September 14, 2007
This week, Journey 2L2 past the 1,000th hour of community service mark. This is an accomplishment that is rarely seen by any organization, but you did it and did it well! 

We are planning a special 1,000 Hour Celebration for next weekend, Sunday, September 23rd at 10:00 am at South Brunswick High School.  This would be a great Sunday to bring someone you know who has an interest in making a difference in the lives of others.  Someone who could be a part of our next 1,000 hours. 

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who helped out at South Brunswick’s Community Unity Day this past Saturday, and the Free Spree! on Sunday.  There were many connections made and over 75 children received free back-to-school clothes and supplies.  I hope you know what a significant impact you made in the lives of these families.  We heard many stories during the Free Spree! about how some hard life circumstances were really weighing these families down, and to be able to come and get shoes and coats, clothes and school supplies was a tremendous blessing to them. 

At Community Unity Day on Saturday, Denise Gutierrez, our Community Outreach Director, had the opportunity to meet a woman whose husband is the manager at Cosco.  Through the conversation, the woman tells Denise that she loves to give of her time and she feels compelled to help others.  She goes on to say that she has about 300 backpacks to give away, but some of her avenues for giving the backpacks had not come through.  Denise about died!  There were many, many donations that came in for Free Spree! but the one thing we were missing were…backpacks!  Denise shared how we had a need for backpacks and could get them to the kids in the community, and this woman brought 150 of them over to us the next morning before Free Spree! so we could give them out to the kids who came.  Only God, right? 

Another contact we made at Community Unity day included a young man who shared his story of loving others.  One year, close to Christmas time, he had a bunch of clothes he wanted to donate.  He decided to put on a Santa suit and go to the train station.  He honked his horn, got out of the car, rang a bell and opened his trunk – Merry Christmas!  He gave away all the clothes in his car.  Now that’s a heart for people.  I have a feeling we might see this guy around.   

Sometimes, knowing what God wants you to do and actually stepping out of your comfort zone to be His hands and feet are so different.  If we all could make time to do His work, we would be amazed at where God would take us.  I am amazed every week at what the next Project of the Week will be, amazed at who God brings in front of us, amazed at where He leads us, and amazed at every completed project because I know we could never do any of this without God. 

I am looking forward to seeing you all this weekend and am looking forward to celebrating 1,000 hours with you next Sunday. 

Bob 

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