Special Delivery

About one week after we assembled our backpacks, I was able to connect with the Receiving Home and set a time to deliver the bags.  I had told the woman on the phone how many bags we had, but she must have not been paying attention because when Natalie and I showed up and opened the back of my car, she was shocked!  We kept unloading and unloading and it was amazing the see the excitement on other worker's faces as we brought them in.  I can only imagine what the children's faces will look like!  I over heard one woman asking another, "are they filled with stuff too?" and the other replied, "yes, totally filled!".  They were so appreciative it just affirmed to me that God brought the right about of bags, filled with the right amount of things for these very deserving children!  Even down to little details like we had five laptop/shoulder bags donated and we didn't feel they were right for high schoolers so we offered them to the employees.  The woman we were working with replied, "oh, thank you, but these would be perfect for our ILP students who are attending college!"  God is awesome!!!!!

Thank you again to everyone who volunteered their time and donated items to make this project possible!  Can't wait to see what God has us do next!

Natalie brought some mini helpers!

The hallway bursting with backpacks

So Blessed

This weekend was the culmination of our Foster Youth Bag project at church.  We have been collecting items for the last four weeks and I was blown away!!!!  I didn't know what to expect, but it certainly wasn't this.  We had a ton of awesome items to fill the backpacks with, generous people who donated backpacks or money to put towards the purchase of bags and a bunch of people show up to help us assemble them all!  It was beyond anything I could have imagined. I know our hopes were to bless the foster youth with these wonderful bags, and I'm sure they will be, but I have also been blessed in the process as I'm sure many of you have.  In the end we put together 50 backpacks/bags, most for teens and some for younger children, full of super fun items, necessity items, tasty items and a hand written note.  I can't wait to deliver them.  Here are a few photos from the project:

my car filled to the brim

on the way to the church to assemble

awesome helpers at the 3-5 yr. table

teen table

candy/toothbrush/toothpaste table (great combo right?!)

Natalie showcasing the misc. table.  hats, scarves, gloves anyone?!

busy packing teen bags

filling up the 5-7 yr. bags

writing notes to put in the bags

our fantastic team!

50 bags filled with love and care

Human Trafficking Forum

FEB. 13th @ 7pm, Rm 216, Lakeside Church

You won't want to miss this!!!  Clayton Butler from Agape International Missions, Sacramento is joining us to talk about Human Trafficking right here in the Sacramento area!  He has been fighting this for the past few years, after passionately combating this same problem in Cambodia for three years.  Find out how human trafficking is directly linked to the foster care system in Sacramento and what we can do to be a part of the solution.  It is shocking to think that sex trafficking is right here in our own backyards but the first step to fighting any problem is to be informed.  Please join us!

The Details

Come by and see us, or better yet, volunteer on Feb. 4th/5th or Feb. 11th/12th in between services to help us collect donated items for our "Show Some Love" bags for local foster youth.  We'll be in the lobby so look for us.  If you'd like to volunteer please contact me or leave a comment on this post.  And in case you forgot, I included the list of needed items below :)

• journal
• pen
• devotional
• children/youth bible
• slippers/fun socks
• sweets
• hats
• hair accessories/comb/brush
• toy/game/plush animal
• lotion/perfume
• deodorant
• chapstick/lip gloss/cosmetics
• toothbrush/toothpaste
• Bags - We would like to have all the bags be the same so if you would like to donate funds to help us purchase the bags please contact Jaime at allthingsorphan@gmail.com.  Thanks!

**Please no aerosol items or nail polish.

Our first project!

That's right! Its about time, you might say! :)  ATO will be doing its first "hands on" project in only a few weeks.  We are going to start collecting items, mentioned in this previous post, to put together bags for the foster youth that pass through the Children's Receiving Home of Sacramento.  We will have space in the lobby for two weekends, Feb. 4/5 & Feb. 11/12 to collect items churchwide as well as to talk with Lakesiders and share about ATO and what we are doing. 

We will need volunteers for those weekend services as well as putting together the bags once we have collected the items.  I'll be emailing the ATO Team regarding this but if you would like to help, or be added to our email list, please leave a comment and I'll get back to you.

So start collecting some fun things to show these boys and girls that someone is thinking about them and that God loves them!