New SOS Side Dish Now Available!

Current Soup Of Success team member, Carolyn Hawkins, smiles and holds up the first bag of “No Worry Vegetarian Curry.”

No Worry Vegetarian Curry is the first product in the new Side Dish line of Soup Of Success products and takes less than 30 minutes to cook.  “We are excited to bring in another vegetarian dish to our lineup of products” says Betsy Ayrea, Director of the Soup Of Success Job & Life Skills Training Progam, “This particular product has been in development for over a year, and has had many people pouring a lot of love into it.”  Special thanks go to volunteers Melissa Miller, Nick Kothari & Sarah Holsopple for all of their helpful input into this recipe!

This delicious, mild curry dish is sure to be a hit with our customers.  Be sure and check it out!

You Take The Cake Annual Fundraiser brings in almost $21,000

Church Community Services is deeply indebted to many in this community for their contributions to our recent successful fund raiser, You Take the Cake.  We’re grateful to the several hundred businesses and individuals who donated gift certificates, merchandise and funds.  The many special desserts given by bakers and chefs around the area were fabulous and great taste treats. 

 

The real stars were the guests who participated by enjoying the meal and contributing to make it a successful evening.  Of course we could not have pulled this off without the help of many volunteers from our supporting churches, Honor Society and Key Club members from Goshen High School, former clients, plus staff and board members.

 

Special acknowledgements go to our event sponsors:  Barnes & Thornburg LLP, Hopman Jewelers, Classic Transport, and Trinity Gardens.  Additional thanks go to these individuals who went above and beyond with their time and skills—Debbie Chris, Pat Watson, Barb Fridley, Michael Delfine and Joy & Roy Dabbs.

 

We are blessed to be part of such a generous and caring community.  We especially appreciate this ongoing support as we see a growing number of people coming to us for food, rent, utility and prescription assistance.  May God bless each one in this season of sharing.

 

Dean Preheim-Bartel

Executive Director

Church Community Services

 

Job Crisis in Elkhart Makes National News on MSNBC

This story aired at the end of last week.  It does an excellent job of illustrating the types of people who are coming to us in crisis.  Hard-working, good people who are doing their best to make it in these tough economic times here in Elkhart county.  CCS has helped over 16,000 people so far in 2008.  Each month we are seeing a lot of new people coming in for assistance of some sort.  In October alone, there were 380 new people that came in that had never been here before.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4580878n

Peanut Butter Rapper makes her debut!

 

 Marsha Watson is a former Board member, and current volunteer and supporter of CCS.  She is also a member of Trinity UMC in Elkhart.  She, along with many other members of TUMC, felt the need to reach out and help fill the pantry shelves.  I love that she created this rap and costume, and that the people of Trinity helped her bring the Peanut Butter Rapper to life, as well as adding much needed food for people who can really use it!

Thanks! 

Betsy

In the news again – CCS begins renovation!

We have been in the news a lot lately due to the huge amount of people coming here for assistance.  In case you missed the channel 22 news, here is their report.  Click on the link at the bottom if you would like to view the story.

The economy is putting a crimp in the finances for local families. It’s also causing a strain on local social service agencies. One agency in Elkhart is looking to expand to keep up with those who need help.

Church Community Services (CCS) in Elkhart is running out of room to meet the growing demand for its services. Its current office off Third Street needs more space.

“Compared to a year ago in September, we saw 500 families more this year than last year,” said CCS director Dean Preheim-Bartel.

“We’re having an average of about 140 families a day that are coming in to use the food pantry and that’s within a six hour period,” added social services director Vonda Horst.

“There are a lot of families in need and they’ve been coming here to get help,” said food pantry client Tracey McWilliams.

But help could be on the way.

The agency is working to renovate an old office building and warehouse on Oakland Avenue.

Relocating the agency there would more than triple the space at its current office and help streamline and improve one of its most important programs — the food pantry.

“The food pantry, it only allows about four people to shop at a time because it’s so small and cramped and now we can almost double the number of people who can be served at one time,” explained Preheim-Bartel.

Plus it will provide more needed storage space.

“It’s a huge issue, and right now we have very little space to store food,” Preheim-Bartel said.

The new building would also house the agency’s Soup of Success project and its financial assistance office. It’s working to raise $1 million. Right now, the agency has reached 35 percent of the goal.

WSBT – Local News – Video – Agency looks to expand to meet growing Elkhart need