Life to the Fullest

Zumba

2011-11-30T18:52:00.001-05:00

Zumba!

Thanks to Willie and Ty Diggs for hosting a Zumba food drive event at Dulles Sportsplex for L2F. We had a great time doing Zumba for 2 hours to raise food for the Backpack program. I had always wanted to try Zumba and Ty is a really fun teacher who made it fun and so easy to follow along! We hope to do another one in the future.

Willie also adopted one of our L2F families that needed Christmas presents. He donated, wrapped and delivered presents for a family with 6 children. Thank you so much for your generosity Willie and Ty!

Thanksgiving Baskets

2011-11-30T18:38:00.001-05:00

We Delivered Thanksgiving Baskets to 58 Families!

We can't thank you enough for the food and time you all donated to our Thanksgiving Deliveries! Last year we gave baskets to 17 families and my goal was to double that but we delivered 58! People were giving their time to buy, assemble and deliver baskets the weekend before Thanksgiving and we were able to do so much more with all of you helping. We had middle school volunteers assembling them and getting them ready to take out which really helped.

We have lots of thanks to pass along to you from the families who received them. Our volunteers did a wonderful job connecting and showing love to families in need in our area.

Thank you again so much!

Jill

More backpacks!

2011-10-27T22:56:00.001-04:00

Today I was driving around town getting my Halloween candy and doing errands when I got a call from a friend at school requesting more backpacks.

All of a sudden I got such a big dose of perspective. There are kids that don't have food. No food! We get irritable if we miss a snack or meal and these kids go through the weekend waiting for Monday to come so they can eat. Wow.

I do this every week so yes, I know about it, but it hit deeper in my brain and heart today. No food. We received at least three more today to put the number at 43 and we think more are coming next week.

This Sunday we will be at the Giant grocery stores in Ashburn from 10:30-noon collecting food for the backpack program as a part of our Service Sunday at J10 church. Last time we collected about $1500 worth of food in 2 hours and we can't thank you all and Giant stores enough! Please come out and help children in need in Ashburn eat a meal. These 40 kids went to the backpacks 280 times for food last weekend.

Thank you for helping and being a part of L2F!
Jill

We delivered!

2011-09-07T09:00:00.000-04:00

Melanie's couch finally gets a new home!

Hello everyone! We have been delivering all the household items and furniture that you all have been donating for the mother and son who lost their apartment in a fire. The mother had just gotten settled when her water heater exploded so her friend and coworkers emailed out that they needed help!

You all have responded and I wanted to let you know that we delivered a couch, bed, dining table and chairs,television, 2 dressers, pots, pans, kitchen utensils, boys bicycle and other items are going to be delivered this week. They have a new apartment and all the goods to fill it!

Thank you to all of you who put your time and effort in on watching all the emails that went back and forth with this delivery! It took a lot to coordinate and I appreciate everyone's patience and hard work on this! We have awesome volunteers! Thanks to Carl, Shane, John, Stacy, Josh, Bill, Otho and Rob. We couldn't do this without such a great delivery team!

Welcome back to school and let's get busy helping people!

2011-08-26T14:58:00.001-04:00

Melanie loading supplies for the backpack program.

Hey everyone!

Hope you all had a great summer! We have been busy at L2F preparing for the fall and back to school this past month and I just want to let you know a few things going on!

We did 2 fundraising events this past month! We collected about $2500 worth of food to start the backpack program next week in our local schools again. Last year hungry children in Ashburn ate over 2400 times because they had food out of a weekend backpack from L2F. We are going to try and get this program into more schools in Ashburn this year! We want to feed as many kids as we can!

Avi helping with the backpack program.

We also did a fundraiser at Walgreens in Broadlands and collected about 25 backpacks and school supplies to fill them for children who do not have supplies. Kolleen set this fundraiser up for us so many thanks to her and Walgreens! Thanks also to the L2F members Chelsie, Lisa, Abe and Laura who came out to run the table that day!

Gee gee,Liz,Elisa,Misty,Jen and Melanie sorting food for L2F.

We are collecting furniture and household items for a family who recently lost their apartment in a fire. We have collected a bed, couch, dining set, pots, pans, kitchen items, dressers, a bike and many other items to deliver to them to start their new apartment over. This delivery is in process and many of you are donating and working on it! Thank you so much for watching the emails and your patience on this delivery as we sort out the details of the delivery!

You are all making a difference in people's lives right here in our community and I thank you so much for that! They thank you! Welcome back and let's get busy! :)
Jill

Aid To Joplin

2011-07-05T22:05:00.005-04:00

Hi, my name is Taylor and I had the privilege of being part of a group of men who took a missions trip to Joplin, Missouri at the beginning of June. Arriving only a few short weeks after the tornado tore through the city of Joplin, devastation and destruction was still essentially all there was to see for about as far as one could see. I had seen pictures and videos of the area prior to leaving for the trip, but seeing it first-hand was an unbelievably sobering experience. The first-hand images of 2x4s thrown through homes, trees ripped from the ground, and entire neighborhoods turned to rubble will be burned in my memory for the rest of my life.

The team with a thankful Jopliner

The piece of my experience that hit me the hardest was the reality of how temporary the things of this world are and how they can be taken away from us in the blink of an eye. Words can’t even describe the emotions and the lasting impact that comes from walking through what once was the foundation of a person’s home to carry out furniture and being in complete shock as to the destructive powers of Mother Nature. It was incredible to see how the people of Joplin weren’t dwelling on the fact that their entire lives had been swept away and destroyed, but rather they were clinging to the people they loved and spoke simply of how blessed they felt to be alive. Every person we came across continuously thanked us for such simple tasks as moving a few piles of debris, that to us were simple tasks, but the help meant the world to these people. I was blown away by the love and sense of community that existed amongst the people of Joplin and all those who came incredible distances to assist with the relief efforts.

We heard numerous stories of incredible survival from people whose entire homes were destroyed except for the tiny bathroom or hall closet that was left standing amongst a pile of rubble. One elderly woman, whom we fixed a fence for, had a dog named Buddy Dee that was caught outside during the storm and had been traumatized by the storm. When we got done fixing this fence, I have never seen such a happy dog in all my life. Buddy Dee couldn’t stop running laps around the yard and I believe the dog’s excitement was only outdone by that of her owner who was ecstatic that her dog could once again run free. I could write for quite a bit if I recounted all the stories from my trip, but this is just one example of how I witnessed the citizens of Joplin appreciating the little things in life that I tend to take for granted. I also learned that little acts of kindness really do make a difference in people’s lives. With the vastness of the destruction our group felt and knew that we were barely putting a dent in helping Joplin on their road to recovery, but that didn’t mean that the work we did was meaningless. It was important to those we were helping and impacted both their lives and our own.

Buddy Dee!

In closing, I would like to extend the all the thanks that the people of Joplin gave to us, to all those who donated to L2F for the city of Joplin. On our final day in the city, we drove around and distributed the money, donated by you all, to the people in need that the Lord led us to. So don’t think simply because you couldn’t make the trip to Joplin that you didn’t and haven’t had an impact on the people of Joplin and contributed to the relief efforts because you have! I hope that my short story of my experience in Joplin has been meaningful and that you can take something from it that will help you grow closer to Christ and inspire you to continue living each and every day for God and advancing His kingdom. God Bless!

