February 2018

Is Serving You Busier Since the Move?

Often people ask, “Is Serving You busier since the move?” To better answer that question, let us give you a visual. Everyday, we have to fill out paperwork for each family that receives food from us.  In the picture below, the stack on the left is a 4-month period from 2014 and the stack on the left is a 4-month period from 2017... so to answer that question - YES!!!!

 

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Starting in March, Serving You Ministries is going to be addressing a two-generational approach in assisting single moms in the Birmingham area overcome barriers that are keeping them from being successful at caring for their children.

Single moms struggle with adequate child care, education and work development, nutrition, housing, and crisis relief. With the blessing of the building donation to Serving You, we are able to start a Northeastern Birmingham Hub to address all these issues in one central location. We will be partnering with New Rising Star Community Church to provide child care off site, Work Faith Birmingham to provide a 10-day work development course at Lovelady Center and Salvation Army, Hope Inspired Ministries to provide a 9-week work development course onsite, housing options through East Lake Initiative, nutrition assistance through Serving You Ministries and East Lake Initiative, and crisis relief also by Serving You Minsitries.

 

If you are wondering if we are busier... absolutely! Things are about to be wide-open at the Serving You Ministries Hub.  

Please know we appreciate your support and covet your prayers. We would love to have you jump in and be part of the Hub.  We need volunteers for all of these initiatives and ministries.  Pray and ask the Holy Spirit to lead your decision to serve here on a weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis. To for more information about any of our partner ministries or to sign up to volunteer, email Kathy at kathy.woods@servingyou.org.

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During the month of February, Serving You Ministries assisted in over $8,922.41 in Emergency Utility Assistance.

This month, Serving You provided emergency food relief to 160 families in need.

Over 370 individuals heard the Gospel and were served through Serving You Ministries in February 2018.

October Recap

Serving You had another busy month assisting residents from all over the Birmingham area! We were able to help families with $7,771.69 in utility assistance during the month. We also served over 221 families, with a total of 672 people, in the Food Pantry during October. In addition to our services in house, we also delivered 376 Backpack Snacks to the students at Oliver Elementary and served 80 meals at Changed Lives Christian Center. Thank you to all our volunteers, sponsors, and partners for helping to make this such a great month!

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In addition to our normal routine, this month we partnered with Oak Tree Ministries and the Woodlawn Foundation to provide food for a Community Night at Marks Village. This evening gave parents, teachers, and students an opportunity to meet and discuss the school year! It was a blessing to be able to provide a meal for this amazing event and these special families!
 

John Gibson

August 2017

Greetings from the U,

Serving You would like to thank the many partnerships we have in Birmingham. The Lord has graciously given us many great church partnerships within the city. We take referrals of all non-members of our partnering churches and game plan to assist the family according to a variety of factors. We care for the family as they go through a crisis and help those with an employment crisis through our partnership with WorkFaith Birmingham.

This past month on August 29th we were able to partner with Jefferson County Committee for Economic Opportunity (JCCEO) and set up a satellite site here at SYM to assist those that normally don’t qualify with us for assistance. JCCEO was able to assist with a little user $3,000 that day.

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Individual support is essential for us as well and we thank you for continuing to support our intiatives. Next month our Serving 911 campaign kicks off, help us spread the word, $9 a month will help 1 family for 1 year ($108 one time donation).  

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If you've ever thought about serving with us, now is a great time to plug in! Choose a date above & join us for volunteer training. 

August Numbers:

  • 717 individuals fed through our Client Choice Food Pantry
  • $11,203.92 in financial assistance
  • 7 professions of faith
  • 4 graduates from WorkFaith Birmingham coursework
  • 75 weekend backpack snacks for food insecure children to have adequate food over the course of a weekend
  • 80 men served a hot meal at the Changed Lives Christian Center

Serving Him by Serving You,
John Gibson

May 2017

May showers bring the Lord’s increase here at the U! We were able to pray and share the gospel with over 200 families this month! According to I Corithians 3:6, we know that we plant the seed and sometimes we water the seed that others have planted BUT it is God who makes it grow.

Mark your calendars & sign up today!

