So far, Church Community Services’ ‘Seed to Feed” program has harvested 17,500 lbs. of food for Elkhart’s food pantries

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Caring, Church Community Services, Community, Community Services, Donations, Donors, Farmers, Food, Food bank, Food Pantry, Fresh Garden Vegetables, Gardening, Helping Neighbors, Hunger, Seed to Feed, Volunteers

‘Seed to feed’ is a program through Church Community Services where fresh produce is provided to local food pantries. The idea started two years ago and last year, 55 acres of corn and beans were planted to help fund the project and a one acre vegetable garden was planted. Shortly after its start, another garden was donated and a farmer donated 3 acres of potatoes.

Volunteers at Goshen’s garden work hard to harvest the last of summer produce. Volunteers are always needed to help pick vegetables from the programs many gardens. Donations of extra food from individual gardens are also accepted.

In its first year, 25,941 pounds of fresh produce was donated. This year the goal is the same and community involvement has increased. This summer six gardens were planted and so far, 17,000 pounds of produce has been harvested. Money from the cash crops has been used to go to the Wakarusa Produce Auction to purchase additional produce.

There are two fields of income crops being grown and this year a livestock component has been added as well.

More about ‘Seed to Feed’ HERE and HERE.

Jeremy Shue, Director of the Goshen Garden, with volunteers stand proudly behind vegetables they just harvested.

‘Seed to Feed’ thanks all the volunteers who give generously of their time and their muscles to help in the gardens. Listed below are all the gardens and scheduled work days.

PLEASE CALL IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PARTICIPATE!

Goshen Garden: 14723 CR 36, Goshen. Mondays @ 5:30pm. Coordinator: Jeremy Shue: jeremyshue@gmail.com. 574-536-2010

Bullard Garden: 22104 CR 14, Elkhart. Tuesdays @ 5:30pm. Coordinator: Kurt Bullard: Kurtbullard4444@gmail.com. 574-298-9059

CCS Garden: 902 Thomas St, Elkhart. Wed & Thurs @ 8:00am. Coordinator: Katie Jantzen: mailto:Kurtbullard4444@gmail.com. 574-295-3673 ext 122

Northwest Goshen: 538 S. Indiana Ave, Goshen. Wednesdays @ 5:30pm. Coordinator: Andrea Milne andreajillmilne@gmail.com. 574-400-5858

Heart’s Desire Garden: 3030 Old US 20, Elkhart. Thursdays @ 5:30pm. Coordinator: Dave Hochstetler Dhhooch@aol.com. 574-349-4905

See you at the gardens!

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Geocel, a local Sherwin-Williams company, helps Elkhart County residents

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Aid, Church Community Services, Civic Engagement, Civic Service, Empowering Women, Food Pantry, Helping Neighbors, Love, Need, Service, Soup of Success, Volunteer

Elkhart County’s Church Community Services quickly found ways for Geocel employee volunteers to assist them in serving the Elkhart County area.

Last Wednesday, 9 employees from Geocel assisted Elkhart County’s Church Community Services in a variety of ways. From 12:30 – 2:30, one group helped the Food Bank of Elkhart County sort hundreds of pounds of food, while the other group helped Soup of Success by assembling over 150 ‘No Worry Vegetable Curry’ soups.

The Sherwin-Williams Company often encourages their employees to find ways to give back to their own communities. So recently Sherwin-Williams contacted Church Community Services in the hopes that they could connect with Geocel, a local Sherwin-Williams company that specializes in sealants and adhesives. The goal was to determine if the Geocel leadership team might be able to engage their employees in the Elkhart community in a sustainable, meaningful way.  Because of the large demand for help throughout Church Community Services’ organization right now, they quickly found work them to do.

Continue reading HERE.

To donate to Church Community Services, visit their website or Facebook page and click on the donation button! Or call (574) 295-3673. So far, 14,787 families have been helped by Church Community Services in 2013

CHURCH COMMUNITY SERVICES

NEEDS WOOL SWEATERS!

If you come across wool sweaters in a thrift store or in the depths of your basement, attic or closet, Church Community Services would love to have them! The mittens being made from them are gorgeous and help empower women.

HELP! VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!

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Church Community Services, Community Garden, Community Service, Food Pantry, Fresh Produce, Help Needed, Volunteer

HELP!

Church Community Services is in need of some good hearted folk who aren’t afraid of doing some lifting, to help out in the warehouse. We need 4 people Monday – Friday from 12-3 p.m. If you can assist with any of those shifts, please contact Gwen at 574.295.3673.

Call soon, call often. Thank you!