All photos kindly provided by Herb.

We have a team going to Joplin

2011-06-01T14:50:00.000-04:00

A team of men from J10 Church/L2F will travel this Friday to Joplin, MO, to help with the tornado cleanup. If any of you would like to donate gift cards for them to take please let me know ASAP and we will arrange to pick them up from you by tomorrow night.

The stories keep coming in from people I know that have been on the ground working there in Joplin and they are very sad. It is an unbelievable situation there. The people working there say they are amazed anyone that was in the path made it through the tornado alive.

I have heard some really good stories of people pouring their hearts out and helping the people there with hard work, food and hugs. Thank you again!

Jill

Opportunity to help tornado victims in Joplin, Missouri

2011-06-01T13:26:00.000-04:00

New Need for help in Joplin,Missouri for Tornado survivors

My friend Traci Thorne, who is a hard working member of L2F, is from Joplin, Missouri. Her mother lives in a house 2 streets from the tornado path. Her mother's house is ok and her mother is well but it was very scary for her. Many of Traci's friends were not so lucky and have lost their houses. They are alive but their houses are destroyed. Traci has traveled to Joplin this weekend to start helping. We would like to collect gift cards to Walmart or debit cards for her to help people that she knows need help. We can also accept checks made out to J10 Church with L2F in the memo. One of the Walmart stores was destroyed but I believe they do have another in town. I am from Nebraska and have witnessed 3 tornadoes and many funnel clouds and cannot imagine what it must have been like to go through this.

I am including pictures below from another friend from Joplin and including some her husband took of his family's house. The pictures are amazing. All the family survived but the children were lifted into the air by the tornado and pulled back by their parents like in a movie. They have punctures, broken bones, cuts and bruises but are alive! This donation will go straight to Joplin within the next few weeks to help people, in a very personal way, get back on their feet.

Please help if you can...there are so many people there that need our help. If you would like to help please email me and we can arrange to pickup anything donated. Thank you so much.

View from my friend's family's front yard looking at hospital in Joplin, MO.

My friend's family's house.

This is the home where the two children were lifted into the air and pulled back by their parents.

Thank you from David's family in the Tennessee Tornado
We received a thank you from the family in the Tennessee tornado that I want to pass along to you!

I saw David today. He came right up to me when he arrived on the job and expressed that he greatly appreciated the huge stack of gift cards! I know it touched his heart. He said he wants to look up your church web site but just hasn't had a chance to do so yet. Please let L2F know how pleased he was.

We sent them $450 worth of gift cards to help get them back on their feet. Thank you all so much for your help!

New Need for a couch or futon

2011-06-01T11:58:00.001-04:00

We have an immediate need for a couch, futon or a chair that folds out into a bed. We have a student that has no place to sleep and may be sleeping on the floor. If any of you have one that you would like to donate please email me as soon as possible. Thanks so much everyone!

Thank you for the generous food donations.

2011-05-19T10:54:00.003-04:00

$1200 in food raised in just a few days. Wow! Way to go L2F.

Over 2,000 Served since September!

2011-05-14T18:27:00.000-04:00

One of the biggest parts of L2F is the weekend food backpack program. Many local schools have programs that feed children breakfast and lunch for free or at a reduced price. For a variety of reasons, these free meals may be the only food the children eat.

L2F works with a number of schools to aid these children that may have little or no food on weekends. Every Friday L2F provides the schools with backpacks of food the children take home with them. Each backpack contains 4 meals for at least one child, but usually multiple children.

L2F has provided 500 backpacks of food since the beginning of the school year in September 2010. That is well over 2,000 individual meals served.

You are L2F and you are making a difference.

Furniture delivery

2011-03-05T09:09:00.002-05:00

Thanks to Carl for organizing a delivery of furniture yesterday to a local family! It's exciting to see this family, who was homeless over Christmas, now be able to set up their home with the help of these men who took time out of their workday to go do this for L2F. Shane brought extra small helpers Ethan and Skyler along also! Thanks to Otho and everyone else who helped and my good friend that donated these twin beds!
You all are doing great work for L2F!

Local Run for Kids

2011-03-04T08:48:00.001-05:00

Hello!

I would like to take a moment to introduce my good friend Melodie to you. Melodie lives here in the area and adopted a son from Ethiopia 2 years ago after a missions trip to Adama, Ethiopia. Her team saw many children in need of help when visiting and decided to partner with an orphanage in Ethiopia to try and help the 200 children there who are in desperate circumstances. Melodie has found 75 local families in Loudoun County to sponsor the children there in the orphanage.

To meet the children at their orphanage in Adama, Ethiopia you can click on this link to see a video Melodie put together.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYGGCPRPepk

On 3/26/2011 they are holding their 1st Annual Run 4 Kids - 5 K Race in Lansdowne to raise money for uniforms and school supplies for all 200 children. In addition they are hoping to fund a 2nd care center so they can help more children.

If you are looking for a fun family event please consider running the race or coming out to support this. It is a fairly flat course and they will have food after the race.

If you would please pass this link along to friends, family, neighbors and Facebook it Melodie would so appreciate it.

The link to register is: http://www.run4kids5k.com

Thank you so much for your time!
Jill

Thank you for all your help over the Holidays!

2011-01-31T09:42:00.002-05:00

Hello!

I want to send out a HUGE thank you to all of you who helped L2F over the Holiday season! The families are sending in their sincere thanks and wanting me to pass it along to all of you!

We sent the items below to a troop of 20 serving in Afghanistan although the picture doesn't really show all the candy very well that you all sent in! :)

As soon as I hear anything from them I will let you know!

We also delivered 19 Holiday meals to families in our area the week of Thanksgiving. About 15 of you jumped in and actually helped deliver these food baskets to families and we thank you for that! Not only did you give the food but you also took time to deliver to families and wish them a Happy Holiday! When you give your time like that to people they appreciate you taking the time to stop your busy schedules to go and listen and get to know them!

Our Christmas Delivery Project in December helped 20 families, 1 troop of 20 in Afghanistan and a total of 84 people(many of them children) received Christmas presents because of all your help. A lot of the parents cried when we delivered because they knew their children would have something to unwrap on Christmas morning.

It is really wonderful and hard at the same time to watch a parent so in need be so happy that their child will receive something they knew they could not provide. Thank you to all of you who captained teams for these deliveries this year. You are sharing your stories with me and how it touched your lives and I am so excited to hear all of those stories! We gave out approximately $6000 worth of coats, boots, warm clothing, food, hats, footballs, soccer balls and toys to so many appreciative children and parents over Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Once again thank you for all your time, donations and love that you poured out on these families this Holiday season! I appreciate you all and you continue to inspire me! Thank you for that!

Jill

We are wrapping and wrapping!

2010-12-17T12:39:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone!

Holiday deliveries are going well! The families are so happy to receive this help when we show up. :) Thank you to all of you who continue to amaze me with your generosity and keep showing up with more and more items to wrap! In the past 2 days I have taken 3 more families. :) We have a lot of toys and can wrap them up and get them to these kids in time! I am so excited to be able to tell a liaison yes we can help you when they ask or are just telling me they are looking for presents for children they are finding still. Their faces light up with excitement to know these children will still have presents under the tree.

