The Common Heartbeat: April 2016

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Students showing kindness

Our Monday night food pantry coordinator, Rick Hepner, wrote this recently to staff at Porter Ridge High School complimenting his fellow pantry volunteers who are students there in the Health Occupations Students of America organization, or HOSA. We love our student volunteers and are so glad to have them as part of this "small revolution of kindness!"
Got a group who wants to volunteer? Inquire at http://Volunteering.CommonHeart.org

Just wanted to share something about a few of your students: Jimmy Nguyen, Vinh Dao, Jonny Tran, Anna Pham, Michelle Salazar and Kathy Bui.
I met them about a year ago where they volunteer at the food pantry that I chair. The food pantry is run out of Mill Grove United Methodist Church in partnership with Common Heart. Food distribution is held each Monday night as part of the TEFAP (The Emergency Food Assistance Program). We serve approximately 50 to 75 families weekly.

Last Monday night I saw something that I wanted to share. One of our neighbors in need, who is about 75 years old, was dropped off by a neighbor to get food. I was getting ready to leave for the night and noticed these students in our rear parking lot. I went over and they told me they were waiting with the elderly lady for her ride to arrive. They had been waiting with her for a while as it was about 8:30 p.m. They told me they did not want to leave her alone.

It touched my heart that these young adults had so much compassion and kindness. It would have been easy to turn their heads and walk away, but they did not.

These students give wholeheartedly in volunteering each Monday night and we've enjoyed seeing many other Porter Ridge HOSA students serve. Their values and work ethic are excellent. Our program is a better place because of Jimmy Nguyen, Vinh Dao, Jonny Tran, Anna Pham, Michelle Salazar, and Kathy Bui! Thanks Porter Ridge students!

Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Funding a Small Revolution of Kindness

Funding a Small Revolution of Kindness

What is a $20 bill worth?

For many of us, it represents a good meal at our favorite restaurant. At Common Heart it is a family fed for a week! Just $20 per month provides a family of four a big box of nonperishibles, 8-10 pounds of meat, and 3-4 bags of fresh produce, bread and baked goods.

What can we do with $220?

So far this heating season, we kept 13 families warm by paying their heating bill. On average, it took just $220 per family to keep the heat on!

What will we do with $800?

Our Kindness Connects! Initiative will bring on two part-time employees to focus on developing resources for families in need.

$800 will pay the salaries of these two people for a month. Our “Lead Ally” will work directly with our neighbors in need to connect them with resources to bridge the gap and transform their lives. Our “CONNECTS Manager” will work directly with local churches to help them develop their ministries to transform our community through the Charitas Network.

$800 will directly impact the lives of our most vulnerable seniors, single parents, people with disabilities, unemployed and those in crisis by connecting them with caring people who will love and serve them!

If you help us reach our goal of $30,000 …

1,000 families will be fed for a week.
Our Charitas Network will be fully functional and mobilize 20 churches to serve an estimated 200 of our neighbors in need.

To donate: http://Giving.CommonHeart.org

Volunteers Needed

Volunteers are the life blood of Common Heart. We feel that this is the most important part of our mission to mobilize caring people to love and serve our neighbors in need.

Thrift Store

We are looking for volunteers to serve as part of our Common Things Thrift Store volunteer community. We simply cannot keep up with the generosity of our community and need willing workers to help us sort donations, price and hang clothing for sale. It’s not hard work, and our team makes it fun due to an amazing sense of camaraderie shared. We are looking for individuals and groups to regularly serve at the store. Suited for all sorts of volunteers from women’s groups, high school community service, and the unemployed looking to build a resume.

Other needs

Grocery Rescue, pantry workers, and drivers.
Administrative, receptionist & data entry.
Mentors & Allies for families in need.
Fundraising and event team members.
Board and committee members.

Prayer Team Members needed!

We are starting an email prayer team. You will receive prayer requests weekly for the needs of those we serve, Common Heart and others. Become one of the prayer team members, 25 new volunteers or 10 small groups that we need to Kickstart Kindness.

Inquire at http://Volunteering.CommonHeart.org

Can we collect 20,000 pounds of food in April?

Common Heart’s Common Cupboard food pantries are dependent on the generosity of our local community. It takes many, many people to gather the food we need to provide a week’s worth of groceries to an estimated 40,000 individuals in 2016. Will you help us meet the need this spring and summer?

What do we need?

How to gather it?

Where to bring it?

116 Business Park Dr, Suite A,

Indian Trail.

Monday – Friday 10 – 5 & Saturday 10 – noon.

321 Indian Trail Rd North, Indian Trail. Tuesday – Saturday 10 – 5.

Thank you for your support!! Help us reach our goal of 20,000 pounds in April!

More info at http://FoodDrives.CommonHeart.org.