Dear Woodmar Family and Friends,
Grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
As I sit to write to all y’all, the chorus of an old hymn keeps playing over and over again in my head: “Cou
nt your blessings, name them one by one. Count your blessings, see what God has done! Count your blessings. Name them one by one. Count your many blessings, see what God has done!” The month of August has been a month of many blessings!
Last school year, a team from our church launched MiniUPTM at Jefferson Elementary, and it was and is our goal to help other churches launch MiniUPTM in all the other elementary schools in Hammond. God has opened doors, and we are now helping five other elementary schools find community partners that will offer MiniUPTM to the Kindergarteners. What a blessing!
Fran Vukovich worked tirelessly for months preparing for our Kids Closet, and a team of people worked together to set up the Community Center on Friday, August 12th. We were ready when the doors opened Saturday morning! 45 families from our community came to “shop” at our Kids Closet! What a blessing! Thank you, Fran, and all the volunteers who helped make Kids Closet possible!
In addition to
clothing and toys, we gave away backpacks with some school supplies. Amy Biera, who works for Teleperformance, received a grant to purchase 200 backpacks and supplies for Jefferson Elementary.
What a blessing! Thank you, Amy, and the Teleperformance Team!
Our Community Picnic was on the same day as the Kids Closet. Several volunteers showed up at 7:30AM on Saturday, August 13th to set up for the picnic! We didn’t count the people who attended, but Chuck Anderson grilled 280 hotdogs, and we only had 20 left over! It was a beautiful day of connecting with our neighbors! What a blessing! Thank you, Chuck, and all the volunteers who helped make our Community Picnic possible!
The day after the Kids Closet & Community Picnic was our Back-to-School Blessing Sunday. Eva Arce, Clara, Corbin, and Crosby Mendoza led us in worship…what a blessing! We in
vited students, teachers, and staff to come forward, and we laid our hands on the
m and prayed for the new school year. Afterwards, we celebrated with an ice cream social. What a blessing!
Have you seen the new Blessing Box? My brother, Charlie, and his son, Kevin, built a new Blessing Box for us and drove 3 hours to install it. What a blessing! Thank you, Charlie and Kevin!
Charlie and Kevin also built our Little Free Library. We are struggling to keep it filled. It seems like as soon as we put books in, they’re gone within a couple of days! What a blessing! W
ill you please bring books to help keep our Little Free Library filled? Thank you for being a blessing to our neighbors!
“Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your blessings, see what God has done! Count your blessings. Name them one by one. Count your many blessings, see what God has done!” To God be the glory!
See you in worship!
Living in the Grip of God’s Grace,
Pastor Esta
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