My friend was telling me last Christmas she went on a delivery on Christmas eve to a house and the family had a miniature plug in tree sitting by the wall plug with one little present under it for the whole family on Christmas Eve. I realize how much I am Blessed to have what I do when I hear these stories continuously. I know that many of you are the same way with the way you continue to jump in and help.

I know I tell you all the time how thankful I am for you all but I feel I just can't say it enough. I am so thankful to have friends like you all. I will try to update over Christmas break after all this hectic wrapping is over and let you know some of the stories we have to share. :)

Have a wonderful day!
Jill

L2F serves a meal at local shelter

2010-12-10T14:41:00.000-05:00

Last week Elisa, Liz, Mike and I took our children and went to a local shelter to serve a meal to some of the volunteers and families staying there. We took tacos and had a fun night! All the children played bingo before dinner. We made our dinner from a great taco assembly line that Elisa made and then after dinner we decorated sugar cookies that Liz had baked and brought with all kinds of icing and sprinkles.

The family in the shelter had such a good time and were smiling the whole time. Thank you to everyone who donated or prepared food for this event!

Delivery to Afghanistan

2010-12-10T14:35:00.001-05:00

I want to thank everyone for donating the deodorant, coffee, candy and chap stick for the soldiers in Afghanistan. The boxes are wrapped up and ready to go. I thought you might like to see a picture of Eric and Marc. This was taken a couple of weeks ago while he was back here. Marc got to see him and tell him we had collected the items for his group. I will let you know when they receive it! Thank you again for your help!

Car Wash raised $314

2010-11-15T10:59:00.001-05:00

Our car wash raised $314 on Oct. 30 at Chic Fil A. Thank you so much to those of you who came out to support L2F!

We are trying to raise donations for L2F for our Holiday Project for families in need. L2F adopts families that are in need in our area and provides them with Holiday gifts and meals.

This is the third year we have done the Holiday Project and the families are so thankful for the support they get when they cannot buy these items for their own families. Our volunteers buy, wrap and deliver holiday gifts for the whole family. I have gone on these deliveries and I can't tell you how wonderful it is for us to pull up and see the children peeking out of the curtains waiting excitedly for us! If you would like to help please donate new gloves, hats, coats, scarves, stocking items, gift cards, gas cards, food, toys, items for mothers like bubble bath, lotion etc... Thanks so much!

Car wash this Saturday Oct. 30 at Chic Fil A by Lowes

2010-10-29T16:12:00.000-04:00

Please come out and support us while getting your car clean!
This Saturday we will be having a car wash at Chic Fil A by Lowes in Sterling from 10-1.

We are trying to raise money for L2F for our Holiday Project for families in need. L2F adopts families that are in need in our area and provides them with Holiday gifts and meals.

This is the third year we have done the Holiday Project and the families are so thankful for the support they get when they cannot buy these items for their own families. Our volunteers buy, wrap and deliver holiday gifts for the whole family. I have gone on these deliveries and I can't tell you how wonderful it is for us to pull up and see the children peeking out of the curtains waiting excitedly for us!

Please come to Chic-Fil-A at 9:30 AM on Saturday, 30 October and wash cars to raise funds for L2F programs. Please bring buckets, sponges, soap, hoses and towels. Wear a Halloween costume and let's have fun!

Raising money to fight cancer

2010-10-27T17:21:00.000-04:00

A good friend of mine in Ashburn named Lisa Millar started The Brad Kaminsky Foundation when her brother lost his battle to a brain tumor. She has a heart for all cancer patients and is raising money to find a cure for cancer. Please take a moment to read below. She has won charity of the year for the DC area but still needs your help! Please see below. Thank you!

Because of you, The Brad Kaminsky Foundation has won Charity of the Year for Washington DC~We need your help again to win the National title and $25k for research! Please take 1 minute 4 a CURE and vote again and ask your contacts to do the same. You get one vote per category per computer and voting ends on 11/5 at 11:59EST.

Please Please spread the word through your networks. We can do this Together and what a great chance for the brain tumor and cancer community to raise awareness and inform so many more people! http://www.stayclassy.org/classy-awards
Lisa Kaminsky-Millar
www.tbkf.org ~ www.heroesofhoperace.org

Good Shepherd needs size 6 diapers

2010-10-20T16:59:00.001-04:00

Elisa and I visited Good Shepherd Alliance and toured the facility trying to learn everything we can about how to help our local shelters. We learned so much from this and met a lot of volunteers with great heart!

They do have a great need right now for size 6 diapers. We took them a lot of formula and diapers but were low on size 6. If any of you would like to help with this please email us or consider donating some size 6 to them. They do need them right away for some children. Thank you!

Help for our soldiers

2010-10-07T14:59:00.001-04:00

A friend named Marc, who is on the L2F network and pictured here, wrote me recently and asked if we could help his friend who is a soldier serving in Afghanistan. His friend wrote him and asked for deodorant, halloween candy and good ground coffee. I was so happy to say yes L2F would love to do this! My dad was in the Air Force for 30 years and I have wanted to help our troops.

I would like to start collecting these items and get this over to them right away! Please help us collect these items and help out these men and women who are over there willingly serving in our Armed Forces!

Please email me if you would like to help or bring the items with you to J10 at Broad Run High School on Sunday mornings from 9-11:30. You can also email me and we can arrange drop off or pickup.

Thank you so much!
Jill

We need backpacks!

2010-09-29T22:32:00.001-04:00

I can't believe we are already into October this weekend! Everything has been going along smoothly for the beginning of school. We have given out backpacks every week since school started. We are running low. We desperately need backpacks!

If you have old backpacks that are still in good shape and clean we will accept those also! Now is a good time to recycle all those old ones laying around. :) We are down to 1 at the moment and we need to fill some tomorrow for the weekend food program.

Please contact us if you have any to donate and we will arrange to pick them up from you! Thanks so much!

Jill

New team for L2F

2010-09-16T16:55:00.001-04:00

Hello everyone!

Today we went over to Melissa's house and have formed a team for working on the weekend backpacks. It is Elisa, Jasmine, Laura, Liz, Melissa, and I. We will be getting together weekly to pack the backpacks and arrange their delivery. We will also be discussing L2F and all the needs we have each week and planning how to best take care of getting those items and delivering them.

I am so excited these ladies are willing to head this up and do this work! They all have their hearts in it for the people in our community and for the kids! I am excited about this team and look forward to helping side by side with them! Thank you so much!

Jill

2010-09-09T10:18:00.001-04:00

Good Morning!

It feels like Fall outside and I am finally sitting down here at my computer to write on this blog. :) I apologize for not updating more frequently and it is a goal of mine to update you all more this year on all the good things L2F and J10 have been doing!

We have been collecting school supplies and backpacks for local schools. We have delivered 8 backpacks filled with all the supplies needed to children that were waiting for the bags. They were so excited to get the bags. One family said to tell you all "thank you all so much for the work you do and making these bags for their children!" They really appreciated them. We also took clothing to 5 kids in local schools with the backpacks. With it being the first week of school the children with needs are starting to show up and we will be hearing more in the next few weeks.

