Food for the Poor made successful by generosity
Bethany Lutheran’s Food For The Poor house project in Honduras is a wonderful story of churches and community coming together for a great cause.
With guidance and blessings from God there will be four houses built for four families in Honduras!
Preparation started five months ago for Bethany Lutheran’s Praise Party which was held Sunday, October 19, at Bethany Lutheran Church. A light lunch and huckleberry ice cream was served to 122 in attendance. Raffle tickets were sold and eight raffle drawings were held (five winners were from Bigfork; Bruce Conrad (afghan), Jan Weidebush (shawl), Don Thomson (afghan), Craig Wagner (eagle wall hanging) and Jodi Terry, presently in TX, (bed runner), Marcia Udin from Texas, (the Amish quilt to be given to a friend in Swan Lake), Jane Riddle in Virgina (the blue cozy afghan) and Patrick McCarthy in Washington (the Grizzly knife). All the winners were very excited to hear they’d won. There was “Guess the cost to make the cherry pie” one dollar per guess; winner Bev Ostroot. There were group picture taken of the volunteers that were present. There were surprises and door prizes; Silent Auction and Live Auction held. The auctioneer, Peter Drowne, donated his time and really livened up the Live Auction. Ginny Johnson presented Peter with a pie and huckleberry ice cream. This was a fun event sharing everything that has been accomplished through all the fundraisers and thanking all the volunteers and donators. There were tears of happiness and laughter filled with joy. Bethany planned to raise funds for one house; God’s plans were much greater (with match programs, through Food For The Poor, there will be four houses for Honduras. The goal of 7,426 dollars was met. This means for 3,713 dollars times two, four (12 x 12) houses will be built; plus two families will receive one year supply of food (beans and rice) for the family, clothing, shoes, school supplies and uniforms for two children, a sanitation system and a job training program for a parent. There is also extra funds to do something more thru Food For The Poor.
This past summer’s fundraisers were two car washes, bottled water and raffle tickets sold, 107 pies made, a bake sale and the Praise Party. A BIG THANK YOU to ALL the volunteers from Bethany Lutheran and Mountain Song Churches, the Boy Scouts and for all the donations from the businesses and individuals in Bigfork: Harvest Foods, El Topo, Roma’s Kitchen, Owney’s Coffeehouse, Bigfork Corner Café, Sliters Ace Lumber & Building Supply, NAPA, Glacier Bank, Flathead Bank, Rocky Mountain Bank, Bigfork Chamber of Commerce, Denny’s Barber Shop, Bigfork Eagle, Gary Moon, Greg Gopp, Swan River Nets, Bill Hunger, Ginny Johnson, Dr. Jane Ruprecht, Bruce and Margie Conrad, Hannelore Lindner, April Mischke, Kari Nelson, Julie Soule, Russ Miller, Pat Hays, Hazel Conway, Kent Bolstad, Jerry Weidebush; and to the Kalispell businesses; Baskin Robins, Walmart, Daily Interlake, Sportsman Ski Haus and Mark Salansky at Edward Jones. A special thank you to Aaron Ells from Thrivent Financial and to Thrivent for all the help thru the Action Team Program for donating the 100 “LIVE GENEROUSLY” t shirts and the funds of 1,000 dollars to help jump start the fundraisers.
Thank You to Food For The Poor for providing such a wonderful cause, Matthew 25:40 “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.”
Most of all, Thank You Lord for taking all of us on this journey together, hearts have been touch and many prayers answered.
Praise be to God for blessing each and everyone of us and touching our hearts here at Bethany, the Bigfork and Flathead Communities AND the many families in Honduras whose lives will be changed forever.
—Bonnie Hoffman spearheaded Bethany Lutheran’s Food for the Poor