Mark your calendars & sign up today!

This summer we will be serving our community July 24-27 during our first ever Serving Younited Week. We will be at work projects (painting, roofing, wheel chair ramps, landscaping, etc.) in the morning, prayer walking and back yard bible clubs in the afternoon, and having a prayer dinner and service on Wednesday and Thursday nights.  We would love for you to join us, it is a free event and we hope to be planting and watering seeds of the Gospel right here in our own home town of Birmingham.


Click HERE to register! 

**Registration closes June 19th - we need to know who will be participating so that we can be sure to line up enough homes & Bible Club sites ahead of time!**

MAY NUMBERS:

  • $8,662.51 given in financial assistance
  • 210 families received food (637 individuals)
  • 63 volunteers this month from over a dozen partnering churches
  • 270 weekend backpack snacks delivered to two local schools
  • 4 people prayed to receive Christ
  • 6 WorkFaith graduates
  • Provided teacher appreciation lunch and gifts to teachers at Oliver Elementary School
  • 80 men served dinner at Changed Lives Christian Center

Summer Serving!

Looking for opportunities to serve with your family or youth group this summer? Contact us to get signed up to work in our food bank! We want to help you be intentional with your kids during their off time by training the next generation to serve. 

May we continue to Serve Him by Serving You,
John Gibson

March 2017

March was another great month at Serving You. We are continuing to build relationships in Birmingham through the schools and with residents who come through our ministry center and WorkFaith.

We have had the blessing to know Artimis, a former Serving You client and WorkFaith Graduate. He came to us seeking assistance in September of 2016. We offered our WorkFaith Incentive as he had no income and was struggling to find employment because of his past. He graduated from the WorkFaith class and was even voted Class President. We are thankful to another great partner, McSweeney Holdings, who hired Artimis and gave him a chance. Michael McSweeney recently sent an email about Artimis that I wanted to share:

"Just wanted to give you a cool update. Artimis is doing great. He is beyond a blessing to our organization. He is hard working and has a great/contagious attitude. He began having prayer time with some of his team during their break time. Their group then started praying together at the end of the day every Friday, thanking God for His blessings and favor during the week. The group has spread to other departments, all huddling up at AJ’s work station at the end of the week. IT IS SO AWESOME to see how he is affecting people!
-Michael”

Come hear Artimis share his testimony at our Dinner and Silent Auction on Friday, April 28th at FBC Trussville. Doors open at 6pm.
Click HERE to order tickets.

Highlights in March:

  • 3 Professions of faith
  • 2 WorkFaith Birmingham referred graduates
  • 6 Financial Peace attendees
  • $8,224.59 in financial assistance

 

 

Food in March:

  • 171 families with 480 individuals served in our food pantry
  • 364 weekend backpacks distributed to children in need
  • 80 meals provided at Changed Lives Christian Center

 

 

Serving Him by Serving You,
John Gibson
Executive Director

February 2017

Daily we read tragic stories concerning families in Birmingham and I admit it breaks my heart to hear of the loss of a life due to the evil in our world. This reminds me that we see brokenness everyday at our ministry center and we ourselves are broken. Without grace, I could be sitting on the other side of the desk or in prison because of the many bad decisions I made in my past. While we are still works in progress, we must not forget that Christ restores our brokenness. Our response everyday should be to love our neighbors without judgement, care for each other, and have compassion as Jesus did - this moves us to do something!

Mark your calendars for our 4th Annual Benefit Dinner and Silent Auction on April 28th at 6:30pm at FBC Trussville.

You can purchase tickets HERE.

You can find out how to become an event sponsor HERE.

We ask for your continued support and prayer for the work being done here at the You.  

February Highlights:

  • 173 families (456 people) shopped for groceries in our client choice food pantry
  • 364 weekend backpack snacks delivered to children in need of food
  • 120 hot meals served for the men staying at the Changed Lives Christian Center and Steel City Ministries
  • 3 WorkFaith referred graduates
  • 12 people attending our 9-week Financial Peace classes
  • $10,085.66 given in crisis financial assistance
  • prayer, encouragement, and gospel shared with every person that came to SYM

In Christ,

John Gibson

January 2017

2017 is off to a great start. Our client choice food pantry is now open on Sunday’s from 2:30-4:30, which gives a great opportunity for families to serve together. Speaking of our food area, check out our new freezer and cooler below.

