People Make it Happen!

You want to know why Shared Blessings is making a difference in our community? People Make it Happen! Do you know why we can feed nearly 200 children every weekend? How we can hand out over 1250 bags of food to children in the past 60 days? People Make it Happen! What about clothing? Nearly 1400 people have received clothing since October 1st. People Make that Happen! During October & November, 175 families have received food - that's 550 people. How? People Make it Happen!

Whether it's a group of Senior students from McAlester High School coming on a Monday morning to sort clothes and pack bags or a group of nursing students from the Vo-Tech ... People Make it Happen! It might be a group of lawyers in the area rallying donations to support area kids or Spirit Aerosystems bringing workers to volunteer. One thing we know for sure is that People Make it Happen. How can Shared Blessings do so many things without any federal grant money? Our financial donors make it happen every month with their generosity!

Last month, 8 groups (Kiamichi Vo-Tech, City of McAlester, Mascoto Chiropractic, Krebs School, Family Video, Standard Machine, McAlester Regional, The King's House) made Thanksgiving happen for 230 people. It's obvious to us ... People Make it Happen!

Are you getting the picture? What about churches like First Baptist or Life Church that donate $5000 per year to sponsor a school and then send volunteers to prepare bags of food? What about daily volunteers like Heidi, Joyce, Carol or Diane? What about local businesses that donate items to raise money for our auction?

Can I stop yet? I don't think so. There is an incredibly dedicated board of directors that meets early in the morning (while its still dark, I might add)to pray for and give direction to this ministry. There is a great guy named Joey who helps deliver Nutrition Club food every week as well as builds our website and produces videos when needed. People Truly Make it Happen!

This blog could be endless because there are people everywhere who have found a way to get involved. Our goal is to Change our Community With Compassion and People are Making it Happen! I am blessed to be a part of this great endeavor and we are all grateful for whatever ways you have been a part. Let's Keep Making it Happen!

"Sometimes I would like to ask God why He allows poverty, suffering, and injustice when he could do something about it."

"Well, why don't you ask Him?"

"Because I'm afraid He would ask me the same question"

Join with us in doing something about poverty, suffering and injustice in our community. We need you involvement ... your partnership ... your generosity ... your time and talents. Together, we can make more of a difference than any of us have dreamed.

Come out to our upcoming Shared Blessings Banquet and hear more about what Shared Blessings is doing and is hoping to do. Click on the tab at the top of this page to get your tickets for this big event on Tuesday, November 9th at the SE Expo Center.

Changing a Community through ...

What will truly change things in our community? How will we really make a difference in people's lives? Those are loaded questions that can have complex answers. Sometimes, making a difference in people's lives seems so difficult that we begin to lose heart and over time, we lose our desire to even try.

We can even become cynical and judgmental. "If they would just get a job, their life would be different." "Everyone who needs help are just drug addicts anyway." You and I both know those thought patterns. Who hasn't thought that?

Well, one thing I know for sure. Judgment and cynicism never changed anybody for the good! Those attitudes are not the answer for our community ... for those who are hurting. Turning a deaf ear to those struggling will never make a difference, no matter the justification.

The primary way that we can change our community is through compassion. Compassion is defined as "sympathy for the suffering of others often including a desire to help". Making a difference always begins with an attitude of concern or as the definition states ... sympathy. That's why we must reject being judgmental and cynical. Those attitudes are the opposite of sympathy. Once we have an attitude of concern, we can then be motivated to help.

Where are you presently? Do you struggle with being judgmental? When you see someone in need, are you quick to think of reasons why it is their fault? Compassion is the key to change ... and our own pride & judgment keeps us from being able to be compassionate. Work at thinking differently about people in need. You'll be surprised how it will change your life and those with whom you have contact.

Back to School Busy!

August is here and everyone is getting ready for school. So many are involved in helping us gear up for our Back to School Bash this coming Saturday (Aug. 7th). From church groups volunteering to mow, to volunteers working to organize and pack up backpacks and supplies, to local businesses making financial donations, to area agencies helping to put together details for cook-out, inflatables & other activities, the level of involvement is incredible.

If you want to see what the community working together looks like, come by Saturday morning as approximately 2000 people will work their way through our facility. Come early and come prepared to jump in and help because the excitement is contagious.

Thank you to everyone who has helped to this point. We are all looking forward to a great Saturday!

Hunger is a Reality for Many!

The Harsh Reality of Hunger
in Oklahoma

Sadly, according to the USDA, Oklahoma ranks fourth in the nation in the number of people who are "very low food insecure," or hungry, at 5.9 percent. We rank sixth in the nation at 14.0 percent in the number of people who are food insecure, which is defined by the USDA as being hungry at times during the year due to lack of money for food. Here is a brief snapshot of the hungry in Eastern Oklahoma:

The Faces of the Hungry in Eastern Oklahoma
44 percent of household members served by emergency pantry programs in Eastern Oklahoma are children under the age of 18.

