Southside Outreach Ministry
I’m so excited to bring you up to date on what the Southside Outreach Program has been doing behind the scenes. We kicked off the Covid 19 lock down on March 25th with a free Barbecue drive-thru for anyone who wanted a free meal. The meat was provided by Grant and Amy Fowler, and the office staff put together and handed out the meals in the church parking lot.
Each week our office has been closed we have worked behind the scenes to organize and deliver food, cards, gift baskets and so much more to Southside members and our community.
The staff organized several drive-thru birthday parades and even a boat parade for some of our elderly members’ birthdays. We wanted them to know they were not forgotten!
With donations from Colton’s Restaurant in Rogers and Sam’s Club in Bentonville, we were able to provide lunch to the staff of one of the Mercy Clinics and 100’s of cookies to the Children’s Hospital in Springdale and several nursing homes in the area to say “Thank You” to the staff for the sacrifices they are making during this pandemic.
On May 13th, Rogers School District asked for some $5.00 food cards. We were able to provide 60 food cards for them. Since then I’ve received several generous donations that will be used to purchase cards when school starts.
We have been able to provide some financial assistance to members who lost their jobs because of the virus and economy.
Members and staff have stepped up to help when called upon to take elderly for doctors’ appointments and with chores they were unable to do by themselves. Our staff has continually made weekly phone calls to check on shut-in members throughout this time when we are unable to meet in the building.
This past week, with the help of a very generous donation from a Southside family, I was able to buy school clothes, shoes, back packs, etc. for a couple of children.
Our Outreach Program has done some fun things like take cookies and ice-cream, lunch and flowers to some of our sick members just to say, “We love and miss you”.
Please feel free to call the church office if you know someone in our congregation who might need a card, gift basket or something we can help with.
All these efforts were possible through your donations to the Outreach Program.
Stay safe and know we are “Doing Good Work”.
Sharon Koch
Southside Outreach Coordinator
