Celebrating BIG this Saturday!!!

We’re CELBRATING 2 YEARS OF SERVICE!!! Wohoo!!!

On August 13^th, 2010 Forever Fed hosted our first block party at Canton Adventist Church on Scott Mill Road in Canton and it was a party, indeed!  The enormity of what began that day continues to overwhelm both myself and others today and it never fails to bring a smile to my face. Our leadership of seven dedicated servants decided from the beginning that we’d serve meals when we promised to serve them regardless of weather. God held us to that promise on our first day of service. This was our first lesson in accountability.

On August 13^th, 2010, one hour prior to our scheduled start time a tornado went through the very neighborhood we were supposed to serve.  People started calling me at 4 PM telling me how bad the weather was, they pleaded with me to cancel and I reminded all that we promised to serve regardless of the weather and the food was already made so we were fully committed to this event. In God’s best humor, our first weather challenge was a tornado! We can laugh about it now but at the time it was kind of stressful.  

Getting to Canton Adventist Church that day wasn’t easy. While driving the Forever Fed truck from Woodstock to Canton we had to turn around and take a different route because of downed trees in the road. When we finally arrived on the on the Canton Adventist campus we were a little bit late and a little bit shaken. The rain had stopped but the local power was out, trees were down all around, and a roof had even blown off one of the Canton buildings we drove by. Deep breath.

Slowly but surely our volunteers and leadership arrived at the site. As we began to set up our first block party we noticed the neighborhood residents were coming out of their homes to view the destruction done by the storm. Ironically, their lack of electricity made it difficult to cook an evening meal as well. The good news was we had already prepared a meal for them! 

The clouds were clearing, the temperature was actually cooling, and it was turning out to be a wonderful evening. Some would call this coincidence; others would call it a Godsidence.  We served 85 meals at our first block party to a crowd of very appreciative residents and our infant ministry took its first baby step in this world.

I’m laughing as I’m typing this because our leadership looked at each other after that first event was finished and we all said, “Wow, this was great, let’s do it again!”  At that time, we had less than $300 in the Forever Fed bank account but we had big hearts and many dreams. This was the beginning of God showing us exactly HOW big He is!

This coming Saturday is the second anniversary of our first block party, we like to call it Forever Fed’s Birthday! Looking back it’s easy to see God’s hand all over His ministry.

• Since August, 2010, by the grace of God, we’ve served 21,277 meals.  As I’m typing this number out…I’m still amazed.
• We’ve hosted 158 events and only had to reschedule one of them.
• We’ve partnered with many Churches and organizations of many different religions and we all work cohesively and joyfully knowing Jesus is there in the middle of every event.
• We’ve received thousands of dollars in donations from hundreds of private donors, organizations, as well as in-kind donations of products and foods that have met every need we ever experienced, and then some.
• We’ve had hundreds of volunteers step up and serve thousands of volunteer hours. This is probably one of the most amazing and humbling parts of this ministry. God has sent us an army to help us battle hunger and hopelessness. Thank you God!

I speak for the entire leadership team when I say we are amazed and often overwhelmed by God’s enormity. In between our ongoing ‘happy dance’ we’ve spent time in prayer both praising and giving thanks.

Numbers and statistics are only a few of the highlights as we’ve seen real miracles happening every week.  Just last week I was asking God, “What in the world are we  going to serve during our Birthday Party at Scott Mill next week?” and the very next day I got a call from a restaurant that donated 200 pounds of pork to Forever Fed.  God answers prayers.

In the last two years God has grown the faith of our leadership so quickly and in such magnitude that it’s sometimes a bit painful . But through it all, He has given us the same clear and concise messages over and over again.

• Rely on Him, He is the Alpha and Omega, it all begins and ends with Him.
• God provides for His children abundantly. We need to just get our small minds and limited ideas out of the way to witness his grandness.
• God sometimes uses storms to re-direct our paths and to increase our ability to witness our faith in Him to others. Some trees may fall, electricity may fail, and roofs get blown away, God is not only “there”, He has a purpose.

So HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY Forever Fed and a BIG "Thank You Jesus" for pouring out your abundant blessings on our community. We pray the Lord will continue to use Forever Fed to His glory and His glory alone!

The Jesus in Me

I’ve spent much time in the last few weeks investigating and researching all sorts of “stuff,” that I think I need to know. In the mornings I turn on the television and do a “quick check” into Facebook which leads me to everything from reading political posts to looking at the vacation pictures of friends. Sometimes my friends Facebook posts direct me to Pinterest. I then get lost in fun things on Pinterest and pretty soon the texting with other friends starts on my phone. In the meantime my TV continues to fill me in on the morning news and before I know it I’ve lost two hours because I’ve been distracted by pretty much--nothing.

Moving on with my day, sometime in mid-morning it’s time to start working on Forever Fed tasks, one of which, was evaluating a new neighborhood to serve meals to on a monthly basis. So a few phone calls and wrong turns later, I find a neighborhood that’s only 2 miles away from my house. I had no idea this neighborhood existed. By the way, I’ve lived in the same home for 13 years.

The living conditions in this neighborhood were horrible and I don’t say this lightly. My daughter and I drove through it and experience something I can only describe as “shock and awe”. As we left she said, “Mom, we live in America, one of the richest nations in the world. How can this happen?” Honestly, I was dumb struck and had no answer for her. I’ve driven hundreds of miles investigating impoverished neighborhoods in Cherokee County Georgia and I’ve been to Africa twice on mission trips and visited third world slums and seen many desperate people in living horrible situations and all this time this small hidden neighborhood has practically been sitting right in my own back yard.

