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Upcoming Delivery Dates

August 31st, 2010

We have 5 more deliveries this year.  If you would like to participate in any of them please contact me through the contact page and I will makes sure to give you all the details. The upcoming dates are:

September 11th

September 25th

October 9th

October 23rd

November 13th

All deliveries are Saturdays and will begin at 8:30.

Hope to see you out there sharing Hope with the people of our city!

Cissa

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August 14th Delivery Day

August 16th, 2010



Another wonderful opportunity for us to be the hands and feet of Jesus in our own backyards!  Along with some wonderful volunteers (Thank you Ken, Samuel, Joe, Jesus, Kristy, Sunny, and Adam), we provided families with towels, pots and pans, dishes, silverware, beds, cribs, sheets and pillow cases.  These little things make a great impact on someone who’s been sleeping on the floor or buying cheap pre-packaged foods because they have nothing to cook with or eat on – things that we so easily take for granted especially here in our abundant country.
Our first delivery was made to a sweet woman, Brenda, who has a baby boy almost 1 year old.  Her sweet baby boy is missing many bones in his right leg and foot, and is soon going in for surgery to get his whole leg amputated.  How great a trial this must be for Brenda!  She and her sweet, smiley, happy son have been sleeping on the floor for who knows how long.  And so, we delivered to them HOPE in the form of a bed.  We prayed with sweet Brenda and her son, with faith swelling in our hearts for their future.  It was a tearful long embrace after, and all of our Hope Chest volunteers walked away touched by a compassionate love for this family.

Throughout the morning we made more deliveries to people who’d been sharing a bed with family members, sleeping on floors, couches, anywhere they could… people who hadn’t ever had their own set of pots and pans and were enamored by the fact that they were non-stick.  (Oh, what I take for granted in life!)  We prayed with each family – for their futures, for their healing – for their new beginnings.

One delivery we made was to a family that is starting over from being victims of a house fire.  The father and mother were able to get beds for their children, but they, two grown adults, had been sharing a twin bed. So we were delighted to be able to provide them with a queen!  The poor man had to be over 6 foot.

And regardless of everything they’d been through and everything they’d lost in the fire, this man of the house wanted to lead our group in prayer, and his thankfulness to God and undying faith in Him despite everything they’d been through was such an inspiration to us.

This was an amazing and efficient day for us!  We made 6 deliveries to homes all over our city and the surrounding suburbs and were done as a group by 12:30.  Won’t you consider volunteering with us?
Our next delivery dates are set for August 28 (which I, Mindi, will be running without Cissa – so I could REALLY use your help on this day!), and September 11 and 25.  We would LOVE to have you!  Contact us for more details!
Loving others because God first loved us,
Mindi

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Hail Damage

May 17th, 2010

The huge storms that passed through Oklahoma yesterday left some serious damage in their wake.  Among the property that was damaged is our delivery truck.  This means that until we can get the truck fixed we are on hold.  The insurance companies are working as fast as they can to restore what has been lost to so many families in our city.  So now we wait as patiently as we can.  Please be in prayer for our city and our entire state. The hail came on the heels of tornadic storms that didn’t just  destroy property, but took lives.

Fixing a truck may take a little time, but healing up broken hearts is a job that only God can undertake.  But we can pray and step into action to love these families!

Hope Chest will be delivering again soon.  And when the truck is restored we will get back to restoring hope in our city.  Little physical reminders that someone does care can make all the difference in a person’s life!

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Our New Status!

May 3rd, 2010

We got our letter from the IRS this past week.  I am so excited to tell you that Hope Chest Ministries, Inc. is now officially a 501c3 organization.  What this means for you is that all of your support is 100% tax deductible!

This will help us as we begin to apply for grants and seek the interest and support of different businesses around town.  Please continue to pray for Hope Chest as we begin this new venture that changes us from “some nice people trying to good things” to an organization that is here to serve our community.  We already were the latter, but now our state and federal government see us as such.

Thank you for all the prayers and support that you have given thus far, and please continue to remember us in your prayers as we move forward.

seeking to serve,

Cissa

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Story of the March 27th work day

March 29th, 2010

This time it was just Cissa and I journeying out to serve the OKC area the Hope Chest way! We delivered to 3 families and did 2 pick-ups that took us about 8 hours of greatness! Our Hope Chest work day last week was canceled due to the snow, so even through the rain, wind, and cold of this work day, we were going to work through it!

First thing in the morning we went to our Hope Chest storage to pick up the furniture items we’d need for our first delivery. This entailed a couch, dresser, queen box springs and mattress. It was quite hilarious seeing us 2 little ladies lugging those up the truck bed and fighting the elements! The wind was pushing against the mattress and box springs, turning them into sails pushing us in all the directions we were trying NOT to go! We laughed so hard and figured the people down the way might have thought we were a little nuts. But we didn’t mind! We’re just nuts for Jesus! We ultimately finagled all of the items to fit into the bed of our truck, strapped them in, and started on our journey!

We dropped these items off to our friend Edna. She was so grateful!!! She had temporarily borrowed furniture from a friend and was glad to be able to return them to him and have her own things! She loved the couch (said it reminded her of her mother’s couch) and was so thankful to have her own bed! We loved her spunky, loving personality. She offered us a brownie, and mentioned how glad she was that she’d be able to cook real food now that Hope Chest had been able to give her a set of pots and pans and dishes! We prayed with her and her 2 friends that helped us move the furniture in, and it was a great moment.

