Archive for May, 2008
Jubilee House Voluntary Service
Greetings from Sarah Thiessen! I am a voluntary service worker at Church Community Services and Soup of Success through Mennonite Voluntary Service (MVS). I have been thrilled to be at this agency for the past year – it is a place filled with compassion, hope, service, and growth.
To learn more about voluntary service in Elkhart or about Jubilee House (above), the voluntary service house I live in, please visit our website. To learn more about how you can volunteer at Church Community Services or Soup of Success, email us at Soupofsuccess@aol.com; to learn more about Jubilee House or doing voluntary service in Elkhart, email office@prairiestreetmc.org.
Add comment May 30, 2008
Students, Employees, Businesses Give Back to the Community
With Soup of Success soup mixes, cookie mixes, and dips being sold in thirty-seven different locations across the United States (not to mention our gift basket, fundraiser, and individual sales!), it can be difficult to keep our shelves stocked. The women in the Soup of Success program are involved in all aspects of this gourmet foods business, including production of the mixes – but meeting the demand wouldn’t be possible without volunteer groups!
We have been blessed by some wonderful groups of volunteers in the last month that have given their time and energy to Church Community Services and Soup of Success: Bethany Christian High School students, Key Bank employees, and Fabric Services employees. In giving of their time, each of these volunteer groups helped to support the women in the Soup of Success program as well as the larger mission of Church Community Services and Soup of Success. Volunteers are truly the backbone of our agency, and we are overjoyed to have Bethany Christian High School, Key Bank, and Fabric Services be part of the Soup of Success family!
Bethany Christian High School students (above, L-R: Leanne Hochstetler, Erin Helmuth, Katie Hoekstra, Weston Troyer, Jen Sharkey, Matt Weaver) make Chewy Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Mixes during the school’s annual day of service.
Key Bank employees (above, assembling Positively Potato Soup Mix) spent a day at Soup of Success and ended up with astounding production totals!
(Above, Key Bank employees sort beans.)
They assembled 887 bags of soup, 229 soup spice packets, and 298 dips; wrapped 167 dips; tied recipe cards on 473 bags of soup; labeled 777 mixes; and cleaned 250 lbs. of beans.
Wow! A big Thank You to Key Bank!
Fabric Services employees (above, assembling Positively Potato Soup Mix) also gave generously and assembled 394 bags of soup, 460 soup spice packets, 1,133 dips and tied recipe cards on 224 bags of soup. The group of volunteers from Fabric Services was also part of a larger company legacy: a priority to give back to the community. Fabric Services makes products for the RV industry; as RV production has slowed down, so has business for Fabric Services. Instead of laying off employees though, Fabric Services decided to give back to the community. They have started paying employees to volunteer at places such as Church Community Services and Soup of Success. The compassion and generosity shown by Fabric Services is truly wonderful!
Reporter Ed Ernstes (above) from WSBT came to Soup of Success to catch the Fabric Services story and learn how Fabric Services is giving back to the community – find out more by reading or watching WSBT news!
To learn how your group can give back to the community, email us at Soupofsuccess@aol.com or call us at 574-523-1551.
1 comment May 29, 2008
Transportation for Everyone
We at CCS and SOS know how important it is for everyone in our community to have affordable, accessible transportation–for getting to jobs, education, childcare, healthcare…you name it. Those of us who’ve always had cars may not realize just how difficult it is to get around without one. And these days, it’s getting awfully expensive to own one.
So, we’re very excited to support a community movement to expand our public transportation system to better serve more folks in Elkhart and Goshen. A group of concerned citizens is proposing expansions to the Interurban Trolley routes, extending them into industrial parks in both cities, and to more housing complexes in Elkhart. This change would make a huge, immediate difference to many low-income residents. We encourage you to join this effort by submitting your signature and comments in favor of the expansion to the Michiana Area Council of Governments (MACOG). They need to receive 3,000 signatures before they’ll consider the change. Click here for more information. You can make a difference today!
Add comment May 20, 2008
SOS Women Getting Ahead
Hi, I’m Kathy, one of the staff here at Soup of Success. The women participating in our current class are in their sixth week now, which means they’re working hard on everything from making soup mixes and sewing to improving computer skills and assessing their own skills and interests for career planning.
I get to facilitate the group in a process called Getting Ahead in a Just-Gettin’-by-World. Once a week we investigate together poverty, its causes and effects in their individual lives and in the community, and how to develop a path to prosperity. Our discussions often become intensely emotional as the women share the despair and isolation they’ve experienced as they scramble daily to meet their families’ basic needs, and as they encourage one another to keep on fighting. Today we continued a discussion of the hidden rules of economic class, as defined by author and educator Ruby Payne. We talked a lot about language and the power of being “bi-lingual” as in being able to use both casual and formal ways of speaking, as the situation dictates. The women thought that gaining skills in using language could help them in job interviews, at a workplace, and in communicating with their children’s teachers. I was struck today, as I often am, by their resilience, their willingness to change, their strength.
Add comment May 20, 2008
Got Soup?
The staff and women of Soup Of Success are always on the lookout for interesting, delicious and unique new soup, dip & cookie ideas. If you have a favorite recipe idea that would work as a dry mix, we would love to hear from you! Just interested in being part of the taste-testing team? There is room for you too!
Leave a comment or email us at Soupofsuccess@aol.com with your ideas.
