If you are looking for a place to serve, I have one option for you!  Hope Chest OKC has been offered an entire storage unit full of items to give to families in need.  However, among the great stuff is some junk.  We need to sort through it all and move the good stuff to our own units and the junk to the dumpster.  It isn’t glamorous, but it is a need, and you can meet it!
We are meeting from 9-12 this Saturday the 29th at our storage unit.  If you will be able to come for any amount of time we would greatly appreciate your help!  After cleaning, we will be delivering to a couple of families so you will have an opportunity to do that as well if you would like.
Please email me to get the rest of the details so I will know how many to expect.
Thanks!

I am so grateful to anyone who reads this blog and responds.  We have had a constant influx of furniture and household items for the families that we serve.  We are currently serving 12 families and we have pretty much everything that they need!  This is wonderful!

But now is the time for me to ask for the biggest thing that we need.  YOU.  For the most part, I do all the deliveries on my own.  Occasionally  Mindi or my husband are able to help, and a couple of times lifegroups/housechurch groups have had the opportunity to deliver, but it is generally just me.

So what I am trying to create is a call list.  If I can aquire a list of people that I can call to help make the deliveries, then that would not only ease my burden, but it would meet needs faster.  It would also be a great way for you to get to meet face to face the families that we are serving.  You don’t even need to own a truck.  Hope Chest has a truck that you can use.

So if you would like to be put on our call list, please email me and let me know.  If there are days that work better for you, then put that in your email so that I will know when the best time to call you would be.

Together we can serve Oklahoma City families in need!

We are currently working with several families.  Our biggest needs are cribs, dressers, and living room furniture.  If you have any of these items or would like to donate financially so that we can purchase them, please contact Cissa at cissa@hopechestokc.org.  To donate online, please click on the link in the right column.

Thanks for helping us continue to serve the people of Oklahoma City!

This is going to be a long story of how Hope Chest went from 0 to 60 on helping a woman named Charlene and her 4 daughters. It’s gonna get pretty candid. But that’s what realness and intimacy are all about right?

July 22nd, there was a drawing at the place where Charlene & I work that happens monthly when we meet our production goal. The prizes of this drawing are $30 gift cards to Wal-Mart. I got my ticket number and sat at my desk praying over that ticket over and over… thinking, “I need this money to spend on my up-and-coming (way too fast) wedding!” I won that gift card… thinking that that was my green light from God and I was supposed to spend it on wedding needs.. of course…

God is good.

I figured out July 30th that I didn’t win that gift card so that I could spend it on wedding stuff – on myself. I won that gift card because God would eventually have me give it away to someone who needed it more. Only He could know that I’d be the perfect candidate to do that. And why wouldn’t he just have her win it? Because that wouldn’t have taught me anything. It wouldn’t have made me feel anything. It wouldn’t have been just a little bit hard to do. It wouldn’t have meant  any sacrifice. It wouldn’t have shown comradery and love.

Yes, I gave away the $30 gift card to Walmart that I thought had a more self-centered blessing purpose. Instead it’s blessings were always meant for more. I gave it to someone that needs it a lot more than I do. I instantly knew as soon as the thought came to my mind, that I was meant all along to pass that money on to her.

Charlene is a mother of 4 daughters ages 14, 12, 10, and 7. They’re starting school soon, and she didn’t know how she was going to pay for school supplies or clothes. She lost all her food when her electricity was turned off for 3 days. She struggles every single month to make all the bills and get food on the table for she and her girls. But you’d never know it working with her because of her humility, sweetness, and giving spirit. She put on a baby shower for another girl here once because she realized no one else had planned on doing one. And even though she has absolutely no money to spare, somehow she was able to get her a gift and bring punch and decorations to work to have a little baby shower for this girl. She always sends emails to all us girls at work telling us she’s praying for us. She’s the sweetest and most kindhearted person. She deserves help. She’s had to raise children most of her life and none of the fathers of her daughters pay child support or help in any way. None of them are a part of their lives at all. This woman does everything on her own and sometimes she has to go to food pantries and other organizations for help – begrudgingly.

Well I decided a good beginning to helping her was parting with that gift card. It was very humbling for me. The next step was seeing what Hope Chest OKC could do for her. Hope Chest OKC has provided her 4 bags of clothes from Cissa’s, mine, and my sister’s closets. Along with a bag of shoes and a ziploc bag of jewelry from my sister and me. Then Cissa’s neighbor was able to donate about 5 bags and a huge bin of clothes and purses and shoes. And her neighbor says there’s more where that came from! Charlene said her daughters fought over those clothes they were so excited!

God had a plan for the donations Cissa’s neighbor gave even beyond blessing Charlene and her daughters. He really stretched my giving spirit this weekend. I was given the job to go through all of these clothes to separate men’s clothes and sheets from the bunch. While doing this, I couldn’t help coveting these clothes! And I felt so stupid and guilty and small for doing it the whole time, because it’s not like I don’t have enough clothes, it’s not like they’re not nice enough! I actually had the audacity to make myself a pile of the clothes that I would like! And I felt like such a loser the whole time… but then I even had the audacity to try on the clothes in that pile! But guess what. God provided an easy way out of that for me. Not like I deserved it. But none of it fit me right… obviously meant to be… which made it easier to put all those clothes back in the bags to give to Charlene and her 4 daughters who actually need it, and would appreciate it a lot more than me.  What a selfish being I felt like! So I repented of my selfishness. I put all those bags and that huge bin of really nice clothes and shoes into my car, and felt nothing for wanting them for myself. I was beyond excited to give them to Charlene and her 4 daughters. So ecstatic I could barely hold it in! I felt free of the burden of wanting those expensive labels for myself. Because in the end, what does it matter what label we wore throughout our lives here on earth? Absolutely none. But what does matter, is getting past your own personal hang-up, and giving beyond what you have to someone who’s always had less than you. My God is amazing.

This sort of service and giving is so gratifying and amazing. It makes me feel closer to God.

May He keep stretching me always. Lord, make me more like Your Son.

-Mindi Mahon, Assistant Coordinator of Hope Chest OKC