Church Community Services News

Hi.  I’m one of the women in the class at SOS right now.  Why am I here?  Well, when I first started, I thought I was here to help others, and to learn new skills.  Honestly, after I have been here for a while, it’s much more than that.  It’s bringing someone special out that is inside of me.  I am here to put my life together.

Since I’ve been here, I’ve thought a lot about change.  What is change?  Change is moving from something old to something new.  It could be a place, thing, people, jobs, or just inside yourself.  In this case, I am talking about myself.

When you start having ideas to change, it is easy.  Then when you begin doing the action steps…well…it becomes very hard.  Your life is like a bunch of shoelaces all knotted up, and you don’t know where to begin or stop.   But I have discovered that God’s plan is awesome.  He puts people and things in my path to make change easier. 

Here is a scripture from Jeremiah (29:11-14) in which I hear God encouraging me:  “‘For I know that thoughts that I think toward you’, says the Lord, ‘thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.  Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.  And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.  I will be found by you’, says the Lord, ‘and I will bring you back from your captivity.’”

-SG

I received a phone call at CCS Wed. afternoon that lead to an unusual encounter.  We get many calls for help but this one was from a pair of social monks who are hitch hiking around the country for 40 days and 40 nights to document how ordinary people go the second mile in helping others.  I was skeptical at first, but after extended conversation and checking out their web site, http://www.socialmonk.com I decided to meet them and help them on the next leg of their journey.  These two young men, friends for seven years, wearing monks habits, felt called by Jesus’ ministry and teaching to make this exploratory journey.  A third young man with a video camera is documenting this journey and their many encounters with a wide range of people.  One of their discoveries–how often help came from the most unexpected sources and people.  Their appearance as “monks” has led some to offer them confessions they never expected to hear.  They are finding that people are basically good and want to help.  When their documentary is completed it will be on youtube which can be accessed through their web site.
-Dean

The Board of Directors of Church Community Services (CCS), the local joint outreach effort of some 50 churches in Elkhart County, has appointed Theodore (Ted) Z. Stanley as Director of Development for the 40-year old organization.

Stanley has had a career as a fundraising professional executive that has spanned more than 35 years. He began his career with the Glenmary Home Missioners’ Development Office, a Roman Catholic home mission group headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio.

This was followed with 15 years of service with Church World Service, the overseas relief and development agency of some 35 Protestant, Orthodox and Anglican communions. This began with his appointment as Ohio CWS/CROP Regional Director, working out of Columbus, Ohio. He then was asked to come to the Elkahrt National Office of CWS, where he was instrumental in adding Direct Mail and Planned Giving Programs to the traditional support bases of special events (i.e. the CROP Hunger Walks), along with denominational and governmental support for the work of Church World Service. Most recently he has been president of his own fundraising company, Stanley Associates.

In his new position, Stanley will be manager of the Capital Campaign recently launched by Church Community Services to add much needed space for the agency’s food pantry, crisis assistance, and Soup of Success, a women’s empowerment Job and Life Skills Training Program.

He can be reached at 574.361.9910 or at the agency’s number: 574.295.3673.

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.

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.

There have been several wonderful articles about Church Community Services, Soup of Success, and the SOS Mentoring Program in the Elkhart Truth recently. To learn more about the recent CCS & SOS buzz in the papers, click on the articles below!

Students Give Back to the Community

Truth Editorial: Mentors Key to the Soup

Mentors Keep Soup of Success Cooking

Truth in Video

“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.