More than 22 percent of our children live in food insecure households - more then one in five children at risk of going to bed hungry every night.

Of households experiencing hunger, less than 20 percent are classified as unemployed. More than one-third are disabled and/or retired, while the remaining 46 percent have at least one working member.

Poverty in Eastern Oklahoma
16.2 percent of Oklahomans live in poverty, more than one in six. The poverty level in 2009 is $22,050 for a family of four.

Oklahoma's poverty rate is highest on children with 23.2 percent living in poverty.

Tough Choices
48 percent of households served report having to choose between paying for food and paying for utilities; 36 percent had to choose between paying for food and paying rent or mortgage; and 34 percent had to choose between paying for food and paying for medicine or medical care.

Emergency Food Programs
The Food Bank is by far the single most important source of food for emergency food programs, accounting for 70 percent of food used by pantries, 56 percent of food used by soup kitchens and 42 percent of food used by shelters.

The single fastest growing group of people relying on emergency feeding programs is the working poor: households where both parents may be working, or where one is holding down one or more low-paying jobs.

This was an except taken from the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma's website concerning hunger. We partner with the food bank to feed both families and children on a week-to-week basis. If these numbers were taken solely from SE Oklahoma, they would be even higher.

Shared Blessings' Global Ministries

Shared Blessings is all about meeting needs right here in our community. Our energies are focused on children and families in SE Oklahoma especially the McAlester area. But that's not where our influence ends. We strive hard to utilize every good piece of clothing that is given to us. Excess clothing and supplies are put to good use in a variety of ways.

Other non-profit agencies/ministries have found Shared Blessings to be a great resource. Just this week, The Family Care Ministries out of Dallas, TX picked up a truck load of clothing that will be dispersed in Mexico and the inner-city Dallas area.

We also work with missionaries out of the Philippines (Paul & Mary Wilson) to provide clothing and other misc supplies. We are hoping to be able to partner with Feed the Children in the near future to ship clothing to Haiti as well.

It is our desire to put all of the donations received to good use!

God's Boom-A-Rang Principle

2 Cor. 9:6 says "whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly and whoever sows generously will also reap generously". This principle relates to everything in life (not just giving). Think about it for a moment. What do you sow consistently ... peace or strife, joy or frustration, forgiveness or judgment, mercy or bitterness, encouragement or criticism? And do you sow those things sparingly or generously? Do you sow compassion? Do you sow a giving spirit?

Whatever we sow ... that's what we receive. Whatever we give away, comes back to us. It's a eternal principle! The more judgment you give, the more you will get back from others. If we give un-forgiveness, we will find ourselves experiencing a lack of compassion and forgiveness from others. If we are stingy to those in need, we will find ourselves alone in our struggles.

What if we kept this principle in mind during every moment of the day? What if in every situation, we gave what we wanted to receive back? I wonder how it would change the way we communicated with others ... how willing we would be to look someone who is hurting in the eye and express encouragement? I believe I would be more likely to forgive at a moment's notice, give to help someone, or bite my tongue when something doesn't go my way.

In a very real sense, we are reaping today what we sowed yesterday, which makes me want to pay more attention to what I'm going to sow today!

Choose today to sow love, sacrifice, compassion, mercy, forgiveness & encouragement and then watch God's boom-a-rang principle in your life.

Blessings! (I feel it coming back to me already)

Serve-a-Thon ... a Success!

This past week, each class at Lakewood Christian School spent the week involved in different community service projects. We were privileged to have 2 different classes help at Shared Blessings. Mrs. Daniels 4th grade class spent 3 hours working on-site helping with nutrition club bags, sorting clothes, hanging clothes, as well as helping people check-out. The students did a great job!

Mrs. Findley's K-5 class took part in a book drive. They gathered over 500 books to donate to Shared Blessings. Now, every child that comes through will have the opportunity to pick out a book and take home with them. Our children's area is called The Lena Thomas Children's Library. It is named after a very precious woman who volunteered at Shared Blessings and dreamed of providing a place for kids to play and read. That dream is now a reality!

The serve-a-thon event served as a fundraiser for the school but the greater good was probably each student getting the opportunity to be involved in ministries throughout the community. We applaud the school for seeing how important serving truly is and committing the whole school to that endeavor.

Shared Blessings continues to strive to be a place where everyone can get involved in serving others, whether by hands-on service or through the donating of funds. When we work together, so much can be accomplished.

Summer is nearly here

Only 6 weeks remain in the school year! Summertime takes the Nutrition Club to another level as we transition from school deliveries to home deliveries. The children in the Nutrition Club face the same hunger issues in the summer as they do throughout the school year. As a matter of fact, many struggle even worse since they do not have everyday meals at school.

So, as summer approaches, plans are being made to begin the home delivery process of the Nutrition Club. Every Friday during the summer, volunteers will take a route that includes approximately 10 homes. They will have the opportunity to individually deliver each bag to each child. This is certainly bitter-sweet as you experience both the poverty and struggles of the children but also their smiles and excitement when you arrive.

