It is again time for our annual food drive.  Last year you totally surprised me with about 1300 food items for the food bank.  Since then, we have signed up to buy surplus food from HACAP in Hiawatha.  (Last month we got $1200 worth of groceries for $60.)  But we can't get everything we need from them.  We have a lot of Cheerios, granola bars, tomato soup, and canned green vegetables.  We need non-green beans, chicken noodle soup, tuna, ground beef, etc., etc. (That means too many things to list.) 

I want to challenge you to 1000 food items by Easter.  Again, as we did last year, we will count $1 as 1 item.  When we receive money we can purchase the items which are needed at the time. 

We have another need that someone may be able to help with.  We need a refrigerator.  We now have a very small one, but we need to upsize.  That would allow us to keep more perishable items, such as milk, cheese, meat, juice, etc. 

Darlene just showed me the monthly report.  We served 15 families, last month.  I don't know all the circumstances, but some are working but not able to make enough money for supply the family needs and some are disabled.  We had the opportunity to feed a few people who were "camping out" at University hospital, waiting on sick family and without the resources to buy food or rent a room. 

We have often hear it said that You can't out-give God.  I believe that is very true.  Then another thought hit me. I wonder if it might be possible to out-give Darlene! 

Over the last few months I have had the privilege to talk with some of the folks at Genesis Church about combined community outreach opportunities. We have discussed serving meals at the Shelter House on Gilbert Street and at Ronald McDonald House, being more involved in Reclaiming Roots efforts to serve the community and improve our own food bank effectiveness. Our desire is to effectively minister together as partnering churches to make a greater impact on Iowa City and surrounding communities for the glory of God alone. We invite you to be a part of making this impact.

 Shelter House
Once a month we will have 5-6 families gather to prepare a meal for 70+ individuals to be served at the Shelter House. The preparation typically occurs at some ones home, we have discussed the benefits of preparing the meal in our own kitchen at The River. The benefits include a larger space to fit more people safely and comfortably in one kitchen, more oven and stove top space, commercial dishwasher, etc. Although, due to limited space issues only 4-5 individuals can adequately serve the meal at the shelter house.

What we are looking for are people to sign up to help prepare meals on a monthly rotation. We want to have 2-3 families from each church prepare the meal and send a few over to the shelter house to serve the meal. With the amount of individuals/families we are expecting to sign up for this ministry you may only have to prepare the meals 2-3 times during the year. If you have any questions please contact Pastor Steve.

 Reclaiming Roots
The purpose of {reclaiming roots} is to reclaim and restore what used to be.... to bring beauty and new use to areas of our community that need this help. We know that bringing the community together for these causes, helps create new relationships as old relationships are restored. And life gets better!

The next reclaiming roots project is January 24. They will be doing some restoration work on a space in downtown Iowa City. The place is called Public Space 1 located in the basement of the Jefferson Building. Public Space 1 (PS1) will be used for public art gallery. They are looking for people to paint, clean, remove carpet, scrape floors, and build a stage. For more information, please go to the reclaiming roots website: www.reclaimingroots.org.

 Food Bank
We recently have been receiving donations of bread items from Genesis Church. They have partnered with Panera Bread Co. in collecting the unsold bread items on Saturday evenings. This bread is then taken to Genesis Church to be distributed to their congregation and the left over bread is brought to The River to be put in the food bank. We, right now, have a surplus of bread items in our food bank freezer. If you have neighbors, friends, or family members who would be blessed through receiving free bread from Panera, please take some home with you on Sundays and hand it out.

 God Bless,
Steven Good