School Clothes & Happy Faces!

What would be like to start school without anything to wear?  What would it feel like to have one pair of jeans that you had to wear everyday?  How would it affect the way you think about yourself if your only shirt had stains all over it?  What about underwear?  For most of us, those have never been concerns but to many, they are real.  Shared Blessings' recently took its Mobile Clothing Unit to Clayton, OK for a clothing giveaway day.  Over 150 people received clothing that day but I was particularly moved by some of the children who came through.  One young girl came through who had been home schooled all of her life but was about to attend public school for the first time.  Her only dilemma was that she didn't have enough to wear.  Realizing that she couldn't afford clothing, she had decided she would just stay home again.  After coming through our clothing trailer, she had found more than enough to get started in school.  It was a joy to watch.  There were many other children in need who found school clothing that day.  Most kids get excited about what they are going to wear the first few days of school.  I am grateful that there were several kids in the Clayton area who, after visiting our Mobile Clothing Unit, were excited about what they got to wear as well!

Approximately 300 children received clothing from Shared Blessings here in McAlester every month.  As school started in this area, over 1000 students received a backpack, school supplies and a Bible.  It gives us great joy to be able to meet the needs of so many getting ready for the new school year. 

Thank you for your donations of clothing, food & finances.  It makes this ministry possible!

Shared Blessings welcomes new Ministry Coordinator

We are pleased to announce the hiring of Joey Clark as our Ministry Coordinator. Joey was serving as Assoc. Pastor/Media Director for Life Church here in McAlester and has been in full-time ministry for over 12 years. Joey comes to us with a tremendous amount of experience and ability. After the passing away of our Director, Earlene Dowell, we knew that we would ultimately need to fill that position. That certainly was not an easy thing to do, but we are thankful that we were able to get someone as committed and talented as Joey.

 Joey says, "I am excited to be a part of what Shared Blessings is doing for people in our community. This ministry has done so much, for so many people through the years, and I am looking forward to what the future holds." Joey is married to Cindy Clark who teaches at Jefferson Early Childhood Center. They have two children, Conner (10) and Caitlyn (8).

Joey's responsibilities include the day-to-day leading of each of the many ministries that Shared Blessings now offers. He will be working side-by-side with Bill Dowell and our many volunteers on a daily basis. The ministries include clothing and food distribution, a food program for kids, which is called the Nutrition Club, and the backpack and school supply giveaway each August. Shared Blessings is also introducing two new programs in 2012, which include a local Habitat for Humanity affiliate and Disaster Relief Services. We are so excited about these new ministries. Habitat for Humanity is a tremendous world-wide organization that desires to provide a decent place to live for all people. Joey Clark is leading this great new endeavor here in the McAlester area and the organizational process is well underway. We are also now prepared to respond to tornados and other disasters with our new mobile clothing unit.

There are great days ahead. Welcome Joey!

Two Are Better Than One

The longer I live, the more I find certain things to be undeniably true. One of those things would be the principle that "two are better than one". Maybe you have heard of The two-horse rule. The concept of teamwork can be illustrated by the two-horse rule. If one horse can pull 700 pounds and another horse can pull 800 pounds, how much weight will they pull yoked together? The answer may surprise you. The two-horse team will pull their own weight plus the weight of their interaction. Therefore, yoked together, the horses can pull 3000 pounds!

Not many things seem more evident to me than the profound impact of teamwork. When people join together with all of their strengths, all of their experience, and their ability to encourage, and motivate, monumental things can be accomplished. When we operate on our own, we are hindered by so many things of which we have no answer in and of ourselves. Whether it is a lack of ability, understanding or experience, left to ourselves, our potential is drastically less that of a partnership or team.

The life blood of a community is the many different relationships that are formed to achieve a greater goal. Think for a moment how many things are accomplished all across our community on a daily basis through the principle of teamwork. From families, to schools, to businesses, to city government, civic clubs, churches and so on, the fact is that hardly anything of significance happens without people joining together.

At Shared Blessings, I spend most of my time pulling people together to accomplish great acts of service. Day after day is filled with planning meetings, volunteer groups and other partnerships that result in lives being touched. When a single mother comes through our doors and has a variety of needs, our ability to meet those needs is the result of multiple partnership having already come together. The food that we provide to nearly 300 children every weekend is an undertaking only achievable through teamwork.

Honestly, I cannot think of anything more vital for our community than for people to continue, and even expand, their commitment to partnerships and teamwork. What challenges do we face that cannot be met by our unified resolve? What problems are so prevalent that the appropriate partnerships cannot solve? If we are willing to lay down our own agendas, there is very little beyond our reach.

The English poet, John Donne, was famous for his poem, "No Man is an Island". We do not stand alone, and why would we ever want to? Things of significance are usually always accomplished in concert with one another. Today, embrace teamwork. Do not spend the day trying to do it all yourself. Look for ways to partner with others. There is more joy and effectiveness in this method. We were not created to go it alone.

A day in the life of Shared Blessings

So what kind of things typically happen on a ordinary day at Shared Blessings? Here are a few ...

The day started off with 5 wonderful ladies from the Hope House coming to help sort clothes. We appreciate getting to interact with these ladies who are in the midst of great transformation in their lives. The Hope House is a such a fantastic local ministry. We are grateful to Tina Adams and everyone involved.

Bill (asst. director) and Eric (trustee) began prepping our new Mobile Clothing Unit to be painted. A few hours later, Bill emerged from the trailer looking like he needed a short stint at The Oaks to offset the fumes. Thanks to Larry Case & McAlester Paint & Supply for the donation of paint and supplies. Our trailer is nearing completion.

The day also consisted of many different volunteers coming in to work. Peggy & Tamara drove up from Antlers to work. Joyce, Diane, Laura and Brandy worked all afternoon helping sort clothes and assist shoppers. Addison & Dexter Brown came in after school to help pack food boxes for families. Shared Blessings cannot survive without these valuable volunteers.

34 people came in during the afternoon to receive clothing. 12 of those 34 had never been to Shared Blessings before, which is always a joy. First time shoppers are typically overwhelmed with the help that they are given. We love it when our shopping room gets busy with mothers shopping and their children playing. 5 families came in and received boxes of food. Several people also filled out applications for help with utilities.

It's the teamwork that makes everything possible. The volunteer labor ...the financial support of so many generous people ... the clothing donations made by the community ... the hard work of our staff. All of it comes together to make Shared Blessings a place where needs are met.

Just an "ordinary" day ... well, gotta go, today is is shaping up to be another "ordinary" day.