So what’s my next move? My mind is racing, my heart is breaking. What can I do? Where should we start?

I can’t tell you how many times I hear, “Susan, you can’t save the world, only God can do that.” Well that’s true, I can't, but Jesus can.

I have to ponder a few moments to answer my daughter’s question and I ask myself, “How does this happen in America?” and I look in my rear-view mirror, at myself.

It happens because we are really good at hiding our truly impoverished people from the public eye and sometimes we just don’t know they exist. It happens because we believe some problems are too big for us to fix or that it’s the government’s responsibility or someone else’s responsibility to fix them. It happens because we are led to believe we are powerless to affect change because some problems are just too big. And sadly, it happens because people like me are so busy being distracted we just don’t pay attention.    

“Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it. My optimism, then, does not rest on the absence of evil, but on a glad belief in the preponderance of good and a willing effort always to cooperate with the good, that it may prevail.” Helen Keller

Hunger and poverty lives right in the back of my middle classed backyard, today, right now. I have to act. Where do I start? It’s taken many life lessons for me to grasp this and I’m still working on it today.

1. As a Christian, doesn’t Jesus live in me?
2. If Jesus lives in me can the Jesus in me bring hope, love, and meals to impoverished neighborhoods? 
3. Can I instigate change? I'm not really sure. But I know Jesus lives in me and nothing is impossible for Him. This is great news because it takes all of the pressure off of me. I just need to trust Him, pray, and take a step.

Today I will make a stand for the impoverished. I’m going to give myself less opportunity to be distracted by life’s “stuff” and get to work. I’m going to choose to serve my neighbors by empowering both myself and others to bring meals, hope, and a large dose of love to those living on the very fringes of society. While I may miss knowing what my “virtual friends” are doing with their lives, I’ll be meeting and getting to know some new friends face to face.

Why?

Because while I’m reading the opinions of my friends on Facebook, researching the politicians in the news, talking about the protesters in front of Chick Fil-a, and wondering if I can make this really neat craft I found on Pinterest, children and their families are going without food, mentally ill individuals are living in filth, and people are suffering. The Jesus in ME has a mighty power to affect change and that change begins with the first step I take, in Jesus’ name, towards a solution. I’m praying some other folks will join me in making a difference.

Isaiah 58

“Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
    Raise your voice like a trumpet. 
Declare to my people their rebellion 
    and to the descendants of Jacob their sins. 
 For day after day they seek me out;
    they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right
    and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions
    and seem eager for God to come near them.
 ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say,
    ‘and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
    and you have not noticed?’

“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please 
    and exploit all your workers.
Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, 
    and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
    and expect your voice to be heard on high.
Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
    only a day for people to humble themselves?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed 
    and for lying in sackcloth and ashes? 
Is that what you call a fast,
    a day acceptable to the Lord?

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice 
    and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
    and break every yoke? 
Is it not to share your food with the hungry 
    and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter —
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
    and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? 
Then your light will break forth like the dawn, 
    and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
    and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. 
Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; 
    you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
    with the pointing finger and malicious talk, 
and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
    and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, 
then your light will rise in the darkness,
    and your night will become like the noonday. 
The Lord will guide you always;
    he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land 
    and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden, 
    like a spring whose waters never fail.
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins 
    and will raise up the age-old foundations; 
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, 
    Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

“If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath 
    and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight 
    and the Lord’s holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
    and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, 
then you will find your joy in the Lord,
    and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land
    and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.”
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Free Community Building Activities for the Summer!

Are you looking for something fun to do for the summer? Well Forever Fed has just the thing for you AND your kids! 

During the summer months children who normally receive subsidized lunches at school often go without proper nutrition because they live in food unstable homes. This is where Forever Fed kicks in! Our goal is to grasp every opportunity we can to increase our serve so these precious kids are well fed because proper nutrition is essential for growing minds and bodies!

As a result our June calendar is filled to overflowing as we are serving meals on 13 days in the month of June and WOW do we need you!

There are many ways you can help. 

• Visit our volunteer tab on this website and sign up to assist with meal preparation OR meal serving at a few events. The coolest thing about this is it will only take a few short hours of your time. 
• Make a donation! Take a look at this list below to get an idea of the amount of groceries we'll have to gather for the month of June. You can make a monetary donation to cover the cost of supplies or you can donate some juice boxes or cases of water to help us out! These are just some of the things we'll need to get through the month of June.
• • 1350 Non-Chocolate Granola Bars
  • 1350 Juice Boxes and/or Capri Sun Drinks
  • 600 peices of fresh fruit
  • 1350 non-chocolate snacks (crackers, cookies, nuts, etc)
  • 600 bottles of water (the kids get a cold bottle of water for their ride home from VBS)
  • 1200 sandwiches (Mostly made with lunch meat and a slice of cheese because it provides us with an opportunity to get a serving of dairy and protien into the kids)

The Groceries listed above do not even include the supplies needed for our regular events such as food, paper products, foil pans, Etc. 

As you can see June will be a busy month so if you'd like to assist us in filling any of the needs above we'd love to have your help!

To God be the Glory!

Kids Helping Kids

It was really to see kids volunteering to help out during this year's Spring Break Outreach.

Susan Vanderheyden interviewed Julia Hutton and Isabelle Dillon at the event.

Karen Robinson and her boys help out

Susan Vanderheyden interviews a long time Forever Fed volunteer, Karen Robinson. Karen and her boys collected tons of food for distribution to the residents. Thank you so much Karen and the Robinson Family!!