If you would like to get involved this summer, email me at scott@sharedblessings.tv. We will be forming teams in the very near future. As always, we need financial support to make the whole process happen! You can donate online or by mailing to PO Box 328 / McAlester, OK 74502.

We are excited to announce that we have received commitments from 2 new groups for the 2010-2011 school year. We will now be able to expand to 6 schools overall!

Lending to the Lord!

Prov 19:17 says ... "He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD ,
and he will reward him for what he has done." God takes on the plight of the poor and oppressed. He feels their pain and shares in their suffering. He is fully aware when we give to meet the needs of those less fortunate just as he is aware when we do not. Trust me, no gift given out of a sincere heart is ever forgotten by our Heavenly Father.

Think about it for a moment. God is so concerned for those who are brokenhearted, oppressed, poor, afflicted & needy; that anyone who steps up to meet their needs will find God himself there to repay and reward. When we are kind to the poor, God promises to repay that debt himself. What is there to lose? When we give, so many good things happen. Needs are met, our hearts are changed & God shows up.

Find a way to help someone in need today ... God is longing to repay whatever debt is incurred. Make a donation online to help the many needy that we work with everyday. God Bless!

A Donation To Remember

Shared Blessings has now started a prison ministry. Well, not really, but we have had the opportunity to work with some "trustees" from the county jail. They have been invaluable in helping us get all the work done in our warehouse each day.

A few weeks ago, after spending the afternoon packing up bags of food for children, one of the trustees named Dillon approached us with a $10 bill and said, "I want you to have this. I have everything I need and I want to help all these people." It was quite a humbling experience. When someone, who has very little, is moved to give to others, it can't help but have an effect on you.

This donation really made me think. It seems, most of the time, that my giving is simply out of my abundance. What could be accomplished if I truly gave sacrificially? What needs would be met? What would change in my heart? That's why it was such a donation to remember!

Nutrtion Club Packing Party

On Sunday afternoon, approx 15 people from one of Life churches small groups came out to pack food for the 100 kids that we now feed every week. I would use 3 words to describe the night ... fast, fellowship & faithful. Packing 400 bags of food is a fast and furious assembly line process. Once it begins, everyone is in perpetual motion. The fellowship that begins to happen is awesome. When we work together in serving others, true fellowship begins to break out. Faithful would be the final word I would use. It's exciting to see people being faithful in meeting the needs of others.

I want to thank Ron DeGiacomo and his Life Group for coming out and spending an hour preparing these bags of food for each child. It was a great night.

If you would like to be a part of packing bags of food for the nutrition club, email me at scott@sharedblessings.tv. Check out more about the nutrition club by selecting the "Ministries" tab.

Defending the Defenseless!

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress ..."

God is a defender of the defenseless! We are called to do the same. Religion or spirituality is not as much about how many church services we attend as it is about how we react to those in need. Our Christianity is evidenced by our heart for people, especially those who need protection.

One of our goals here at Shared Blessings is to provide for those who can't provide for themselves, which is why the Nutrition Club has taken such a priority. Children are always the innocent victims of the circumstances around them. Too many children in our society are having to "fend" for themselves. When children, who are basically defenseless, have to find a way to survive without the protection of parents/guardians who love them, they are changed forever.

What can be done? We can find ways to step in and fill the gaps in their life. Families can become foster parents or adopt. Churches can place a major emphasis upon programs towards children, especially the unchurched and needy. Ministries like Shared Blessings can step up to meet their physical needs such as clothing and food. Teachers can become mentors to those who have none.

We can and we must! Are you defending the cause of the defenseless?

Open Again!

Shared Blessings is finally open once again! Thank you to everyone who donated to help us through this season. The shopping room has been renovated and the warehouse cleaned out. Come by sometime and see the improvements, especially our new Veggie Tales children's area.

We are also ready to receive donations of clothing. We are here daily from 8:30-5 p.m.

See you soon!

Can we start 2010 again?

As I'm writing this blog, we are dealing with an outdoor gas leak that has caused us to have no heat in the building, as well as a broken water pipe that has left the warehouse and part of the shopping room flooded! This was not on our to-do list for 2010. There are so many other things that need to be happening right now instead of the cleanup involved from a burst water pipe. But the reality, is that sometimes, life just happens that way. Some of the people who come to Shared Blessings for help have experienced that same truth. They have hit hard times and it can be overwhelming. Losing a job in this economy is not that difficult. Finding a new one can be!

So as we are cleaning up over the next few days (or longer), we will stay positive because many, many people have it worse than we do. Our temporary problem will get solved through hard work & some money (ouch). But it will get solved. There are some who wonder if they will ever make it through their difficulties!

Become a Shared Blessings' Messenger of Hope by partnering with us financially. Your support can help bring someone through the most difficult time of their life.