Holiday 2007 Newsletter (download pdf)

Dear Partners:

Recently, I received a letter from a widow who Dick Mason, Widows Harvest Home Repair Coordinator, had repaired several things for her on her home.

To all of Widows Harvest:

I want to thank all of you for the work you all are doing helping widows. I am a widow 82 years old. I couldn't have got my shower fixed if you all hadn't put me in a new shower. And I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart. Also you put gutters up on the front of my house. I am sending you all a $10 love gift. I know its not much, but I am on fixed income. I will try to send some every month, so you all will be able to help other people in need the way I was. So, again, I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart. I pray for you all every night.

So God Bless you all,

Sincerely,

Ruth

I think there is a perception that all that is generally needed in order for us to meet a widow's home repair need is the cost of materials. The truth is, there is actually a lot of time and expense that is involved in meeting just one widow's home repair need. A widow must first, personally, contact us by phone and request help. Next, Lisa Eames, Widows Harvest Administrative Assistant and Bookkeeper, assesses this information to determine if the widow meets our criteria for assistance. Once this has been determined she will pass this information on to Chiquita Bass, Widows Harvest Special Projects Director, who will then schedule a time with this widow for an informal, in-home interview. Once she gathers information on this widow and prays with her, this information then goes to Dick Mason so that he can schedule a construction needs assessment on her house, and it also goes back to Lisa in order for her to record the information in our data base.

Chiquita invites every widow she makes contact with to the ongoing widow's weekly prayer ministry, but whether the widow becomes a part of this or not, Chiquita continues to maintain contact with her.

After Dick Mason makes an assessment of the construction need(s) on the widows home, he will then put a plan together for what it will take to meet the need(s), which includes numbers of volunteers, tools and equipment as well as construction materials and costs. This information is also passed along to Lisa for her to record in our database.

Finally, when Dick has the volunteers and the necessary materials to be able to complete the project, a-work-day will be scheduled at the widow's house. On that day Dick will have all of the necessary tools and equipment as well as the construction materials onsite so that when the volunteers arrive they can start working immediately without any organizational delays. Dick will also provide the volunteers with onsite construction expertise and supervision, which means that a group does not have to have any skills in order to volunteer with us. Once the project has been completed that information is, again, passed on to Lisa in order for her to record it.

As you can, hopefully, tell the construction material cost for meeting a widow's home repair need is only a part of the cost. That is why, back in the spring, Chiquita Bass initiated a fundraising effort called, "Project 100." The focus of this fund is to ask 100 people to make a one-time donation of, at least, $500, for the purpose of helping us to continue to help widows with their many home repair needs. Please pray about giving to "Project 100" this year. Our goal was, initially, to raise $50,000, but in light of the rising cost of gas, which has increased the cost of almost everything else, including construction materials, we now need much more than that.

To date 29 donors have donated $38,500.00. To learn more about this fund as well as to keep track of the results visit our web site: www.widows.org, and simply follow the link on the home page. Contributions can also be made securely through this site.

There is another letter that I would like to share with you as well. Back in the summer I received this letter via email through our web site. It was from a man named, Keith Case. Keith went to McCallie High School and then Covenant College. After he graduated from Covenant he moved into our office (a turn of the century house) in order to conduct a discipleship ministry with male college students, which were also housed there. After Keith left Chattanooga to go to Seminary I lost complete touch with him for well over 5 years. His email came not only as a surprise, but also as an overwhelming encouragement.

Hey Andy and Dick,

This is Keith Case. I used to live in the house on Mitchell (widows harvest former office). I work now with Youth and Young Adults down here in Miami at a church called Key Biscayne Pres. In all those years of working with Widows ministry in High School and then living in the house, I can't stop thinking about Widows. You guys have blessed me more than you know. I have been here at this church for a little over a year now, but one of the first things I did when I got here was to start a prayer team for our ministry. We have five widows that pray for me the leaders and all the youth everyday. We also have lunches with them right now once every new Season. This December we are hosting a dinner for them at our church. We are, also, currently trying to put a list together of all the widows and live-ins on the Key so that our youth can begin visiting them and serving them. I know you guys are super busy, but if you have any resources for Bible Studies on line or if you can tell me where to find some good material, I would really appreciate it.

Much love,

Keith Case

Sometimes years go by and you wonder whether what you are doing in ministry is really having an impact on anyone at all. The great commission is to make disciples, not just converts, and I have come to believe that the differences are light years apart. The bottom line for me has always been that regardless of how big your budget is, how large your staff is, or how big your building is (to name but a few of the things we tend to base our success on), are lives being changed and transformed to be more like Christ? To be more like Christ, for me, means that our lives increasingly becomes more of one who serves others without any expectations or demands for being served. I am continuously convicted by this fact, that regardless of our positions and stations in life (including all levels of ministry) we never rise above the lowly status of servant, particularly with those that God has placed us in positions of authority and care over. Based on Christ's example these are the very ones that Christ has called us to wash their feet and to be their server at the banquet table.

Let me close with a wonderful offering of thanksgiving to God for all that is continuing to be provided for the widows in Miwani, Kenya, where Joshua and Abigael Atieno direct Widows Harvest Africa. The widows there are now taking shifts and praying around the clock in the Hadrienne Kathleen Widows Prayer and Ministry Center. A middle school for girls, whose mothers are widows, was started in the center earlier in the year. This school has now received its certification by local authorities. An addition was recently added to the Center that will soon be used as a medical clinic. Earlier in the year we also started raising money to buy a tractor for the widows. The soil is very rich and fertile in this area and many of the widows own a plot of land around their homes (many of which we have funded to be built), but it has been too costly to have their fields plowed. All of the money has now been raised and they have purchased this new tractor with it.

Blessings and Thanksgiving,

Widows Harvest Ministries.

P.S. Don't forget to check our blog occasionally (widows.chattablogs.com). For those of you that do not receive our e-mail notification updates, pictures and video footage are continuously being posted on this site of current Widows Harvest projects and events.