Church Community Service Warehouse

People of all ages contribute their time and muscles to picking vegetables at Goshen’s ‘Feed to Seed’ community garden.

Volunteers needed to help harvest vegetables.

Church Community Services’ Feed to Seed gardens are starting to explode with fresh vegetables. Help is needed to harvest the produce.

As of today, Church Community Services’ food pantry program has provided a grand total of 23,468 lbs of vegetables so far this year to clients throughout Elkhart County!

Thanks to all the volunteers who give generously of their time and their muscles to help in our gardens. Listed below are all the gardens and scheduled work days.

PLEASE CALL IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PARTICIPATE!

Goshen Garden: 14723 CR 36, Goshen. Mondays @ 5:30pm. Coordinator: Jeremy Shue: jeremyshue@gmail.com. 574-536-2010

Bullard Garden: 22104 CR 14, Elkhart. Tuesdays @ 5:30pm. Coordinator: Kurt Bullard: Kurtbullard4444@gmail.com. 574-298-9059

CCS Garden: 902 Thomas St, Elkhart. Wed & Thurs @ 8:00am. Coordinator: Katie Jantzen: mailto:Kurtbullard4444@gmail.com. 574-295-3673 ext 122

Northwest Goshen: 538 S. Indiana Ave, Goshen. Wednesdays @ 5:30pm. Coordinator: Andrea Milne andreajillmilne@gmail.com. 574-400-5858

Heart’s Desire Garden: 3030 Old US 20, Elkhart. Thursdays @ 5:30pm. Coordinator: Dave Hochstetler Dhhooch@aol.com. 574-349-4905

See you at the gardens!

JOIN YOUR FRIENDS AT THE MIDDLEBURY SUMMER FESTIVAL, AUGUST 9 & 10

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Car Show, Contests, Entertainment, Family Entertainment, Family Fun, Games, Garden Tractor Pull, Middlebury, Middlebury Parade, Middlebury Summer Festival, Music, Pancake and Sausage Breakfast, Parade, Teen Dance, Tractor Pull

Bring your family to meet old friends and new, with live music, festival food, crafters, children’s activities and more!

Wholesome family entertainment can be found at this fun small town festival with the largest small town parade in the area on Saturday at 1:00.

For questions regarding the Summer Festival, contact marketing@middleburyfestivals.com.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

Friday & Saturday

August 9 & 10, 2013

Thursday, August 8th			Saturday, August 10th
3:30 – 8:00	Classic Car Cruise-In		9:00	Registration begins at the
	Das Dutchmen Essenhaus			covered bridge at the
				Essenhaus for the 6th
Friday, August 9th				Annual Fishing Tournament. Fish
10:30	Vendors open			from 9:30 to 11:00, with open
				fishing till noon. Coordinated by
6:00 -7:30	Hey Kids, It’s Jamin – A 7 piece			the Middlebury Parks Dept.
	rock band comprised of
	Northridge students		10:30	Music and Dance Academy
	(Entertainment Tent)			Entertainment Tent
			10:00 – 10:45	Arm Wrestling Registration
6:30	Garden Tractor Pull –			(BandStand)
	Held by Elkhart County Garden
	Tractor Pullers (Railroad Street)		10:30	Vendors open
6:30 – 7:45	Kids Games! A variety of games		11:00 – 1:00	Arm Wrestling Tournament
	and prizes for kids.			(Bristol Ave)
	(Beside Fire Station on Bristol Ave)
			11:00 – 12:00	Northern Lights and Starlights
8:00-10:00	DANG! A band founded by			Award winning Northridge High
	Northridge teachers.			School Show Choirs
	(Entertainment Tent)			(East Park Basketball Courts)
8:30-10:00	Teen Dance		1:00	Festival Parade – Route goes
	(East Park Pavilion)			from Middlebury Elementary
				to the library. Grand Marshals:
				Dick and Jolinda Zook. Sponsored
Vendors will remain open until 10:00 pm				by First State Bank of Middlebury
			Following the parade
Saturday, August 10th			* Tae Kwon Do demonstration (East Park)
7:00-10:30	Pancake & Sausage Breakfast		* Distinguished Young Women of Middlebury
	All you can eat. Sponsored by		* Presentation of Parade Awards
	Middlebury Church of the			(Entertainment Tent)
	Brethren         (East Park Pavilion)		3:00 – 5:00	Singer/guitarist Marty Miles delivers
				folk rock originals alongside
7:30-8:15	ECBOR Classic 5K registration			favorites from other artists
	(across Bristol Ave from Fire Station)			(Entertainment Tent)
			5:30 – 7:30	High Life will entertain you with
8:30	ECBOR Classic 5K Run Starts			some of the best Rock and Pop
	(across Bristol Ave from Fire Station)			music from the past!
				(Entertainment Tent)
8:45	ECBOR Classic 5K Walk Starts		7:30	Safety – four guys from Middlebury
	(across Bristol Ave from Fire Station)			who wanted to rock formed a Band
				(East Park Pavilion)
Community Worship in the Entertainment
Tent on Sunday at 5:00 pm			8:00- 10:00	Whistle Pigs – Contemporary Music
Everyone is welcome!				Classic Rock. Funk. Rhythm and Blues.
Sponsored by				seven-piece dance band
The Middlebury Ministerium				(Entertainment Tent)

