Bethany Community Church eNews

. . . I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." ~ Matthew 25:40

Foster Care Informational Meeting

Would you consider sharing your home, your love, your Savior with a child in need? In Maricopa County alone, more than 2,000 children are in the foster care system--with almost 200 still waiting to be placed.

The Christian Family Care Agency (CFCA) takes seriously the admonition given by James to look after orphans and widows in their distress. A number of Bethany families have already answered the call as foster families. Would you like to find out how you could join their ranks?

Christian Family Care representatives will be on campus Tuesday evening, May 18, at 6:30 p.m. in the conference room for an informational meeting about foster care and adoption. There is no obligation, just information. No registration or reservation is needed.

Volunteers will also be in the courtyard on Sundays, May 9 and May 16 to answer any questions. They will be joined at the table by the Sewing Project to Help Foster Kids.

For more information, check out the CFCA website.

Streetlight Update

Streetlight Workday 2 On April 17 a group of 28 hard-working people from Bethany traveled to the West Valley to begin rehab work at Streetlight. Bethany's specific project is the remodeling of Cottage Faith, one of six cottages that will house teenage girls escaping a life of sexual enslavement. Another team is scheduled to continue the work on May 1.

Streelight Workday 1

These teams are adding sweat equity to the Easter Offering of $25,000 for Streetlight by the people of Bethany. Thanks to everyone for your generosity of money, time and hard work as we GET OUT, taking the love and grace of Jesus to those that need him most.

- John Wood, Missional Life Pastor

I-HELP

Yes, it is the one year anniversary of Bethany's on-site hostings for I-HELP. We have had the privilege of providing our homeless neighbors a place to spend the night on 21 occasions during that year. Most of those times we also had the privilege of providing their evening meal and a breakfast/lunch bag for the next day, as well as some "special times" over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

So many of you enthusiastically embraced this program--with 30% of the participants returning to help out again. More than 250 different individuals have filled over 550 roles this past year by contributing to, preparing, or serving meals or taking on one or more of the multitude of housekeeping tasks. This number is even larger when taking into account those who participated in other general ways--donations of toiletries, clothing, miscellaneous items. Thank you all for participating as God has led you. And yes, there is still room for you to become involved!

By the way, did you recognize that Bethany's young people have been quite involved in the I-HELP ministry on campus? These included the Transformers (fourth and fifth graders), the Middle School (sixth, seventh and eighth graders), young people as part of their respective families, and Girl Scout Troop 1174 (comprised of 25 girls ranging in age from five to 16) based out of Bethany Christian School and Bethany Learning Center.

These young people have enthusiastically assembled breakfast/lunch bags which were provided to our I-HELP homeless neighbors spending the night on Bethany's campus. They also included encouraging notes in those bags to the guests and had some interaction with them, as well as serving dinner.

What do our homeless neighbors think about the youth participation in the program? They love it. Several have commented how much they appreciate the opportunity to interact with young people. Something that is very much missing in their normal day-to-day life.

Many thanks to the leaders and parents of these young people as they are our future. It is so important to help them learn and experience God's hand in many areas of life.

How do the people participating in the I-HELP program feel about this? Stay tuned. We will share some experiences and comments in the next newsletter.

Need more information? Please check out the online link above or contact Cheryl Chamberlain, cheryllynn2u@yahoo.com or Gen Garan, bggaran@earthlink.net, I-HELP Volunteer Coordinators.

Urban Outreach

Bethany's Egg Brigade is providing breakfast nutrition to 60+ of our homeless neighbors taking advantage of the shower program on Monday mornings at the First United Methodist Church in downtown Tempe.

Several Bethany ladies are also working together to provide a meal once a month at the Urban Outreach Evening Coffee House. This meal feeds about 75 of our homeless neighbors who are not in the I-HELP program. Additionally, one Bethany Faith Community has made a financial commitment to this program.

Our homeless neighbors who are benefiting from the above two programs say Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Those involved are privileged to be part of God's delivery system to his children in need. Should you be involved?

For more information, contact Gen Garan, bggaran@earthlink.net or 480.839.4674

Children First Academy of Tempe (CFA)

Remember, homeless school children have homeless siblings and parents. They have the same needs as the homeless neighbors in the I-HELP program. The school has a Wish List each month of items for the children that also extends to their families. For more information, contact Beulah Montgomery, montgomery49@cox.net.

Donations for Children First can be delivered directly to Beulah (please contact her directly) or they can be dropped off in the courtyard first Sunday of each month at the I-HELP table. Please mark the items for CFA.

- Gen Garan