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Numbers for January:

  • 12 people attending our 9 week financial literacy program 

  • 4 WorkFaith referred graduates

  • $9,485.57 in financial assistance

  • 173 families received food at our client choice food pantry (505 individuals)

  • Dinner provided at Oliver Elementary network night

  • Distributed 364 weekend backpack snacks


Thank you for your trust and partnership!

In Christ,
John Gibson

December 28, 2016

2016 was an incredible year at Serving You. We truly saw God provide in amazing ways through faithful giving and partnerships. As we reflect on this year and look forward to the year to come I wanted to share with you an update on what the Lord did in 2016.

Below is a snapshot of what your giving supported:

Praise God with us for all He has done, above what we could have imagined, this year! 

As you consider your Year-End Giving watch this short video to hear a testimony from our friends, the Wrights.

To make a Year-End Contribution you can give online at servingyou.org/donateor mail checks postmarked by December 31st to Serving You Ministries at 6523 1st Ave N. Birmingham, AL 35206. 

One goal we have at SYM for 2017 is to make our client choice food pantry even better, with fresh produce and more frozen food options. Will you join us in praying for provision of this walk-in freezer? 

Looking forward to another incredible year Serving Him by Serving You,
John Gibson
Executive Director

December 1, 2016

Psalms 103:2 “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.”  As we transition out of this time of Thanksgiving, let us not forget all the blessings and benefits of being in a relationship with the Lord Jesus.  May we praise the Lord for all he has done for us through his Son Jesus Christ.

I wanted to thank you for your support of the work here at Serving You. We operate out of faith through faithful givers like you. Please know that we are seeing the Lord do some greats things here and we want you to be a continued part of it. Here are a few highlights:

  • 9 salvations including 6 during our recent Sports Reach trip to the correctional facilities in Florida
  • 5 graduates of WorkFaith Bham ready to obtain employment soon. The average graduate makes $20k during their first year of employment.
  • 2 Financial Peace graduates
  • 11 men traveled and played softball in 3 different prisons in Florida. It is amazing to see the difference a few games of softball can make to a group of men. Matt 25:36 "I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”
  • Dinner served to 75 at Oliver Elementary for Community Network Night
  • Served with our partners at Oak Tree Ministries to collect toys & volunteer with their Christmas Shop for the Bible Club Children of Marks Village. 
  • Food assistance: 131 families with 387 individuals
  • Financial assistance: $9,531.56

Our Christmas decorations exchange shop is now open! This was a big hit last year for families to grab a few items to decorate their homes for the holidays. If you have decorations that you would like to donate you can drop them off at SYM Mon-Thurs 8-4 or at NorthPark on the cart in the cafe lobby. 

Don’t forget if you donate to your local Jimmie Hale Mission Possible Thrift Store and mention Serving You, we receive gift cards to give to clients in need.

Merry Christmas!
John Gibson

November 1, 2016

Good Morning,

We are excited to share an exciting new story from the month of October. As you know we see many people each month (220 people this past month to be exact), many of the people we see need immediate financial assistance due to a job loss, or having a single income to support a family, or by being placed on maternity leave, or due to other circumstances that lead to a crisis moment in their life.  However, some people we see need to get back into the workplace and their financial crisis will not change until their income changes.  So we offer a back loaded incentive based program for those that fall in that category.  With our partnership with WorkFaith (reminder they are located in the same building as us), each person can attend a 9-day work development class (7 hours per day) and receive the instructions and knowledge to empower them to land a job. The incentives for any person willing to choose that program offering is as follows:

  1. Receive a two-week supply of food after completion of the first 5 days of class
  2. Upon graduation of class, we will financial assist them up to $150 on a utility bill
  3. Upon employment, we will financial assist the family again until their first paycheck arrives


We are happy to announce that 5 people successfully fulfilled the incentive program through WorkFaith and Serving You this month.  It was a great reminder that God blesses when ministries and churches work together for His sovereign plan.