CHECK OUT: Church Community Service’s New Food Pantry

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Church, Church Community Service, Civic Engagement, Civic Service, Community Service, Elkhart County, Elkhart County Business Donations, Elkhart County Indiana, Food, Food bank, Friends, Good Deeds, Goshen Indiana, Helping, Helping Friends, Helping Hand, Labor of Love, Michiana Tea Party Coalition, Neighbors, Volunteering, We the People 912

Labor of Love, which included businesses from St. Joseph and Elkhart counties, as well as “We the People” 912 and  the Michiana Tea Party Coalition distributed 80 bins and were among the first contributors to the new pantry.

More and more Elkhart County families are struggling on a daily basis to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table. It isn’t just the unemployed either. Parents are working multiple jobs and skipping meals just so they can make sure their children are fed.  They have tough decisions to make every day: whether to fill up the car or put food on the table; whether to pay the utilities or put food on the table; whether to pay the rent or put food on the table. All it takes is one illness, one dead car battery or one rent hike and they can no longer take care of their family without help.

For those without family or friends nearby, Church Community Services provides hope , in the form of food and education and finanacial assistance to families going through hard times in Elkhart County.  When families are living in poverty, they have to do without a lot of things – food should not be one of them.

Tuesday, September 4th, 2012 was a huge day for Church Community Services.

It was the grand opening of Church Community Services’ long awaited renovated food pantry and warehouse.  Church Community Services has been working towards making this transition for 4 years.  The new building will give them the resources, space, and opportunity to better serve needs in our growing community.  It will allow them to store and distribute more food. It  will be cleaner and more welcoming, and will give space to be more volunteer- and client- friendly. They will also be able to put more focus on education, such as providing handy recipes and nutritional facts.

The new pantry is 1,225 sq. ft. compared to the former 494 sq. ft.  The new warehouse is 2,910 sq. ft. compared to the current 1,680 sq. ft.  There is also a 864 sq. ft. welcome center complete with a children’s area, and a prayer room for anyone who feels a need to pray. Lots of love and labor was put into this project, and IT SHOWS!

This nutrician video, full of advice on meal planning, preparation and nutrition runs 24/7 in the waiting room.

Amazing things happen when we are given the privilege of being the channels of the Holy Spirit’s prayer. Church Community Service’s new pantry facility includes a chapel to assist client’s needs.

Here is part of the children’s play area where volunteers watch the children while their parents shop at the pantry.

The ‘Seed to Feed’ vegetables look so good! Fresh garden vegetables are ALWAYS so appreciated.

Mary Kneller, Food Director for Church Community Services, generously used up some of her very valuable time to show me the new facilities. It was a real pleasure.

Elkhart Citizen proud to help his Elkhart County neighbors

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Appreciation, Church Community Serices, Civic Engagement, Civic Service, Community, Community Engagement, Dave Hochstetler, Donation, Elkhart County, Elkhart County Indiana, Feed, Food bank, Food Pantry, Franklin Citgo, Fresh Garden Vegetables, Garden Crops, Generosity, Grateful, Green Beans, Harvest, Harvests, Helping Neighbors, Mr. Singh, Need, Neighbors, Ron Robinson, Seed to Feed, Tomatoes, Volunteering

“This a testament to the reach of hunger and the plight of people in need. What an excellent expression of Elkhart…. ” said Rob Robinson, executive director of Church Community Services in response to Mr. Singh of Franklin’s Citgo’s generous donation.

“Elkhart as been good to me and my family. I want to give something back to this community.” Mr. Singh, owner of Franklin’s Citgo, said his generous gift to Elkhart families in need was  his way of giving back to Elkhart County.

