PROGRAMS
GET INVOLVED
SITE SEARCH |
|
provided by google
|
|
Who Is My Neighbor?
Waycross, Georgia -- Three months has passed since a neighbor noticed a middle-aged mother and 4 children moving into the single-wide trailer across the street. It wasn't much of a moving party. There hadn't been time to pack during their flight from an abusive situation. They wore the same clothes day after day. Three months of looking passed by until the mother found a job fifteen miles from town. Back bills had to paid. The old car needed gas. Food was scarce. A microwave and small table were the only furnishings. In search of help for the family, the neighbor called OBI's Hunger Strike Force partner Brighter Days Ministries (BDM).
It was 3 days before Christmas when BDM received the concerned neighbor's call. All of the holiday money had been spent on other outreach activities, but after one of BDM's board members visited this dear family, staff and volunteers quickly went to work. Soon the Brighter Days truck arrived in front of the family's trailer loaded with a stove, couch, two queen-size beds, table, refrigerator, several boxes of food including Christmas dinner items, hygiene products, and a Christmas Tree! The children, ages 4 to 16, were overjoyed to open Christmas gifts as well as have two new outfits each. Their mother was speechless as everything was unloaded. Brighter Days continued to assist them with food until the family got back on their feet financially.
"The family is now doing wonderful," relayed BDM's Carmen Barber. "The mother has a good job, is financially stable, and now able to support her family in a safe environment. This all happened because their neighbor reached out to them."
Waycross, Georgia is a middle to low income town of 40,000 people. Approximately 48 percent who are 21 or older did not finish high school. Only 8 percent of the population 21 or older have a college degree. Its very high unemployment rate is one reason why BDM gives food assistance to approximately 25,000 people living in Waycross on down into the Florida Keys every month. OBI's Hunger Strike Force and numerous other organizations help BDM in making sure the hungry receive nourishment. In addition to daily food distributions, BDM's 30 staff and volunteers are busy writing letters, packing boxes, delivering food to the elderly and providing an additional 500 people per month with clothing, furniture, and utility assistance. The weekends are also full with outreach events and they have been given permission to bring food to the Mexican Indians living in the Chihuhua Mountains this August.
"I love to see what a difference we make just by sharing Christ with people through helping and reaching out a hand in their time of need," expressed Carmen.
Over a year-and-a-half has passed since Operation Blessing first reported on BDM's humanitarian activities and impressive network of 53 shelters, rehabilitation centers and food pantries . Since then, they have seen an increase in the number of elderly persons and families needing assistance. However, those helped motivate the staff and volunteers to continue. Remember us sharing PJ and Elizabeth winning the fight against hunger as well as alcohol and drug abuse? The couple is now married, has a daughter and helps run a rehabilitation program near BDM!
Along with Brighter Days and 95 other Hunger Strike Force partnering ministries representing 22 states across the USA, Operation Blessing is working to serve the world's communities.
|
]