We are starting our weekend backpack program for children without food again starting this Friday. We already have some children waiting. We have worked hard over the summer gathering a supply of food and have bags prepacked and ready to go with nutritious food to give out on Fridays. We are getting together today to work on the food and get it all organized! :) We fed 98 children in the last 6 weeks of school and the program worked well so we are ready to go to help more!

Thank you all for watching the needs and jumping in when you can. YOU are making a difference in your community for so many children and families in need! Thank you!

Have a great day!
Jill

Trip to Dc to help homeless

2010-07-30T11:47:00.000-04:00

Hello!

Hope you are having a great summer. All is quiet right now with summer break. We have done a few deliveries this summer of food and furniture. We are taking the time to plan for the backpack program for the school year. If any of you would like to help buy school supplies for kids in the schools that do not have enough we are starting to collect them. Please let me know and I will arrange pickup or drop off of the supplies. Thanks!

There is also a group going to Washington DC tomorrow morning to help the homeless with backpacks filled with supplies. If any of you would like to join in that please contact us and we will give you details.

Have a great summer break!

Jill

2010-05-27T16:20:00.001-04:00

Thanks for all your input on a doctor for the child needing hearing aids. A lot of you suggested the same doctor in the local area that does non profit work. We have passed it along to the liaison who said "thank you very much!" If I hear any updates I will let you know!

We need help for a child

2010-05-25T09:44:00.001-04:00

We have been contacted by a parent liaison in a local school about a child that needs hearing aids. This child cannot afford them. Does anyone know an Ear, Nose and Throat doctor that may want to help with this in our area? If so please contact us at L2F@J10church.com.

Thanks so much!

Backpack program is going well!

2010-05-21T11:56:00.002-04:00

We have started our backpack program for children in local Ashburn schools that do not have food on the weekends. Each Wednesday we get a list of how many backpacks the counselors at some local schools need and we fill the packs with enough nutritious food for the child to eat 2 breakfast, lunch and dinner meals and snacks and milk. We have fed 40 children so far in 3 weeks.

The children get the backpacks on Friday and return them on Monday to be refilled the following week. We expect this to grow as I am hearing there are more families in trouble here in Ashburn. I know it's surprising - we live in such a wealthy community but yes this is going on right here. Families are struggling.

When I picked up the bags from a counselor on Wednesday she told me a little boy came up to her in the hall and very excitedly said "I know what you gave me in that backpack!" She said he was grinning so sweetly and was so happy to have received the food! That makes this all worth every bit of the time, money and effort it takes to put this together! Thanks to all of you who are helping so faithfully with this program. We cannot do this without you and we appreciate you so much! Thank you!

2010-05-21T11:21:00.002-04:00

Hey everyone!

I hope you all are having a great day today! We haven't had very many needs come in since Christmas and now all of a sudden we are getting more and more! A lot of these needs are with the change of season because children now need summer clothing. I expect these needs for kid's clothing to rise in the next few weeks since summer break is coming. We need summer clothing sizes 6-14 for 4 little girls and size 10/12 clothing for a boy.

One need we received was filled before I even got a chance to put it on the network! There is a mother with two little girls on our network and we have helped them before. Her girls are under 8 and sleep on a full mattress on the floor. They are in a basement apartment with an ant problem so the mother wanted a box spring and frame to get them up off the floor. I was just sitting down to write the need and send it out when Otho wrote me that he had a full box spring and did anyone need it! We are going to deliver it to them hopefully this weekend and get them up of the floor!

So many times when needs come in this happens where whatever we are being asked for is just put in front of us. God is awesome this way! This network of people is awesome this way! You all step up before I can even ask and are never tired of me asking or at least you make me feel that way! :) I appreciate that so much!

I am listing the clothing needs that we have on the sidebar under items needed. If any of you have anything you would like to donate please write me at L2F@J10church.com and we will arrange pick up or drop off.

Have a great weekend!
Jill

2010-05-18T09:55:00.002-04:00

Hello!

We have received a new need for food and clothing. I have a few to tell you about so I will just list them here so it's all in one spot! :)

-We have a need for food for a mother and 2 children here in Ashburn. They are barely getting by and would appreciate any donated food. She asked for fruit and vegetables. No known allergies.

-We have a need for clothing for a family that is in a shelter right now. There are three girls on the larger and taller size. Sizes 7-8 to size 14 in spring and summer clothing is what we are looking for for this family.

-We also have a need for backpack food! We have started taking backpacks of food and dropping them off with counselors to distribute on Fridays to children that have no food over the weekend. Some children are in shelters or other situations where they eat free or reduced lunch at school and then have very little or no food at home over the weekend until they return on Monday to school.

The counselors in the schools will get the parents permission and contact us and put them on our list so we know how many to make and take. We took our first backpacks last week to 3 children. This week we need to fill 6-7 backpacks by Friday. More children were just added today. We are looking for nutritious food easily prepared by a child (just in case the parents are not around when they need to eat). Please avoid items with peanut if possible. I know that isn't always possible but we are going to try and see how it works. I have listed some items below that are needed:

-backpacks in good, clean condition ( any kind)
-instant oatmeal
-easy mac
-apples
-oranges
-apple sauce
-granola or cereal bars
-cereal
-loaves of bread
-jelly
-fig newtons or other cookies
-gold fish crackers
-crackers
-juice boxes
-parmalat or other milk boxes that do not need refrigeration
-raisins or dried fruit
-poptarts
-spaghettios
-ravioli
-soup
-dinty moore beef stew

Please feel free to donate other items that you feel are nutritious and like the ones above. These are suggestions and types of things I put in last week. We are trying to give them some nutritious items to eat. :)

We are developing this as we go so we will start with what we have and see what works the best. I am so excited about this opportunity to show kids love each week by giving them these backpacks in what is usually an unstable time in their lives. We will be packing them on Thursdays and dropping them off on Friday mornings where they are needed. I know a lot of you have offered to help and are excited about this and some of you have offered to sponsor packs each week. If you have talked to me in the past about this please email me and let me know your interest once again so I can have it in front of me when organizing help.

I appreciate you all so much! If you would like to donate any of this please email me and we will arrange drop off or pick up.

Thank you so much!

Jill

2010-04-21T11:29:00.000-04:00

We are starting to get some needs again in the ashburn area for food and clothing. If you are on the email network please check the email I sent out last night. We are also finally counting the last of the Haiti baby items that came in! Quite a few more backpacks came in! Thanks!

Herb's letter to L2F

2010-04-08T16:32:00.001-04:00

I recently returned from a mission trip to Haiti with friends from J-10 Church. It was quite an experience to say the least. We accomplished our primary goal by simply arriving in the Dominican Republic with over 800 pounds of relief supplies. Six of us from departed from Dulles on Monday afternoon with a dozen 50-pound shipping containers and another half dozen carry-on bags filled with baby formula, powdered Pedialyte, diapers, and various over-the-counter medications. For our personal needs we were each allowed to bring along one bag that would fit beneath the seat in front of us.

