June 10, 2009
First let me set the scene and then tell you the marvelous things God has done in the past few days.
On the good side, the trucks will surpass 3 million pounds of food and furniture carried for free for 120+ local charities for the second straight year. We have one month to go on our fiscal year which ends June 30 and we are already at more than 2.9 million pounds.
The new budget year for the trucks starts July 1, and we estimate we will need $150,000 to $200,000 for the next year.
As of June 3 we had about $4,200 in the bank with about $4,000 needed for new tires and a lift gate repair and no money for June salaries.
But many of you know what unerring timing God has had for us all the past 22 years...so Tuesday we got a grant of almost $65,000 from United Way and Wednesday we got $39,200 from the SafetyNet Challenge fund.
Add to this a $6,000 grant recently received from the Community Chest in Palm Beach through an association with our friends at CROS Ministries.
So, we can pay June salaries and we have a great start on the new year. Still need to raise a lot of money, but we are constantly writing grant requests.
Now, let's turn to how God has blessed our food pantry, which once again last month fed just over 850 families from all across Palm Beach County.
As of June 3 we had about $6,600, which might carry us through the end of the month.
Looking ahead we estimate we need about $100,000 for the rest of 2009.
This weekend we got a check for $500, then a check for $2,000...then today we got a grant from the SafetyNet Challenge fund for $39,200.
Thursday Jacquie goes to a meeting to finish the paperwork on an $8,000 grant from the federal government. As part of the Missions Offering at Village Baptist we have been told we will get about $1,500.
This week one of you arranged for a donation of 3,000 coloring books for our needy children at Christmas. Again it's not all we need, but it is a tremendous start.
I think you can certainly see that God has a special love of what we all do together to help poor families in our area.
Next time you are on your knees, thank Him.
And, thanks, y'all, Dan and Jacquie
And, thanks, y'all, Dan and Jacquie