Thank you, Mr. Singh, for the financial gift you brought to us from your business. You’re helping us extend hope to lots of your neighbors. What a pleasure to meet you,” Rod Roberson, executive director of Church Community Services, is most appreciative of the support Church Community Services has received from businesses like Mr. Singhs and from much of the Elkhart Community.

The results of some of ‘Seed to Feed’s” first harvest. I can hardly believe the summer and food picking season is almost over.

Church Community Service’s Weekly ‘Seed to Feed’ Update…

Hi Everyone,
As summer is coming to a close, so will our gardens. But, we still have
some good harvests left to pick. We will go back to our regular schedule:
the Bullard Garden on CR17 will be picked on Monday, Sept 10th at 6:00 p.m.
This will probably be about our last picking. We might have one more on the
17th of Sept, but we will let you know.

The Goshen Garden on CR 36 will be picked on Tuesday, Sept 11, at
6:00 p.m. and we should have a “stellar” harvest of tomatoes and peppers. The
green beans are just about finished, but we still might get some this next
week.

The potato field will be tentatively be ready to pick up next Friday,
Sept.14. The field will be “turned” and then we have a 24 hr window to
pick up the potatoes before they turn green which is not good. We will need
about 50 volunteers with 5 gal buckets to pick them up and load them into
the containers that will then be loaded onto the semi. Date and details to
follow next early next week.

And finally, I’d like to thank the 7th grade class of St. Thomas School
for their wonderful support of the Seed to Feed program. They came to CCS
yesterday along with their teachers and mothers, took a tour of CCS to see
what happens on a daily basis at the Food Bank and then came to the Bullard
Garden to pick beans. The students, 50 in total, along with their teachers
and mothers all got down in the dirt and picked 430 lbs of green beans in
2 hrs. It was a good learning experience for the kids and what a wonderful
blessing for the Food Bank and the people they serve. Thank You kids,
teachers and mothers for your wonderful support!!!
Have a great weekend and we’ll see you at the gardens as we close out
the harvests over the next few weeks, and don’t forget the potato field.
Details will follow next week.

Blessings
Dave Hochstetler
Coordinator of the ‘Feed to Seed’ Program

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• We ARE our brother’s keeper: Elkhart County works together to assist neighbors in need (elkhartcountygrassrootshub.wordpress.com)
• Help Labor of Love fill Elkhart County’s food pantries (elkhartcountygrassrootshub.wordpress.com)
• How to get emergency assistance in Elkhart County for utility bills (elkhartcountygrassrootshub.wordpress.com)

Help Labor of Love fill Elkhart County’s food pantries

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Church Community Services, Civic Engagement, Community Service, Elkhart County, Elkhart County 4-H Fair, Elkhart County Indiana, Elkhart Indiana, Emergency Food, Food Pantry, Give, Indiana, Republican Party (United States), Starbucks, United States

Your food donations are needed.

For 44 years, Elkhart Church Community Services Church Community Services, a faith-based not-for-profit agency has helped people in Elkhart County, Indiana, weather life’s storms and build more secure futures. They do do this through emergency assistance and intensive job and life skills training.

So far, in 2012 Church Community Services has assisted over 16,000 families.

Leave your non-perishable food items at businesses in boxes displaying this sign.

Food drop-off locations

Elkhart: Hart City Resale Store, Martin’s Grocery, Starbucks (U.S. 33), GOP Elkhart Victory Center, Miles Lab Restaurant, Sport’s Time Family Pub, McDowell Plating Co., Dibley Chiropractic Center & Family Video Stores

Goshen: Family Chiropractic Clinic

Wakarusa: Larimer Furniture Store, The Dime Store, The Dollar General Store (on Hwy. 19), Forest River Corp.

Mishawaka: Futon Factory, All Famiy Video Stores, B & B Molding and the Mishawaka GOP Victory Center

Kids waiting in the pantry while their parents shop.

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• We ARE our brother’s keeper: Elkhart County works together to assist neighbors in need (elkhartcountygrassrootshub.wordpress.com)
• Elkhart County Sheriff impliments program that saves county money and reduces future crime (elkhartcountygrassrootshub.wordpress.com)
• How to get emergency assistance in Elkhart County for utility bills (elkhartcountygrassrootshub.wordpress.com)

Elkhart County Sheriff impliments program that saves county money and reduces future crime

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Changing Hearts, Changing Lives, Changing Minds Brad Rogers, Correctional Facility, Criminal Justice, Good Citizens, Jails, Lower Taxes, Proactive, Recidivism, Reduced Crime, Repeat Offenders, Return to Community, Sheriff

According to a 2-year-study from the Community Training and Resource Center implementing evidence-based programs in the Elkhart County Correctional Facility is helping inmates stay out of jail after they are released.