Needless to say, air travel isn't run with the precision of a fine Swiss watch, and our trip was no exception. Our flight out of Miami to Santo Domingo was delayed by a more than two hours. After loading our supplies and making the arduous trip to the Christian Dominican Medical Mission (CDMM) compound it was almost 2:30 a.m. While our original plan had been to head out for Haiti almost immediately, it was decided that we would wait another day.

After a few hours sleep we awoke to a great breakfast prepared by the wife of the Mission Director. After a leisurely morning around the compound we made our way to the Dominican coastline and had lunch at a seafood restaurant on the beach. It was a beautiful day and the beach was sparsely populated. It would have been the perfect spot to relax at after going to Haiti but I guess I'll have to take my guilty pleasures wherever I can get them.

We spent Tuesday night breaking down the containers we had brought with us and repacking them. They had been packed to even out the weight to keep them under 50 pounds but it made more sense to repack the items functionally. After a few hours sleep we loaded up the truck and prepared for an 8-hour drove the Port au Prince. Though we had planned to leave by two, the engine on the Land Rover was finally fired up at 4:00 a.m. While the engine turned over effortlessly, the clutch was completely inoperative. Fortunately, one of the guys that made the trip from Virginia is a full-time auto mechanic. He assessed the situation pretty quickly and found that a hydraulic line had a slow leak in it. He was able to add break fluid to the reservoir and we were soon on our way. We had to stop at regular intervals to add more break fluid but at least we were moving in the right direction.

I must say that I have a whole new respect for Land Rovers. My previous experience had been with a friend's low-end SUV which he was constantly having problems with. The Land Rover Defender we rode in certainly earned its keep. While the truck performed well, we were packed in pretty tightly. There were nine of us in the vehicle – the six of us from Virginia, the Mission Director and his son, and a local originally from Haiti who spoke Creole. I now know what the stress position of being required to sit in one position for hours on end feels like. My knees were killing me.

After about six hours of mostly unpaved roads, we finally had to pull into a garage and get the clutch situation sorted out. They said it would be a 15-minute fix but it took two hours. That was fine with me since I needed the sleep. It was almost impossible to sleep in the truck. After we got on the road again we drove a couple more hours to get to Port au Prince. Unfortunately, my camera was in my bag on top of the truck so I didn't get any pictures going in but I kept the camera with me on the return trip. Upon arriving at our destination in Port au Prince we met with some local community organizers to let them know what we had come to do, and with their assistance, to scout out a couple of sites for the field medical clinic we were going to run the next day.

Up until my trip to Haiti, the most poverty-stricken place I had ever seen was Cairo, Egypt. Much of what I had seen in Cairo I saw again in Haiti so I can't say anything shocked me, but the scale of the devastation was much wider than anything I'd seen before. There are hundreds of thousands of people living in the streets in Port au Prince – if you can call it living. The lucky few have tents. Most are under make-shift shelters built from sticks and tarps.

There's a reason Carnival Cruises don't take you to Haiti on vacation. It sucked before the earthquake. It sucks on a grander scale now. These people have almost nothing. You'd think they'd be bitter. But everywhere we went the people were so friendly and polite. More than anything else, it was the children that made my trip worthwhile for me. The kids were adorable. As you may recall, there was a picture going around the wire services depicting a rescue operation that was being done jointly by a team from New York and Fairfax, VA in which they pulled a kid out of a collapsed building eight days after the earthquake. In the picture a young boy was being handed up to his mother and the kid has his arms spread out wide and a great big smile on his face. I saw that same smile everywhere I went.

At one moment while walking down an alley way, a couple of little girls about five or six years old came out of their tent and in what was probably the only English they knew giggled and shouted "I love you. I love you." They were so cute.

While in Port au Prince, we stayed inside the secured compound of a cinder-block brick factory. We slept in tents on the rocky ground but the food was good and the people who lived within the compound couldn't have been nicer. In fact, I'd have to say that the best night of sleep I got during my whole trip was that night in Haiti.

After breakfast the next morning our community organizer friends met us at the compound and we piled back in the truck and drove through the deeply rutted dirt paths to where we would set up our clinic for the day. Our location for the day gives a whole new meaning to road-side assistance. We packed the truck on level ground, pulled out an awning mounted on the side, put up some addition tarps for shade and some ropes as a barrier and we were open for business.

The community organizers had already put the word out that we would be seeing mothers with small children and pregnant women, and a large crowd soon gathered. When they first lined up it was apparent that they would be standing out in the hot sun. They tried to move the line without disrupting it too much to get them into some shade, but as the line was moved some people lost their place in line and they were not happy about it. There was some screaming and yelling, shoving and jockeying for position, and at one point an out-right fist-fight broke out. This only served to underscore just how desperate these people are.

On the whole, the crowd was respectful of the rope barrier we set up. Some kids wanted a closer look, but kids will be kids. They saw we were giving our little patients some stuffed animals, lollipops, and kid-sized sunglasses – who wouldn't want that? While standing just inside the rope barrier with my hands at my side I looked down at a little girl who took my smile a queue that it would be all right to hold my hand. She didn't want to let go.

One of the women who came along from Virginia is a nurse and the Mission Director is a Nurse-Practitioner. Together they saw about two hundred patients in a four-hour period. When it came time to go, there was still a long line and the remaining mothers and babies left naturally disappointed. I'm pretty sure we could have stayed there all day and the line would never have subsided, but by now it's Thursday afternoon and we have to get back to the Dominican Republic for our Friday morning flight back home. After a quick lunch we headed back with a brief excursion through downtown Port au Prince. From the safety of a moving vehicle one can grow numb to the destruction. It's everywhere. And that's just what you can see from the roadway.

Getting into Haiti was a lot quicker than getting out. I believe the return trip took about nine and half hours. It was no less painful than the trip out. You just don't get used to sitting in one position for hours. Although he has a heart of gold, the Mission Director is one of the most aggressive drivers I've ever seen. He took chances that I never would have, but it had to be done. My hat's off to him. He got us in and out of Haiti safe and sound.

After a late dinner, my only shower on the trip, and a few more hours sleep we departed for the Santo Domingo airport on Friday morning. Our return flight was through San Juan, Puerto Rico so we got to go through customs in a place where we had to wait for a connecting flight anyhow. When we got back to Virginia it was just off the plane, into the car, and home.

On the whole, it was a very rewarding experience. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. I only wish we'd have gotten to spend more time on the ground in Haiti. There are a lot of suffering people in this world. I feel it’s my responsibility to do what I can to help in some small way.

Although six of us got on the plane at Dulles, we each went with the support of our family, friends and co-workers. I’m blown away by your generosity. You very well may have helped saved lives. May God continue to bless you all, and if you don’t already know it, may to come to realize how truly blessed you really are.

Herb

Letter from Brenda

2010-03-30T09:56:00.000-04:00

Hey Jill,

It makes me feel so loved that ya'll were following our trip. The trip was hard and amazing. Conditions in Carrefour are much worse than you can even imagine. We got to personally give out the supplies we brought. We set up a "clinic" and saw pregnant women and children for about 4 hrs. What an amazing feeling to be able to love on them. We gave out diapers, formula, medicines and performed minor medical procedures for aprox. 200. They need help so badly and they were grateful for the help. Could you please let the L2F email group know that their donations are making a difference.

