Hands on Hope will be helping New Life Mission at their fall festival on October 26. Hope outreach and Thrivent will provide the food, and Hope members will serve the food at the food   table. This will be a wonderful opportunity to meet and greet the residents at New Life Mission who are basically homeless women and children rebuilding their lives. (You may learn more about them at newlife-mission.org.) The fall festival is a popular event with the families each year and will be held at New Life Village, 326 Croton Road, Melbourne, beginning at 11 a.m. on the 26th. There will be a sign up sheet in the narthex so that you may indicate how to help. If you have questions, please see Nancy or Dave Roberts (804-513-5375, 804-512-1496). We will wear our Hope t-shirts and share Hope in our community!

Our collection for Thanksgiving Baskets will be coming mid-October. Keep an eye our for info, the sign-up, food lists, etc. Food items and monetary donations will be due Nov. 10.

If you are looking for a project, we would like to suggest fleece blankets. Our plan is to have kits always available in the narthex for this year-round activity to benefit the homeless clients at Daily Bread. Illustrated directions are included in the kits, but you may contact Nancy Sutter, Alison Hatch, or Nancy Roberts if you have questions. There are no due dates to return the completed blankets, but we would suggest 2-3 weeks as a good time frame. This is a great activity for all members of the family and yet another way to be Hope in our community.

We were able to purchase white t-shirts and bug wipes for Daily Bread’s July/ August donations. September we will be purchasing deodorant for men and women.  Hope members can contribute by purchasing hair brushes/ combs. There will be a 5^th Sunday Daily Bread volunteer day on Sunday the 29^th 10:30-1:30pm. I will be reaching out to members on my volunteer list. If you would like to come and volunteer please contact Tori Cooper for more information.

Food on the First/B.L.A.S.T.  Food Pantry at Eau Gallie High School will be collected this coming Sunday, October 6th. Current needs for the pantry include side dishes and snacks. Some suggestions are cheese and crackers, peanut butter and crackers, rice dishes, and macaroni and cheese.  One request is that snacks be individually wrapped so the packages can be opened and a few can be put in each bag. Be sure to sign the Thrivent sheet when you bring in your food. As always thank you for continuing to help provide items for needy children at Eau Gallie High. These food donations help students who would otherwise not have enough food to survive the weekend when their daily breakfast and lunches are not provided by the school. If you have questions, please contact Nancy Sutter at 321-537-2717. 

This month's cookies will be going to the Sheriff's Office on Sarno Rd and will be due on October 20th.  If you haven’t been involved before, it involves baking 30 cookies, bagging them 2 to a Ziplock bag, placing a Hope label on each bag, and bringing them to Hope. The Hope labels are available in the Narthex Bakers’ Blessings box, and you may return the cookies to that same box by October 20th. A sign-up sheet is on the Narthex table. Nancy Sutter (321-537-2717) is the contact person for this ministry. ***Please note, If you need to drop off your cookies early, that is fine. Just place them in the freezer, and note that they are in the freezer on the sign-up sheet in the "cookies delivered" box.

Hope Cares is a program that matches needs with resources all within our Hope family community. Here are just a few of the categories we could use help in providing:

              -Greeting cards to shut-ins and emails

              -Meals to homes – mostly after surgery, births, and so on

              -Transportation – mostly to church, appointments, important errands

              -Contribute food to funeral lunches, as per the family’s request

If you would like to be a resource providing these activities, please fill out a gold half-sheet which is on table in the narthex then check off your choices.  Next, please give the form to Deaconess Lois or drop off in the church office. You will receive an email, or phone call, when a request for these items comes up.

Hope Cares is truly a blessing to our Hope family.  Thank you for your help.

If you would like more information, please contact Deaconess Lois Diebel at 321-536-0430 or deaconess.lois@hope-brevard.org

• Operation Christmas Child
• Gifts from the Heart
• Guardian ad Litem Angel Tree
• Children's Hunger Project
• New Life Mission
• CITA Mission
• The Haven for Children
• Trinity Lutheran School
• Sherwood Elementary School
• Daily Bread, The Sharing Center, Genesis Food Pantry
  
• Family Promise of Brevard
  
• Habitat for Humanity
• LCMS and LWML
• Seven AA Groups

In 2023 Hope’s Outreach expenditures came to $36,427 which included external and internal missions as well as advertising. The total income via our 11% of Hope’s total income for the year was $34,775 which included $250 from Steve Apostle’s memorial donation, $330 misc. donations and the $940 and 1,414 items from Hope member for Genesis Food Pantry. We also used $2,500 in Thrivent dollars which equaling 2,272 items purchased for Genesis Food Pantry- Food on the First. That was a whopping 3,686 non-perishable items given to our community in need. The 12/31/2023 ending balance in the Outreach account was $15,998.51. As of 12/1/2023, we used roughly 59 Thrivent cards which is an astonishing $14,750 in extra funds. Thank you to all who contribute to and support out Thrivent missions. What a wonderful way to given back for all the time, talents and treasures God has go graciously given to each of us. We truly are the hands and feet of Jesus in our community.