In a press conference Wednesday morning, Sheriff Brad Rogers said that programs in the jail such as the GED program and the “Thinking for a Change” program instead of simply warehousing the inmates, has reduced recidivism to 17 to 26 percent. For the population that did not go through the programs, the rates have stayed at 49 percent recidivism.

Deanne Anadon teaches a G.E.D. class at the Elkhart County Jail in Elkhart County on Wednesday. Anadon has taught G.E.D. classes for 15 years. (Truth Photo By Evey Wilson)

When ex-offenders continue to commit crimes, the community is victimized all over again. Life is less safe. Plus, as taxpayers, we don’t want to have to build more jails. Reducing the recidivism rate by just ONE percent keeps 7 offenders from committing crimes that will send them back to prison.

Rogers says inmates are often cynical when they start the court ordered program but not when they come out.

“What we find is that after they’ve completed the class, most of them are believers in that, ‘Yes, they can make a positive change in their life and a lot of it is just in their thought process.'”

Sheriff Rogers says 2,700 inmates went through the program from 2009 to 2011 and they are excited to get evidence that the programs are really working.

More about Sheriff Brad Rogers:

Middlebury Dairy Farmer, Sheriff, stand up to FDA
Elkhart County sheriff supports sentencing reforms
Sheriff Brad Rogers Outlines Cost of Incarceration
Goshen Community to Honor Fallen Policemen

We ARE our brother’s keeper: Elkhart County works together to assist neighbors in need

Tags

Benefit, Civic Engagement, Community, Community Service, Depression, Elkhart County, Elkhart County Indiana, Food Banks, Food Pantry, Gardens, Indiana, Need, Recession, United States, Vegetables

Helping hands come in all shapes and sizes.

Elkhart County’s community gardens bring people together of all ages and from every walk of life. You DON’T have to be an experienced gardener to be of assistance. One woman who picked beans last night told me that she had never before picked a bean in her life. But, she said she likes how working in the garden makes her feel. “This feeds people here in our community,” she explains. “We can get a little sweaty and dirty for someone else. Giving back is a good thing.”

Despite this summer’s earlier drought, I do not think it possible for the bean crop to have been MORE prolific. I have NEVER seen bean bushes so laden.

As the economic recession keeps demand at food banks running high, the “big need” and “big hearts” keep “Seed to Feed” volunteers motivated.

Hi, it’s me. I cheated and brought a garden cart to wheel around on.

Get involved! We believe God will continue to bring people and resources together to produce a harvest of vegetables as well as fruit in the lives of those giving and receiving.

Wow! Look at the results. According to Dave Hochstetler, Seed to Feed Coordinator, yesterday volunteers picked 210 pounds of beans and 94 pounds of cucumbers and tomatoes. All from the Goshen farm!

These tomatoes will be SO appreciated by Church Community Service’s food pantry clients!

‘Seed to Feed’s’ coordinator, Dave Hochstetler, says that the vegetables are coming in so plentifully that “Seed to Feed” needs 30 pickers each time: Mondays at 9 a.m., Tuesdays at 7 p.m. Tell your churches, tell your clubs, tell your families. Great group project. Call Dave for details: 574-349-4905 or dhhooch@aol.com .

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Tuesday, August 21: Tea Party of Michiana Action Coalition Meeting

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Agenda 21, August 21 2012, Church Community Services, Food Pantry Fundraiser, Fundraising, Glenn Beck Event, IMPORTANT MEETING, Labor of Love, Michiana Tea Party Coalition, Organizations, TEA-MAC

Information will be shared about the Glenn Beck Event in Dallas (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

by Susan Chilberg

oh oh…..I may have told folks it was the 17th…..but whatever that third Tuesday is…… WE HAVE A HUMONGOUS MEETING PLANNED!!!!!!! REPORTS FROM THE BROOKS’ ON THE GLENN BECK EVENT IN DALLAS……..AND A GUEST SPEAKER FROM JBS ON WHAT WE CAN DO ABOUT UN AGENDA 21….more learning…..more action. CAN WE MEET 15 MINUTES EARLIER? ARE YOU ALL UP FOR THAT? OR DO WE NEED TO STICK TO 7PM? IF WE STICK TO 7PM….PLEASE BE READY TO START PROMPTLY AT 7PM AND HANG ONTO YOUR SEATS…..LOTS TO ACCOMPLISH!

TIME: 7:00 p.m., Tuesday, August 21, 2012
LOCATION: Beulah Missionary Church
57595 Old County Road 17, Goshen, IN (map)