Keep Praying For Them,
Brenda

Haiti update

2010-03-17T23:45:00.001-04:00

Hey there! I just got done entering all the baby items from Sunday's collection at J10. We collected $1147.90 dollars worth of baby items and 679 diapers. That brings our total to $5212.93 and 4077 diapers. That is enough diapers to diaper 407 children for one day or 58 children for one week! People are still dropping items off also.

It's getting closer to the time for the team to leave and they are preparing. They will leave monday at 3:30 to take all this to Carrefour, Haiti. If any of you still have packs out please bring them on Sunday or contact me for drop off.

Thanks so much everyone!

Jill

Backpacks for Haiti

2010-03-10T11:07:00.000-05:00

Hello!

I wanted to update you that we received 25 backpacks for Haiti last week. There was a total of $1500 worth of baby items donated!

We received more this past Sunday. My helpers that you see in the picture above sorted it all yesterday and we are counting it now. I should have totals later this evening to tell you.

We still have empty backpacks if any of you would like more. Just let me know. Thanks so much for all your work on this everyone! We have so much baby stuff for the kids! We have assembled our team and they will be ready to take as much as they can on March 21. Right now we are thinking there is enough for a second trip also!

I will update later today or in the morning and let you know how much we collected this past Sunday! :) Thank you all so much!

Jill

Sorting items for Haiti

2010-03-01T11:48:00.001-05:00

We were sorting the items yesterday and this fell out of one of the bags. A little girl named Sophia drew 5 of these drawings and put them in the backpack she turned in. It looks like she is sending the babies a hug! I just had to to share it because the time and love Sophia put into these drawings really touched my heart! I hope it touches yours also!

Backpacks for Haiti

2010-02-25T09:59:00.000-05:00

L2F volunteers Liz,Rhea and Melissa sporting the new backpack.

This past weekend J10 gave out over 300 backpacks for people to take to their neighbors to fill for Haiti. We already have people wanting to help fill them up! The backpacks are given to friends and neighbors along with a sheet telling them that we need diapers, pedialyte and formula and when the person who dropped it off will return to pick it up. I have extra backpacks if any of you need more. Just let me know and I will get them to you!

We also took a special collection and raised over $10,000! This money will pay for the team and supplies to get down there. They will also buy water and rice to take with them to Carrefour once they are in Dominican Republic. On top of the $10,000 we have collected another $800 worth of supplies already for them to take and you all are still calling to donate. Thank you!! We have collected another 340 diapers since I wrote the last post!

Keep up the good work everyone! This is going to help a lot of children!

Update on Haiti Collection

2010-02-22T09:52:00.001-05:00

Good Morning!

As of this morning we have collected about $700 worth of baby supplies for Matt to take to Haiti.

We have received:

12 large cans of formula
1 large can of powdered milk
10 boxes of formula with 16 packs to each box
122 individual packets of pedialyte

We have collected 910 diapers. It takes an avg of 10 diapers a day for 1 child. That means we can help 13 children for 1 week. I think we can double that amount!

The team was buying the plane tickets yesterday. We will be collecting the items until the minute we are packing them to go. I believe right now that date is March 20 deadline.

Please keep donating whatever you can so we can help as many children as we can! Please remember NOTHING is too small to donate. It all adds up if we pool together!

Thank you so much!! You all are awesome!!

Jill

Matt's Haiti Video

2010-02-13T09:45:00.000-05:00

Here is the video Matt took when he visited 2 weeks ago. Your help will go directly to the people you see in the video in this area. Matt will bring back pictures for us and I will post them here when he returns with stories. Thank you all so much for listening and once again thank you to those of you who are already writing and dropping things off at my house for this. I appreciate it! Have a great day!

Help for Haiti

2010-02-12T09:59:00.000-05:00

Hello,

When the earthquake first hit Haiti my heart was overwhelmed with sadness and then so frustrated. Here we are in one of the most powerful and wealthy cities with stores filled with everything that dying people including children need but we were powerless to get it to them. I knew we had this awesome network set up with people that would help in a heartbeat if we could find a way to get it to them. It was on my mind constantly for the first week and a half after it happened and still is.

Matt Saffer is one of our L2F people and the community guy at J10 Church. He went down to Haiti to see how we could help about 12-14 days after the earthquake hit. He went in to Carrefour, Haiti with a doctor named Gary from the Dominican Christian Medical Mission. At the time Matt went no aid had reached Carrefour at the epicenter of the earthquake. They begged him for food and anything he had. The mayor of the town begged him to return with help. Matt will go back in about 2 weeks. He will take all that he can with him in checked bags so that he can take it directly in with him to Carrefour.

If you wish to help with this we are asking for powdered pedialyte, powdered formula and diapers for babies/toddlers. They are most worried about the children and babies because they dehydrate and get sick so much quicker. Another group is taking 1000 tents down this week to give families some shelter.

We do not usually ask for money donations and L2F will not normally do this but this situation is a little different. They do also need money to get the supplies down there. Please do not feel obligated at all but if you wish to help in this way please send a check made out to J10 Church with L2F/Haiti in the memo to:

J10 Church
44050 Ashburn Shopping Plaza
Suite 195 #237
Ashburn, VA 20147

I will be posting a video of footage that Matt took when he was there 2 weeks ago. I can't watch this without a few tears and I have seen it many times.

I know this is not in Ashburn where we normally concentrate our effort but this is an extra opportunity to help people that need the most basic things in life! If you are like me you want to help but you want to know where it goes. This help will go directly to the people you see in the video. Matt will bring back pictures for us and I will post them here when he returns with stories. Thank you all so much for listening and thank you to those of you who are already writing and dropping things off at my house for this. I appreciate it! Have a great day!

Jill

Deliveries

2010-01-30T16:17:00.000-05:00

Hello!
Just an update that we did deliver the three deliveries this week that included the bat, the food for the homeless family and cards to shop for underwear and the items for the young mother and baby. Thank you so much for donating. The homeless mother was most excited about being able to shop for her sons. Thank you!

Family in need of food

2010-01-19T11:27:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone!

We still have a need for food for the homeless family with 4 children. If any of you would like to help please let me know. I know some of you were just waiting to see what we needed for them. Thanks!

Christmas Thank you letter

2010-01-11T09:09:00.001-05:00

Good Morning!
I just received a thank you letter from one of the counselors at Farmwell Middle School that needs to also go to all of you who helped over the Christmas season with L2F! :)

"Just wanted to thank you and the entire J10 Church congregation and L2F for your contributions to Farmwell's families this Christmas. With your help, we were able to make the holidays a little brighter for over twenty families.

We look forward to working with all of you in the future."

The Liaison there also told me that "when one family came to pick up all the Christmas gifts they were stunned. They never imagined receiving so much, they were so very thankful."

I am entering all the Christmas season information now and hope to update you later today or tomorrow with more about some of the stories from the Christmas holiday. For now thank you again and I just wanted to share this letter with all of you. I hope you are all staying warm and had a wonderful Holiday!

Thank you again!