Other highlights:

  • 5 people prayed to receive Christ
  • 336 people prayed for
  • 80 meals served at Changed Lives Christian Center
  • 300 backpack snacks provided (equivalent to 2100 meals for children over the course of a weekend)
  • Dinner served at the Oliver Elementary PTA program for over 100 parents and children
  • Financial  Assistance Total: $11,350.68
  • Food Families: 176 families shopped for groceries in our client choice food pantry (479 individuals)


Thanks for your generous support of Serving You Ministries.

In Christ,

John Gibson
Executive Director

October 3, 2016

We had an incredible month at SYM.  There were so many moments that pointed to our obedience of following God’s plan to be at this exact location for His divine plan to be fulfilled. I wanted to share an encouraging card we received from Kaitlin:

“I came into your office on Tuesday, September 20th. This was a new experience for me as I have never needed or had to have any help supporting my family or even myself. As I mentioned, me and my family are in an unusual financial bind and I didn’t know where else to turn. God led me to ya’ll and for that, I am so thankful. I cannot thank you enough for the financial assistance you provided me with. Not only that, but I want to thank you for being the happy faces I needed to see, the encouraging words I needed to hear, and the sincere vibe that you truly care about others. Dennis, thank you for being kind and for making me feel welcome. John, thank you for your encouraging words, they mean the world to me. Thank you also for the Bible. I already have begun reading it and I look forward to strengthening my relationship with God through His word. While I earnestly pray that I never need assistance of this sort again, please know that y'all made a difference in me and that I will be praying for you all and the organization. Thank you, thank you, thank you. With love, Kaitlin”

Thank you for taking the time to read this and know that we see many people like Kaitlin each day.  Without your support and partnership, moments like these would not be possible.  But with God, all things are possible!

September Numbers:
Over 200 people prayed and shared the gospel with
2 people made decisions to follow Christ
4 people we helped in finding a church home
3 people joined a Bible study
159 families with 436 individuals received food
$10,172.59 of financial assistance given
2 WorkFaith Graduates
240 Weekend Backpack snacks distributed

In Christ,
John Gibson

September 7, 2016

Serving You officially opened yesterday at our new location (6523 First Avenue North, Birmingham 35206) and we were able to serve 24 clients. We have several new approaches to ministering to our clients here. First, we are excited about transitioning to a client choice food pantry in which clients get to shop for the food they need while our volunteer hosts each client and is able to build a better relationship with them. The main reason for this transition is so we can individually pray for each food only client. Secondly, we have a new hospitality volunteer position to welcome clients and offer them coffee, drinks, and a light snack. We hope this builds an inviting atmosphere and will ease any uncomfortableness or embarrassment that comes with asking for help.  

Finally, we have tweaked our backpack snack program. In the past, we packed bags and delivered them to several local elementary schools for children showing signs of malnutrition.  This year we started a high school led food pantry. We have set up the backpack program at the local high school that serves the children that will one day walk the halls of the high school. The students stock, pack, and deliver the backpacks for the local elementary children. However, the neat part is that there are high school students that need food for the weekend and they are allowed to grab some items (discretely) for themselves. This new approach addresses food needs for high school students AND teaches high school students how to meet needs of their community. Just this past weekend the students hosted a food drive at a local grocery store to help stock the food pantry! 

Also, there are several classes starting this month:

1.  Financial Peace classes start Sunday September 25 from 3:30-5pm.
2.  Discipleship classes will be taught every Thursday at noon.
3.  WorkFaith Birmingham classes start Friday September 16.  This is a nine-day job training workshop for those seeking employment.
4.  Small groups are Monday for youth from 5pm-7pm and Adult small groups are Thursday from 5pm-7pm.

If you have anyone interested in serving please have them email Raquel Patterson at raquel.patterson@servingyou.org for the opportunities.

Reminder: we are having an Open House Sunday September 18 from 1:30-3pm.  Please come by and see what is happening.

August numbers below (we were closed the last two weeks for the move).

financial assistance:  $6,287.38
food families: 35
food individuals: 89


Serving Him by Serving You,
John Gibson