After leaving there, we drove back to our Hope Chest storage unit and reloaded our truck! This time we loaded up a kitchen table, 5 chairs, and a dresser! We were able to deliver these items to a father, John, who had just experienced the tragedy of their home and belongings being burned in a house fire! They’re living temporarily somewhere else until their house gets repaired, and as far as household goods, we were able to jump start them into their future of healing, renewal, and HOPE. Thank you Lord!

And this is when the rain began!

Then it was time for a lunch break! Cissa and I stopped at Louie’s and had fried pickles & chili in a bread bowl for lunch. Next it was off to our pick-up!

This sweet couple had gotten married about a year ago and were donating a bunch of furniture and household goods they didn’t need anymore; combining their things together and figuring out what they wanted to keep and what they didn’t. Great candidates for donating! They gave us a beautiful couch, a desk, a TV, TV stand, DVD player, and lots of linens! And we were able to take all of this but the desk and linens to our next delivery family! But first, we drove back to our storage building and unloaded the desk and bags of linens, and then drove to my house and picked up a twin bed! (My husband and I are doing the same thing the other couple were too, because we just got married 5 months ago!)

So then we were on our way to our last delivery of the day, to sweet Kylie. Her helper did most of the heavy unloading and we got a couch, twin bed, TV, TV stand, and DVD player into her home! The rain was still going strong so unfortunately we had to deliver wet and damp furniture to her, but she was still really happy to be able to get them, saying her living room heats up pretty well so they should dry out quick! Thank goodness! (Don’t you love how God takes care of us in the smallest of ways?) I love how receiving these things just lights up people’s lives. It’s such a relief to see that there’s things you don’t have to worry about and you’re going to have a place to lay your head at night, sit your hiney, and be able to function the way a home is meant to! And then to get the added awesomeness of a TV, stand, and DVD player is just fun! We prayed with her and her helper, and then wrapped up our day.

We love serving in this way. It’s all about leaving tangible evidence that God and his people love and care about you… and want you to have a fresh beginning of HOPE! This is Hope Chest Ministries, Inc.’s purpose!

Our next delivery date is set for April 17th! If you can donate and/or volunteer with us, we would love your help!

Letting God lead,
Mindi

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Upcoming Events

March 24th, 2010

Saturday, March 27 9:30-1:30  :  Deliveries

Saturday, April 17 9:30-1:30  : Deliveries

Saturday, May 8 9:30-1:30  : Deliveries

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This Past Weekend

February 24th, 2010

WOW!  A huge thank you to Kingsview FreeWill Baptist Church in Moore, OK, for showing up big time this weekend!  I was completely overwhelmed by how many people showed up ready to serve!  The plan was to split into teams with one of the teams staying at the storage unit to organize.  But plans change   Everyone wanted to get out and deliver furniture, so that is what we did.
Seven families received furniture and household items on Saturday because the people of this church came out to be the hands and feet of Jesus this weekend!

We hope to add some pictures to the website soon of this fantastic weekend.

If your group would like to serve in this way, or in any other capacity, please contact us and we will work with you to make it happen.

Overwhelmed!



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Hope Chest Ministries, Inc.

February 9th, 2010

Today came with big changes!  We are very excited to announce our new name!  Hope Chest Ministries is now it’s own ministry and is not under the umbrella of another ministry.  Thank you to 4HIM for allowing us to partner with you as we learned how this ministry would work!  This is a big step for us and we can’t wait to see where this journey takes us.

But even with all the changes taking place right now, the facts stay the same.  Those facts are that there are families in our city who need help making a house a home, and we are going to do everything we can to help meet those needs!

We look forward to serving along side you!  Together we can change our city, one family at a time!



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Delivery dates set for February

January 23rd, 2010

We have set two delivery dates for February.  If you would like to dive in and get involved, shoot us an email at cissa@hopechestokc.org and let us know and we will give you all the specifics.

Saturday, Feb. 6th  10am-2pm

Saturday, Feb. 20th 10am-2pm

I look forward to serving along side you!



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Changes in 2010

December 30th, 2009

This past year has been a whirlwind of great opportunities and God-sized changes.  Lives have been changed, both those who received and those who gave.  We have learned a lot and have tried changing strategies a few times so that a balance can be found.  We are pretty sure that we are getting closer to that goal.

One of the major things that we have decided is to not reinvent the wheel.  There are some other ministries and foundations in the Oklahoma City area that provide services similar to ours.  So we are going to concentrate on the areas that are not covered by them.

That said, we are narrowing what we will be providing to families so that we can better serve the families that need our help.  If we find that essential items are falling through the cracks, then we will adjust as needed.  That is the beauty of this whole thing!  We can be flexible to meet the needs of the people!

Hope Chest OKC will now deliver the following items to families in Oklahoma City:

beds
dressers
sofas
love seats
chairs
kitchen tables
tvs
vcrs and dvd players
pots and pans
dishes
silverware
bake ware
any other miscellaneous kitchen items
towels
linens

If you have other items that you think we might be able to use, please feel free to email Cissa and she will let you know if we can use it.

In the coming days, we will be posting other places that you can donate your items where they will be put to good use.  Together, we can change the world, one family at a time!



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