Add comment May 16, 2008
Postal Carriers Food Drive Raises 12,000 Pounds of Food
“We were getting pretty desperate in the food pantry – this food drive took place at a crucial time.” – Wayne Harter, CCS Food Pantry Coordinator
Throughout the week of May 5-10, mail carriers in Elkhart delivered an extra piece of mail to homes and churches – a brown paper bag. Much as if it were at a grocery store, these brown paper bags were then filled with food and groceries. However, the grocery-filled paper bags were then delivered to the Post Office on Saturday, May 10. One brown paper bag of food arrived, and then another one – and another – and before long, 12,000 pounds of donated food items were collected, transported to Church Community Services, and sorted. Wayne Harter, CCS Food Pantry Coordinator, remembers that this annual food drive has gone on for as long as he has volunteered at Church Community Services, seven years, and that food donations this year significantly increased from the 5,000 pounds of food donated last year.
Nearly 40 volunteers from River Oaks Community Church, Hively Avenue Mennonite Church, and CCS Food Pantry Volunteers were present on Saturday to aid in the transportation and sorting of food. Before food can be placed on the food pantry shelves, it must be sorted; this allows for the food pantry shelves to be restocked easier, and allows Harter to see which items the food pantry is lacking. Currently, baby food, personal care items such as toothbrushes, and toilet paper are all still in low supply at the food pantry – and in high demand by food pantry clients. Church Community Service’s food pantry is a client-choice pantry and is the largest in Elkhart County, serving 1300 families and individuals every month.
Didn’t receive a brown paper bag in your mailbox? Call Church Community Services at 574-295-3673 to find out how you can donate food to the client-choice food pantry. To see pictures of the Food Drive, go here.
Add comment May 12, 2008
Benefits for Church Community Services
Interested in an escorted bike ride throughout Elkhart County? A blessing of your bike and yourself? Music, fellowship, food and door prizes?
Interested in a fashion show and dessert bar?
Interested in supporting families and individuals in need throughout Elkhart County?
Interested in helping to feed the hungry and provide assistance to people in crisis?
If you answered yes to any of the above questions, then come to the benefits happening this weekend!
On Saturday, May 17, 2008, Creekside Church of the Brethren is hosting their second annual Blessing of the Bikes and Riders and escorted ride through Elkhart County. Registration is from 9:00am – 11:00am, the blessing of bikes and riders is at 11:05am, and the ride departs by 11:30am. Music, fellowship, food, and door prizes are following the ride, and there is a $15 requested donation per rider – and all proceeds are donated to Church Community Services! Creekside Church of the Brethren is located at 60455 CR 113, Elkhart, IN, 46517; for more information, contact blessingofthebikes@creeksideconnected.com or visit bikes.creeksideconnnected.com. This weekend will hopefully be a beautiful one – so come out and support Church Community Services at the Blessing of the Bikes!
~~ UPDATE ~~
Creekside’s Blessing of the Bikes brought in $450 for CCS!
Another fundraiser benefiting Church Community Services is happening on Sunday – ‘Dude Looks Like a Lady’. The latest fashions for women will be modeled… on men! This fashion show fundraiser is at 6:00pm on Sunday, May 18, 2008 at Jamestown United Methodist Church (59218 CR 3 South, Elkhart, IN, 46517). Tickets are $20 and there is a dessert bar reception immediately following the show. For ticket information, call 574-293-3905. ‘Dude Looks Like a Lady’ promises to provide an evening of fun with all proceeds going to Church Community Services!
Support Church Community Services this weekend at Blessing of the Bikes and Dude Looks Like a Lady!
1 comment May 12, 2008
Volunteer Appreciation Picnic
Guest Blogger Vonda here…
“Volunteers Plant the Seeds of Kindness” was the theme of our 2008 volunteer appreciation picnic. This year we were at Studebaker Park pavilion in Elkhart.
It was a gorgeous day to celebrate our volunteers and we enjoyed a delicious homemade meal of sloppy joes, chips, fruit, deviled eggs, and dirt pudding.
We recognized all of our hard-working volunteers and thanked them for their committment to Church Community Services. Special awards were handed out to Don Rockwell and Brenda Toews for completing their terms of service on the Board. Sarah Thiessen (above, receiving award from Soup of Success Director Betsy Ayrea) was honored as our first ever Mennonite Voluntary Service worker.
Jan Grodnik (in absentia) was given the Soup Of Success “Souper Woman” Award for 2008 (above: Jan Grodnik, L, receiving Souper Woman Award from Vonda Horst, R).
The “CCS Volunteer of the Year” award was given to Jim Victor (above, receiving award from Executive Director of Church Community Services, Dean Preheim-Bartel).
Both indoor and outdoor activities were planned for and enjoyed by people of all ages, including badminton, bubbles, bingo, scavenger hunt and card games. Of course, the best part of the day was just being all together and enjoying each other’s company.
Can’t wait until next year!
Add comment May 8, 2008
We’re live
Welcome to Church Community Services’s brand new blog. This could be the start of something big. Stay tuned.
People come to us struggling to make ends meet. They may be disabled or elderly, stretching a fixed income. Some are recently laid off, or working but not making enough to support their families. Many are single mothers trying their best to raise their children.
We offer respect, hope, and compassion as we seek to assist people like this.
(Take it, Betsy.)
3 comments May 5, 2008
