small budget, and that means less kids get served. In addition to our BFKS event, we hope that with the implementation of my position, we can reach out to more individual donors and create a donor base to support the agency without relying so heavily on one event. One bad event can certainly take its toll on the economic stability of the agency.
- Pray for the Bigs and Littles, and that the matches will help guide the children to make better decisions and see other opportunities in their world.
- Pray for the staff in the office that work tirelessly to help make these matches, and thus making a difference in the lives of these children.
- Danell’s personal request: Pray that I can serve as a light in the office and provide a Christian perspective on conversations, decisions, and affect the lives of all of the employees here.