Anton Bruckner;
As of now, I would suggest that Pastors and elders start brainstorming to develop plans and strategies to help out members etc. Food donations, clothes donations, budgeting etc are going to be needed. This is where the rubber hits the road.
How many churches here have a food bank?
Our does, not sure how much food is there at the moment, but we also have some 4 or 5 freezers people have donated to store some of it. So maybe ask if someone has a freezer they could donate to start a food bank.
How many men/women here hunt? Hunting season is here, maybe go hunting and stock freezers w/ deer meat to share with those in need.
Our church teaches the Crown Financial Course twice a year as an evening class, maybe churches could start teaching that, if they are not?
Crown Financial Ministries
However, they are strapped financially at the moment, so they can't help to much in that respect.
If anyone is interested, I can get you in touch w/ the folks in our church who handle those things if you want ideas?
I don't know how many folks live in areas where they have a Winn Dixie, but here they are always have a buy one get one on meats, if you do, maybe encourage your congregation to buy like that and maybe donate one to the church to help other families who may be struggling?
or if they buy food in bulk like at Sam's club or something, they could donate a portion of that?
but you'd certainly have to set up a room in the church to store those things, and have grocery bags available to pack it in up when people need assistance.
And you may want to consider working with OTHER organizations in your communities even if they are not reformed, as they may have funds available when your church doesn't, and you may have a full food bank when theirs doesn't..and you can call on each other for assistance.
Maybe organize a community Mercy Network?
Check around see if there is a local clothes closet in your area, we have one, a small group of Christian women started it.
Something some of the women in one church used to do, is all the women with children get together and all of them donate the clothes their kids have out grown the previous school year into a big garage sale, they put a price on it with their name, and everyone who has donated clothes goes in and shops for their own kids.
they keep a list of names and phone numbers of everyone who participates, and if you donate clothes to sell you go in and shop for your kids early, then once every one who has donated has finished shopping, they open it to the public and have a large yard sale, and the women who take the time to run the week/two week long event take about 5% of the proceeds for their work, and then they total all the tickets by names total what each person made, and then deduct out the price what they purchased, some times you owe a little bit, sometimes you make a little extra money..Up until my youngest daughter was in 6th grade, that's pretty much how they got most of their school clothes, and then as the kids of the women who ran it started graduating high school they stopped having it at their home, and I'm not sure who took it over from there.
I was blessed in that one of the women I knew who participated, her daughter was a year older than one of my daughters and they were about the same size, so she started getting with me BEFORE the sale and would mark the price down a bit, and she would keep ALL the proceeds for herself, without paying the 5% to the other women out of that money, so it was win/win for us..
So if it's possible to do something like that within your church, it's something to consider.
