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!

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.

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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‘Strong Woman’ from Soup of Success…because we need to hear MORE good news

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Challenge, Church Community Services, Civic Engagement, Community, Community Service, Constitution, Education, Education Empowers, Elkhart County, Elkhart County Indiana, Ensuring Success, Family Fun, Food, Food Pantry, Freedom, Goshen, Indiana, Life Skills, Need, Soup of Success, Volunteer, Volunteering, Women, Work

Need some inspiration?

WEEKLY ‘SEED TO FEED’ UPDATE…IT IS ALL GOOD!

Sent: Thursday, August 23, 2012 7:45 AM
Subject: Seed to Feed Weekly Update

Hi Everyone,

This past week we had two great harvests at both of our gardens. There
were 29 volunteers who showed up at the Bullard Garden on Monday and 25
volunteers at the Goshen Garden on Tuesday. Thank You all.

We are moving the time of the Bullard Garden picking to 6:00 p.m. We are moving the time of the Bullard Garden picking on Monday evenings. We still need 30 volunteers to pick green beans and sweet corn. Although we will pick on Monday evenings, if anyone wants to pull weeds between the rows, please do so at your own time schedule. If more weeds are pulled,that means more beans get picked. The Bullard Garden is
directly across from Sorg Jewelers, C.R. 17. With 30 volunteers, weeds pulled and fast pickers, we could pick a 1000# of green beans in 3 hrs—-we have lots of beans!!!!!

The Goshen Garden has tons of green tomatoes that should be ready
soon. We will pick every Tuesday at 6:00pm and it is located at 14723
C.R. 36. Last week with 25 volunteers, we picked 11 boxes of beans, tomatoes
and peppers in 1 1/2 hours.

This was a great week and thanks to ALL the volunteers that came and
helped pick. See you Monday and Tuesday at the gardens.

Blessings
Dave Hochstetler

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

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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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‘Seed to Feed’ has yielded 510 pounds of food so far this summer! More volunteers needed!

Tags

Community, Community Service, Food, Food Pantries, Food security, Garden, Goshen, Green bean, Harvest, Home, Home-Grown, Potatoes, Sweet corn, Tomatoes, Tuesday, Vegetables, Volunteer, Volunteering

Posted on August 10, 2012 by churchcommunityservices

Yield from the Goshen farm.

Beautiful produce from our beautiful Seed to Feed acre in Goshen.  Our clients are so happy!

Fresh vegetables for Elkhart Counties food pantries.

Fresh air, exercise, good honest dirt, and service that helps sustains CCS’s food supply: From now till the end of harvest season, Seed to Feed will need at least 15 volunteers 2 days a week. We will pick the green beans and sweet corn at the Bullard Garden every Monday at 9:00am. It is located on C.R.17 and Middlebury St, directly across from Sorg Jewelers on the west side of C.R.17.

The Fresh Produce Garden in Goshen will be picked every Tuesday at 7:00pm. It is located at 14723 CR36. It is just east of CR33 about 1/8 of a mile on the north side of CR36. The gardens are really starting to produce nice yields each week and should until the end of the season. If you can help, please contact Church Community Services either by email (dhhooch@aol.com) or phone (574-349-4905).

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• County farmers and ‘Church Community Services’ join forces to feed the hungry (elkhartcountygrassrootshub.wordpress.com)
• August update on the development of The Mustard Seed (themustardseedcoop.wordpress.com)