Jill

2009-12-14T12:23:00.000-05:00

Good Morning! :)

We have been delivering presents to all the families we have been collecting for now for 2 weeks! :) We are almost done with the families from our J10 service Sunday. Here are some updates on projects I have been telling you about:

-I will deliver 5 large bags to Farmwell today for 1 family with 6 children plus an xbox that was donated by one of you. The family had that on their list and we are giving them one donated a long time ago by one of you! :) This was the group with Lisa Adams in it.

-Geegee and I delivered the presents for her group from Service Sunday to the family with a single mom and 3 children. The family was very excited to see us and overwhelmed by your generosity!! She said to tell you thank you so much. The clothing for her daughter came just in time.

--We are also delivering to another girl at Farmwell today that did not have any warm clothing or coat and we have a bag with lots of goodies for her! This was done by the group that GeeGee was in also.

- We delivered clothing, presents, an oil change and groceries to the family with 6 children done by the group with both Bill P.'s in it. She started to cry and thanked me over and over and told me to tell you all thank you so much!

Elisa talking with her group.

- Elisa and 2 of our teens, Kristin and Abby, delivered to the family with a single mom and 5 children who did not even have a Christmas tree. She kept telling her kids it was just too early but she could not afford a tree. Elisa, Kristin and Abby took presents, gift cards and a Christmas tree donated by the Steeles! :) Elisa said the mom thanks you so much for helping them also!

- Elisa and our new neighbor Karol who speaks Spanish did the delivery to the family from Bolivia. Elisa said the mom was like a little kid so excited when they came to deliver presents, coats for mom, dad and the 2 kids and food. Elisa and her group shopped at Grand Mart and Elisa's dad Gary walked around the store asking people if they knew what this family may actually like to eat in their country of Bolivia. They found someone who knew and when they delivered the foods they picked out - the mom was so very excited that they took the time to find out what she liked to cook with. :)

At Service sunday we gave out about $880 from J10 church to the five groups that shopped for these families. You added $2320 to it to make it $3200 worth of Christmas food, clothing, coats, shoes and presents that these 5 families alone received!!!! Awesome Job!!

We also delivered about $1200 in food at Thanksgiving to 10 families!!

You all paid off Mia's gas bill and put a $1000 credit on her bill for the winter. When I went over to talk to her she just cried and said thank you so much and she doesn't know how she would have been able to get the gas back on without all of you. About 20 of you called to help with that!

We are continuing to work on deliveries for families this week and next week. I just got 2 more in this morning if any of you would still like to help. We also are making up baskets like we did for Thanksgiving to give to some families for Christmas dinner. We will try to deliver those soon. Please email me if you would like to help and let me know and I will contact you back with how we still need help. I know some of you that missed service sunday said you would still like to help.

Thank you so much for your time. I know this was long but I really wanted to share with you the joy of what you are a part of! I continue to be thankful for all of you! You all amaze me!

Have a great day!

Jill :)

Want to help give a turkey dinner for Thanksgiving?

2009-11-18T10:07:00.000-05:00

I am calling more families today and already have some families on a list that would like to receive a turkey dinner for Thanksgiving. If any of you would like to help us provide some Thanksgiving meals in our community to families who are in need please email me at L2F@J10church.com. Thanks so much!

Her gas is back on!

2009-11-18T09:45:00.001-05:00

Hello!

I am truly trying to update this more often but we have just been so busy that I turn around and a week is gone!

We have been working on a project for a single mom with 5 children here in Ashburn. The mother, who is a friend of mine, fell and hurt her arm and could not work because of surgery on her injury. She got behind in her gas bill but always thought she would catch up. She called for help because the gas was turned off.

I so admire my friend's positive attitude and smiles. Even when they had no hot showers or meals she continued to smile and know God would provide and help her. She came to my house one night in the middle of it all and could still laugh. I love her spirit!

We put out an email for you all to be able to help and about 20 of you responded. Her gas was off for approximately 10 days. No heat, hot water or ability to cook. You all went into action and called the gas company and donated to help her get back on her feet. I was overwhelmed by the generosity and concern you all showed! She was too! She asked me to tell you the gas has been turned back on and thank you SO MUCH! We believe she will also have a credit on her account so she can catch her breath with her bills and life.

This is what L2F is all about. Helping each other out in our community. A big thank you to all who helped on this. We appreciate it!!!

Guitars for students

2009-10-29T09:28:00.000-04:00

Hello!

I am so excited to tell you about one of our latest deliveries that we have been working on! We had a need come in from Farmwell Middle School for guitars. There are about 10 kids that need guitars to practice on at home but could not afford them. They are going to have to quit taking guitar if no guitars are found for them.

We had 2 guitars donated by 2 of our members for these kids to stay in music! One of our members is a guitar teacher and in our band at J10. He donated another 2 brand new guitars still wrapped in the boxes to take to Farmwell so 2 more children can stay in music. I received 2 wonderful letters thanking you all for donating.

"I wish you could have seen the look on the guitar teacher's face when I gave him the instruments. He is so-o-o thankful because these will directly benefit a child who would have to drop the course. These guitars are a "gift" that will keep on giving for years--the school will keep the guitars from year to year for the purpose of helping a student who would not be able to take the course otherwise. So please pass along our profound thankfulness to those donors."

"I about fell over when I came in this morning to see two brand new guitars waiting for me. I immediately took them to the guitar teacher and he just looked at them with his mouth open. The guitar teacher has just returned to say that he approached two students in need and told them that there is a guitar for them to borrow. He said, "you should have seen the smiles on their faces, you could just feel their joy."

I guarantee those guitars are greatly appreciated. Please, let the donor know the relief and happiness they are spreading."

We have found 4 total and are still looking for more if any of you know of anyone that has one to donate to Farmwell. They will take any instruments that you would like to donate. Please contact me at l2f@j10church.com if you know of any. Thank you all so much who are looking and a great big thank you to those who donated your guitars already! :)

New Deliveries

2009-10-15T13:58:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to let you know what has been going on with L2F lately!

- Elisa and I went on a delivery to a mom with 3 children to deliver items that you all had collected for her. She was so appreciative and sat talking with us for at least an hour.

- We delivered clothing and shoes donated recently by some of you to a family of four in Ashburn Village. They and the parent Liaison we worked with said to tell you all thank you so much. There were clothing and shoes for everyone in the family!

-We had our J10 Community yard sale in the rain and wind and still sold items! :) We were happy to see how many people came out. One of our volunteers, Amber, took the rest of the items to sell at the MOPS sale. Hopefully we will be able to raise even more for the J10 community fund.

-We delivered 2 boxes full of school supplies to Ashburn Elementary and Farmwell Station. The counselor and parent liaison were so thankful and said they had been giving out the items kids needed. We also delivered binders and other school supplies to Broad Run High School. The parent liaison there was so appreciative and is still in need of Binders if anyone finds a good deal on them!

I apologize for not updating this blog or email often but wanted you to know that what you are donating and doing is helping so many people. I also told the liaisons at some local schools we are ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas to help those families in need. I will be writing soon with information on any deliveries for the Holiday season we are asked to help with. If you see any good toys or deals on items that you think would be good for these deliveries please let me know. We can try to collect ahead of time to get started on it! Thanks again!! :)

2009-09-15T16:34:00.001-04:00

Hello!

