Beautiful Quilts Everywhere You Look

Did you know that there is a national award-winning attraction right here in Elkhart County? The  Quilt Gardens along the Heritage Trail features stunning quilt designs in the form of 19 gardens and 18 murals spread throughout Elkhart County. One very special quilt garden – Star of Hope, located in the Wellfield Botanical Gardens,  brings [...]

What a Big Deal!

Did you know that the Vera Bradley Foundation for Breast Cancer has a special color each year dedicated to funding breast cancer research?  The pattern for 2012 is Tea Garden and it is available in all sorts of great items. One particular tote bag is being sold at our local 6 retailers for $49.   However, [...]

Exciting New Partnership Forms Hope

We are thrilled to announce two exciting new partnerships that form Hope along the Heritage Trail! Soup of Success has teamed up with the Vera Bradley Foundation for Breast Cancer and the Elkhart County Visitors and Convention Bureau’s Quilt Gardens. + + = Hope along the Heritage Trail Hope along the Heritage Trail unites the [...]

It’s National Random Acts of Kindness Day

It doesn’t get any better than random acts of kindness does it?   This past Tuesday, Dean Preheim-Bartel (former Executive Director of CCS) and his wife Gwen, treated the CCS staff and volunteers to a homemade lunch of sloppy joes, veggies, chips and his specialty – “Strawberry Yummy” for dessert.  What a wonderful way to [...]

Homebound Delivery Program

Today was Homebound Delivery Day at Church Community Services.  On the third Wednesday of each month, volunteers come together and deliver groceries to individuals that are homebound and unable to come into the pantry for assistance. 105 boxes filled and ready for delivery this morning.   Barb Force, Soup Of Success Graduate, has been coordinating [...]

Soup of Success Graduation – May 11th, 2011

On May 11th, seven amazing women graduated from the Soup Of Success Job & Life Skills Training Program.  The program includes an intensive dive into Group and Individual Support, Education Modules, Career Counseling, Hands-on Business Skills, and Mentoring and Graduate Follow-up. From left to right: Graduate Julie Black, Peachie New, Stephanie Higgins, Summer Gary-Slack, Cindy Silk, [...]

Blessings in Giving

I am so blessed to work at CCS.  Yesterday was a delightful day, filled to the brim with the spirit of giving. Our back door had an almost steady stream of generous people dropping off food for the pantry, which in turn allowed us to serve the steady stream of people at the front door waiting for [...]

The Heartbeat of Hope

If you listen closely, you can hear the heartbeat of Church Community Services every day, at 907 Oakland Ave. First setting the stage: Today several children are waiting with their parents, and their energetic voices are spreading cheer into every corner of this place. Other times babies cry, for any of the reasons babies cry. [...]

Blog Series: Finding Hope – Kathy Peterson

Kathy Peterson – Soup Of Success Staff Hope is: * Sally taking her GED test and saying, “I can’t believe I’m actually doing this!” * Mary expressing her gratitude for the push career counseling is giving her to explore new paths and talk to new people. * Cindy discovering personal resources she didn’t know she [...]

Blog Series: Finding Hope – Susan Ginther

Susan Ginther – CCS Board Member The great thing about hope is that you can’t buy it, but each of us can give it away in some small way everyday. Those entering our doors at CCS pay us the highest of compliments by telling us CCS is a HOPEFUL place to come! One person told [...]