Hey everyone!  It’s been a while since we’ve updated so there’s a lot to talk about!  First of all, Hope Chest Ministries has ushered in a new chapter to our story!  Cissa has given over leadership to two amazing women Dena and Melinda.  They are answers to prayer welcomed with open arms!  They are helping a ton with the administration of Hope Chest and also with pick-ups, deliveries and over all organization.  We are so excited and grateful to have them on the Hope Chest team! When you call the NEW Hope Chest phone number you will most likely be speaking to one of them.

Dena and Melinda!

Dena and Melinda have amazing huge hearts for God’s people.  Dena just recently married the love of her life and Melinda loves serving children.  They’re both passionate about being the hands and feet of Jesus and making a difference in people’s lives for God’s glory and honor!

Now onto some info:

The new Hope Chest phone number is 405.204.9108

We can also be contacted by email:  Info@hopechestokc.org

We set deliveries for two Saturdays a month.  Right now delivery date availability is about 2 months out.  If you are in need of Hope Chest services please click on the ‘Contact Us’ tab!

We provide beds, blankets, pillows, sheets, towels, silverware, dishes, and pots and pans.  Beds are subject to availability.  We are always in need of these items!  Consider supporting Hope Chest by donating and spreading the word for us!

I want to say a special THANK YOU to all of our volunteers, ministry partners, and supporters.  Without you the past 2 years wouldn’t have been possible.  We value all of you so much.  The volunteer support we’ve received has completely revolutionized the way Hope Chest is able to function.  We thank God for your faithfulness to us!

If you would like to volunteer with us on a delivery day contact us for dates.  We meet at 8:30am and we’re done by 1:00pm at the latest.  We would love to have you!  The whole family is welcome – even little kids!

We love you all so much!  Thank you for your ongoing support.

-Mindi

We delivered to 2 single women and one couple with a baby that’s 15 days old!  The first delivery we had was to a single momma who has an awesome testimony.  She told us that she has been clean and sober coming up on 2 years.  She had done drugs and prostituted and one day as she was standing on the corner, she watched families going to-and-fro in life and felt in her heart that the simple parts of life of going to school and work were what she wanted more than what she was doing, but she didn’t know how.  So she put her face in her hands and cried out to God.  She asked for His help and of course, He gave it to her.  She has 6 kids but is only raising one right now, and gets visitation with her other children as long as their dad sees she’s doing well.  She’s going to Lifechurch.tv, volunteers with organizations that help recovering drug addicts and prostitutes, and even protests at the State Capitol for women’s rights and advocates for rehab centers and other places just like the one that helped her turn her life around.  She asked us to pray for her mother who’s been a drug addict her whole life.  Redemption!  She was so inspiring to us!  We loved loving on her.

Our next place to deliver to was to a senior woman who lived by herself.  She asked us to pray for her because she’s felt like all she’s had is bad luck her whole life.  Seeing the tears in her eyes as we prayed really touched my heart.  She held onto our hug for a long time.  Authentic.

And last, we delivered to a sweet latino couple who have a toddler and a 15 day old infant.  We were pleased to be able to provide them with a pack-n-play and sheet!  New life!  New possibilities!

Knowing that tonight, these sweet people will have beds to lay in, sheets and blankets to cuddle up with, towels to dry off with, pots and pans to cook with, dishes to eat off and silverware to eat with, fills my heart!  It’s the little things like this that remind us how blessed each of us are.  We are filled with so much joy to be able to provide these things to our brothers and sisters in Christ!

Our volunteers hearts are so huge.  We drove by a garage sale and one of them felt led to buy us a twin bed they saw there, and donate it to Hope Chest.  The people having the garage sale also threw in some dishes for free!  Multiple blessings!

And even though I messed up leading our group through the city a couple times with my GPS, our team had sweet loving mercy on me and stayed with me till the very end.  They came back to the storage building with me and unloaded all of the stuff.  It was a sweet sweet day to serve in Christ’s name.  May lives be changed!

-Mindi

October 23rd and November 13th are the dates and we work from 8:30-2 pm at the latest.

Thanks!

Cissa

cissa@hopechestokc.org

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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!