Last Call 4 Grace : A Christian Organization That Relies Solely On Private Donations For Funding

At church, in addition to my participation in the worship services, I volunteered at our church’s soup kitchen, medical camps and elementary school for underprivileged children. These experiences opened my eyes to the deprivation of love and care in the world and a dire need of God’s grace for people at large so they could receive forgiveness, healing and restoration in their lives.

This past summer, I acquired an internship at Baldwin and Lyons, an insurance company in Indianapolis. Every Wednesday during my internship, a couple of employees and I would participate in a prodigious community service project, Meals on Wheels. Throughout the three months that I worked at Baldwin and Lyons, I got acquainted with some of the individuals whom we delivered to. These inspiring individuals were so grateful and appreciative that we took time out of our day to volunteer to do such a service. One elderly woman who we delivered to would sing to us as she came to the front door “good meals, good meals, good meals.” She is one woman that I will never forget. First going into this, I was elated knowing I was I getting out of the

Catholic Charities provides service to people in need, pushes for justice in social structures, and calls upon the entire church and other people of good will to do the same. Catholic Charities agencies across the country witness to the love of Christ by helping people in need and by serving their communities. Catholic Charities USA is a national organization that offers support to member agencies, provides disaster relief and promotes poverty-reduction through research and legislative reform. It's listed as #15 on the top 50 largest charities on the U.S. according to Forbes.

Throughout my life, I’ve always had an immense interest in helping others. Being involved in the National Charity League for 5 years has given me the opportunity to be involved with charities that I otherwise would’ve never known about. I’ve had the privilege to help with over b charities in and around my community throughout my years as an NCL member. By far my favorite would have to be Grace’s Feed Our Kids that I have volunteered at every summer since my start in NCL. Through this charity, we are able to provide lunches and fun games to underprivileged kids in Grapevine during the unbearably hot Texas summer days. Each day we serve different meals, either donated from local restaurants or homemade by my NCL class, and have a variety of things for the kids to do, like coloring, water guns,

Marks Church, I have participated in numerous Pack-A-Thons with Feed the Hunger to provide food for people living in poverty. We pack hundreds of bags of food to be shipped to people in need. I participated in the 30 Hour Famine with Feed the Hunger. We raised about $16,000 for people living in poverty and did not eat for 30 hours straight.

As a student, I have demonstrated many works of service to my community and school. Service opportunities have shaped me into the person I am today and these projects have made me realize how fortunate I am for all that I have. While I've been doing these service projects through the years, it has been a pleasure seeing the joy on the faces of people that aren't as fortunate as I am. Service projects that I have completed include managing the fish booth at the St. Leo's Parish Festival, being an altar server at St. Leo's Parish, helping cook dinner for the Ridgway Fire Department during carnival day setup, participating in the St. Marys Light Up Night by dancing, and Christmas caroling to local residents. I also participated in a zombie/princess

Two years ago, I was sitting in a dimly lit packing room, wedged between a stalled out pale yellow refrigerator and a stack of boxes, packed to the brim with all sorts of canned fruits and vegetables. People worked quickly here, moving boxes from one corner of the room to another, creating a rhythm of sorts. Thump. Swoosh. Thump. Swoosh. The boxes left in droves as lines of people congregated around the open warehouse door with open hands ready to accept what was offered while statements of gratitude leapt from their tongues. The amount of people waiting outside far outnumbered the volunteers, but the volunteers worked hard, they knew they had to today. It was 104 degrees outside and some of these people standing in line, with children in tow, had been waiting for hours. It was distribution day at the South Texas Food Bank and I was there to help.

We went to the store and bought toiletries, bread, peanut butter and jelly, water, juice boxes, and many other things to distribute to the homeless around town. These items were essentials that were desperately needed by these people, and the money we raised in order to get these items went a long way. We were very nervous about just walking up to people and passing these things out, the idea of a stranger coming up to you and handing you items is a scary thought in itself, but being on the other end is even scarier because you don’t know how others will react.

Mr. Culley and his wife started this ministry seventeen years ago. They knew there was a need and decided that if they were so heavily burdened to act then they should lead the way in addressing the need. Over time, Mr. Culley and his wife have experience cut backs from some organizations due to funding. They have also experienced a shortage of volunteers. Mr. and Mrs. Culley have been able to overcome these obstacles, they have reached out to local businesses and churches, and this has helped to fill the gaps in donations.

During this semester's service learning project, I chose to serve at a community organization called Church On Wheels, Breaking Bread Soup Kitchen. Every night Monday through Friday Breaking Bread opens its doors to the community and provides a meal at no cost. Their mission statement is simple: To carry the gospel of the Lord through feeding the hungry and helping those in need. With this Christ-like love to His people, every night employees and volunteers come together to provide a meal that does not only feed them physically but nourishes the soul of everyone that enters the doors. Within the city of Midland, Texas you will find a diverse culture and community. Due to the recent oil boom, many families found themselves struggling to put a meal on the table. Breaking Bread saw the need in the community to open the doors every night to see that no one would go hungry in our town. With a commitment to see that the poor and needy are served with the love of Christ. On any given night you can expect to find

This is a group of students who meet together weekly to discuss, pray over, and advocate for injustices around the world. As of first semester of sophomore year I have been one of the leaders of this group; through this, God has opened my eyes and broken my heart for victims of abuse, violence, and injustice in the world. I believe that God desires for our hearts to be broken for what breaks his heart, not just so we hurt, but so we wake up and help those who hurt. This is where my passion for nonprofit ministry lies, I hope to help those who are hurting; exactly what profession or ministry that will take me to, I am not sure, but I have full confidence that God will lead me to the right ministry when he sees fits.

On the last Thursday of every month, a few of the Young Adults from Harvest City Church volunteer to go to Carrall Gospel Mission and serve the homeless at downtown Eastside. These people are made up of drug addicts, ex-convicts, prostitutes and people with mental health problems. First, We have a short sharing session by the leaders of the mission, and afterwards we serve the homeless dinner. The purpose of this mission is not only to engage the impoverished, but also to give back to the community. Listening to the homeless talk about their lives, I have learned to be more content with what I have and not to take anything for granted. Moreover, I have learned that reaching out to others can have a lasting impact on their lives and also on

I volunteered at the Hubbard House, which is a home away from home for people who have family in the hospital or are being treated by the hospital and don’t want to live there, as the hospital is a 5 minute bus ride away. Our job was to serve the residents who were currently housed there, a hot homemade spaghetti and meatballs meal with garlic bread and assorted desserts. We served them as if it were a restaurant and brought smiles to their faces.

It gave me the chance to vanquish my fears while also realizing that it is God’s plan for me to help out my community. However, I am not surprised that there are still unanswered questions in my head such as: Why is there such a big hunger problem? Why is this problem not spoken about more often? Is there any other way I can help stop this problem? This service has made me more knowledgeable and aware of my community. In addition, this service project has made me take matters into my own hands. Currently, every time my family goes grocery shopping I make sure they get at least five canned goods for donating. As more of my friends volunteer and more donations come in I think we can end this fight for hunger in southern Louisiana. In addition, I believe that we should all take a step back and be thankful for all that we have because some people don’t have such luxuries. God is omnipresent, He would not want to see His children starving. Finally, I see it as a mission that we volunteers get more people involved to volunteer for the greater

On this day I found myself back in the kitchen with stocking incoming food orders and helping with serving food. With the mission serving about 2,000 hot meals a day to families, puts a toll on the full time kitchen staff. Food donations are a high priority of the Mission. Area grocery stores open their hearts to help those not go hungry. With large portions of their food coming from food chains live Hy-Vee and