It's Snowing in New Orleans!

This morning, the unthinkable happened...it snowed in New Orleans! We were amazed to see the amount of snow falling (and sticking) here in the city! So funny because yesterday morning we were wearing t-shirts and talking about how warm and humid it was...and today, everything changed!

The videos show our backyard and the front of the building.(Stay updated today on our next video. I'm uploading it...and takes awhile.) You can see how hard it was snowing. The kids in New Orleans didn't get to miss school today but some of them probably experienced their first snow!

Over 19,000 Pounds of Food Given Away!

Feed the Children dropped off 800 boxes of food (that feeds a family of 4 for 10 days)--that is 20 pallets and 19,000 pounds of food! We stored it at Operation NOAH's storage site (Lakeforest Baptist Church in New Orleans) last week. We were grateful to have Ron help us unload each palette and load in the warehouse with their equipment.


** Then yesterday David from Operation NOAH brought a truck loaded with the 800 boxes and we unloaded each box individually at Baptist Friendship House. Whew! We worked fast and got each box off the truck ready to give out.

We had donated treats from Whole Foods (pies, cakes, bread, rolls, etc.) that we bagged up and gave to people when they picked up their boxes of food.



We gave out all 800 boxes in 3 hours! Each box can feed a family of four for 10 days, so at the end of the day, thousands of people we given food in New Orleans. There are a lot of hungry families in our city.

The national statistics say that 1 out of every 5 children go to bed hungry in the United States and in Louisiana [Pre-Katrina] 1 out of 3 children go to bed hungry. That number has risen since the Storm and we are doing all we can to feed the hungry families in our city.

*Please pray that there will be more opportunities for food ministries in New Orleans. It takes a lot of resources in order to feed hungry people, so please pray for the financial assistance in order to continue this ministry.


We want to continue this ministry on a monthly basis.... and not stop there! When we gave out the food yesterday we gathered information about each family so we can further minister to them. At Baptist Friendship House, we seek to minister like Jesus did--to the whole person--physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually...which is the greatest need of all!

"Meeting Needs Through Love, Action & Truth"

Beth Moore

Beth Moore filmed an updated version of Breaking Free in New Orleans last week. On Friday, Lifeway provided a service project day for the women attending the conference. And guess where they came to work?

Baptist Friendship House!

On Friday, several women came to serve with us at the center. They put together snack packs, hygiene kits, made encouraging cards for the kits and prayed for the ministry. It was an amazing opportunity to allow women from all over the country to serve in New Orleans.

Fall Festival

On Halloween night we had our annual Fall festival for the community. It was so much fun! Our theme was the New Orleans Hornets. We had several games: basketball, fishing, ball toss, cake walk, etc. Fun, fun, fun!

We love the fall festival because it provides a safe place on Halloween night for families to come and have fun.... and of course have lots of candy!

We have some great events coming up. Stay updated and remember to pray for us! Check out our website: http://www.bfh.lifewaylink.com .

We Love Christmas in August!

We have had a great response to the Christmas in August ministry this year! We are thankful for people like you that support our ministry through projects like this... We love Christmas in August!

We are always in need of these items, because we use them in our transitional housing program as well as give it out to the community. If you want to check out our current needs list you can check out our website: http://bfh.lifewaylink.com/.

All is Well...

We have started getting back into the swing of things since the two Storms that came our way (or near us). There is no damage and staff and residents are safely home. Its been a stressful time for us, as it always is when you have to deal with hurricanes, evacuation, etc.

Continue to pray for us as we work with new families and participants in our day programs. Also, remember our upcoming events:

10/4 Pet Fair (*We had to reschedule this event and hope to do it in the Spring.)
10/31 Fall Festival
11/27 Thanksgiving Meal for the Community

We will keep you updated on these events as well as other things planned for the next few months. We are working on a newsletter and hope to get that up to you as soon as possible.

If you would like to receive this newsletter by mail, please contact Karina at KAmerica77@aol.com.

Safe!

We just wanted to let you all know that we are all doing well. We all have evacuated and are waiting for the mayor to allow people to come back into the city. Please continue to pray for safety as we travel back home and as we see if there are any damages to our homes and the center.

As always, thank you for all your prayers!