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Last Sunday, I enjoyed a conversation with several of our church members. It started with, Hello, how are you? How’s the family? What have you been up to since I saw you?” You know how small talk often starts. This talk, however, became serious fairly quickly. We attended the Charge Conference, and Pastor Josh led a small-group discussion on missions. He brought us together to discuss topics on our hearts. I know what is on my heart, and I quickly learned it is the same for many. We feel overwhelmed with too many problems in our world and not enough solutions. We want to help, but we just aren’t sure where to start or where to end. We don’t know how to rest because there is so much need. Do you feel that way? Now, this is not a political piece. It is not a discussion over whether the government should care for its people or if the onerous should be on society to step up and fill that role. This is not a Cesar vs Jesus discussion, nor will it become one. Many debaters have done well discussing both sides. Many have done well in explaining the economic implications of various changes. Instead, I want to direct you to the concerns on people’s hearts and how the church pivots to fill in gaps when and where we can. With food subsidies being reduced, large swaths of government employees not getting paid, and high grocery prices, the discussion moved to The Bread of Life, food pantries in general, and Daily Bread. I brought up the concern that I had about the childcare vouchers, which had been reduced due to federal funding decreasing the benefits states could provide. Things are moving quickly, so the lag time of the state reducing benefits, letting families know, and then letting the childcare providers know is astoundingly slow. It isn’t the fault of the state employees; they are all doing what they can. It is just the reality of life. Our First Kids ministry is an early childhood learning center that is certified by the state as a Better Beginnings program and is doing its very best to maintain a student-to-teacher ratio below the state-mandated limit, while staying affordable. A few years ago, it was decided that a mission of this ministry was to make us eligible to receive vouchers. This would allow a healthy, happy place for those children eligible for vouchers to learn, play, and grow. A child could be found eligible for vouchers through the foster care system or based on their family's job type and income level. Your Childcare Board and its leadership met with DHS and Department of Education resources to determine what was most needed in this area and how we could better serve our neighbors. The day-to-day picture of the voucher loss in our community, not just our daycare, may shock you: |
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Federal funds are often sent to states for specific purposes and sometimes for broader uses. However, the absence of these funds allows for additional state employees to be hired. During the government shutdown, some of our state employees were furloughed, just as federal employees were, leading to increased needs in our community. This became a perfect storm of needs within our area, and it is our calling to help. In these discussions at Charge Conference, it became clear that many of our church members felt powerless and unaware of the pivots we make to help in whatever ways we can. Please know that for many years, your investment in our church allowed Pastor Josh, along with your BOL board, to implement strategies to serve quickly better. With the help of fantastic volunteers, we opened extended hours of operation at BOL and maintained the ability to handle a higher-than-normal influx of customers. Snack Packs were delivered to Monitor Elementary on time with full availability. One of our Sunday school class volunteers at Monitor’s food pantry allows the whole family to receive a larger quantity of food. Daily Bread continued to serve all who came and will come through our doors during Wednesday’s lunch. Our Childcare Board has already mobilized, met, and will continue to monitor the situation closely to make sure we do not waiver on our mission. Pastor Josh and I are working on a proposal to help supplement the voucher issues in our community. As we all know, access to safe, healthy, affordable childcare is absolutely necessary to keep people receiving a steady paycheck. Consider this story from our community: a young, single mom working but without a paycheck made it to about week 3 before the circumstances became so terrible that she was unaware of how she would feed her children. She had to make a decision to put gas in the car, in order to go to work, or to buy groceries. One of your church family heard the story, called the church, and had her family with groceries within a short time. This young mother bought the gas and got to work, and then our church made sure she was not only fed but also helped get her additional help. Our church may not be able to perform every mission; however, we have a network of non-profits that work together to step in in myriad ways. We cannot be all things for all people, but we can do great things with what our Lord has provided us. We, as a church body, plan for these eventualities. One of our volunteers always said, “We must be a Joseph and always be ready when we are needed.” So, we have contingency plans, and our contingency plans often have contingency plans. However, it can be very difficult to ensure we communicate with everyone. If you are ever concerned or just want to know how things are going, why we do what we do, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our church office!
Blessings, Summer |
