2022 was a rewarding year for the Furniture Ministry. Pastor Mike and I worked together to find ways to best utilize the Ministries resources amidst increasing costs and other challenges. The Furniture Ministry delivered furniture and household items to 168 homes in Medicine Hat which is 21 more than last year. It is our prayer that through these basic comforts of home, the recipients will feel valued & cared for by the love of Jesus.
We are thankful for God’s provision and the generosity of the community. During the year, our volunteers made 162 stops throughout the city to pick up gently used furniture and we are grateful to the many people who have stopped by the office to drop off smaller household items.
As in the previous year, we continued to see bed prices rise in 2022. To offset the rising costs, we came up with the “Trinkets & Treasures” sale which we held in April. We used items that had been donated to the Furniture Ministry that are not part of our usual inventory and set up a boutique/garage sale at the front office. The total sales were $1350.00 which was enough to purchase 4 Double & 1 Twin box spring & mattress sets as well as 10 pillows!
We are excited for the connection that the Ministry has with other community agencies and the opportunity in which that brings to connect others with Jesus! On a few occasions this year we had a housing worker contact us about service times as he had clients who wanted to attend Church and he recommended us because of his relationship with the Ministry.
During the summer, Pastor Jamie and a few other individuals were downtown handing out tracts and speaking to individuals on the street. They came across one gentleman that did not want to hear anything about Jesus, until he found out that the group was from Hillcrest. He was so happy to share that he had received furniture from the Ministry, and he could not say enough good things about it! He was much more receptive to hearing the Word and even took a tract!
The furniture Ministry operates 50 weeks out of the year, thanks to the faithfulness of more than a dozen regular & dedicated volunteers. This year we also added a new team which comes in on Mondays and cleans and sorts the donated items before the Tuesday team comes in to pack. We are so thankful for all that they do, from cleaning, unpacking, packing, moving lifting & praying with the clients.
Christy Wonnenberg
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