September 18 is the one year anniversary of L2F! We have done so much over this first year and I can't thank you enough for your support, help, time, prayers, donations and love that you all have poured into L2F!

We started as just a few friends helping out our neighbors and grew to 70 people! In our first year we have:

-Helped 10 schools
-Made 68 deliveries ( only 2 times out of 70 were we not able to deliver what people needed)
-Delivered 8 beds
-Given away 17 backpacks full of school supplies
-Supplied 2 schools with big boxes of school supplies
-Delivered 4 Thanksgiving meals and 3 Easter meals
-Given a family a grocery store card so they could purchase medicine
-Collected and given away 55 coats

We helped:

53 adults
55 children
27 families

We delivered approximately $5000 worth of food, gas cards and school supplies!

This amount above does not include the value of all the beds, clothing, shoes, furniture and sports equipment that we have given people. That may be worth at least another $5000 . There is no way to value all that. How many were helped by the boxes of school supplies, and the 80 bags that were delivered to DC by the J10 Youth Group, and all those coats? So, we helped many more than are listed above but we won't be able to ever know exact amounts. :)

I would love to be able to show you all the smiles we got to see on people's faces when we delivered. It is awesome to see a child's face when they receive new school supplies or how excited they get over seeing Ravioli, Mac n cheese or a good box of cereal in the bags we take!

We are so grateful for all of you and your generous hearts that continue to show people God's wonderful love! L2F could not exist without you all. You are L2F!

Thank you!!

Backpack time

2009-08-08T18:58:00.000-04:00

Hello!

Hope you are having a great summer! We have been enjoying our summer and soaking up every minute of sun. :)

We are starting to think about fall and the need for backpacks and school supplies. Every fall it seems it is quiet in the summer and then once we start back to school we are scrambling for school supplies. If any of you would like to help with school supplies please let us know! The items we most need are black composition books, binders, backpacks, markers, crayons, pencils, paper and notebooks with one to 3 subjects but anything you can donate is much appreciated!

If you can help please let me know or bring the items to J10 on Sundays. We will be collecting them each Sunday in a box in the frontline area.

Thank you so much for your continued help and enjoy the rest of your summer! :)

We have new people helping L2F

2009-07-06T14:43:00.000-04:00

Hey there!

I am happy to introduce Elisa J. to you all. She will be coordinating the new need for the single mom with 3 children. She has a heart for people and will do a great job for L2F! Please contact her with any emails concerning this newest need so we can get something out to this mother as quickly as possible.

I would also like to introduce Debbie O. as our newest storing, sorting and acquiring clothing person for L2f. She is working out of her garage for us keeping all this clothing straight! :)

Our new L2F shopper and coupon person is Nikki H. She has also stored and donated furniture. She has amazing knowledge of coupons and deals and I am excited that she is helping us out also!

This is a network made of volunteers like these ladies along with all of you who donate items. You all are what allow us to help people in Loudoun County! I appreciate all of your effort and am excited to have people helping now! Now we can reach even more! :) Thank you!

Thank you!

2009-06-21T18:31:00.000-04:00

Thank you to those of you who brought items this morning for the family in need! We did get some food and gas cards for them and I will deliver it in the morning! Thank you for the quick response!

We also have moving boxes to offer if anyone needs any. The Jordans have moved back and will be unpacking and needing to get rid of all their boxes. We also have a microwave to offer if anyone needs it. Just let me know if you are interested in any of these and I will take the first person to ask. :)

Spring at Newlife is also in need of Pots and pans, cooking utensils and towels if anyone has any they would like to offer. Please let me know!

Thanks for checking all this out! We appreciate you all!

3 more deliveries

2009-06-09T10:44:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone! Just wanted to update quickly that we have done 3 more deliveries and added a new school helped to our list! :) We helped a new parent liaison at a local Ashburn school this week with food and clothing. We had food left from the last collection so were able to quickly put together an emergency food delivery together for a local family.

In the last 2 deliveries you all donated about $350 worth of food and we were able to get that out to the two other families waiting. One in Sterling and one in Ashburn. We also delivered some clothing to them which they needed. Thanks to all of you who donated and sorted items for us on these deliveries! We sure appreciated the help!

Right now our biggest need is for anyone that would like to donate a gas card to someone. If any of you would like to donate cards in any amount it would be appreciated. Just let me know. As always I am thankful for you all. We are up to 70 people now on the network and growing. :) I am working on an update for you all and will have that out soon to let you know some of the numbers of people we have helped and what items we have helped with. I will try to get that out in the next few days! :) Thank you again!

Deliveries

2009-05-19T10:37:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to show you all what you delivered in 12 hours! :) By 11:15 last night we had this much food collected for our 2 families in need! I am sorting it now and will deliver it to them later today. I just want to say thanks for the quick response!

J10 Youth Group trip to DC

2009-05-12T08:32:00.001-04:00

Our J10 youth group collected enough nutrition bars, socks, ponchos etc... to make up 80 bags to distribute to the homeless in DC in April. They made the bags one Sunday after church and then J10 youth sponsors drove the kids to different areas to hand them out. They had some good conversations and were able to help a lot of people!

We would like to do this again soon so if anyone would like to start collecting socks, nutrition bars, ponchos, light blankets for the next time we will be accepting those and building up our stock for the next run. Bill P. was telling me that even though it is warm now, one of the items they asked for most were the light blankets so please keep those in mind for us if you find any extras around your house. Thanks to all of you who donated items for this event!!

New need for a twin bed

2009-04-17T08:08:00.000-04:00

One of our volunteers on this network has a friend that is going through a difficult divorce right now. She says her friend is sleeping on the floor in someone's basement. If anyone has a bed or even an air mattress to donate - please let us know. She would really appreciate the opportunity to show this friend some kindness and help her. Thanks!

J10 Youth Group going to DC to help homeless

2009-04-14T15:43:00.000-04:00

This Sunday our J10 Youth group will be going downtown to DC to hand out items to the homeless. If any of you would like to help we are collecting lightweight blankets, ponchos, Cliff or nutrition bars and new socks.

You can bring any items you have to J10 on Sunday or we can arrange pick up or drop off. The ponchos and blankets can be lightly used. Our kids have great hearts for serving and I am sure they are all looking forward to this event! Thanks!

Food for a family in Ashburn Village

2009-04-13T18:30:00.000-04:00

Hello,

We need help with food for a family that is in our J10 family. They are in need of basic food like milk, eggs, bread, meat, vegies, cereal, etc. If anyone would like to help with this please let us know asap. Thanks so much!

Easter Deliveries

2009-04-13T18:20:00.002-04:00

Happy Easter! :)

I hope you are all enjoyed your Easter! This week we were busy delivering for L2F. We did 4 deliveries.

Tuesday night we delivered groceries to make an Easter dinner to a family in the Sterling area. Their son has special needs and I see him in the morning being dropped off by the bus. Clarice, Jamie, Elisa and I visited this family and sat talking with them about the needs of their son. These ladies all made this family feel very loved and they invited us to come back again to visit with them.

We also delivered the diapers, wipes and an Easter dinner to the young mother with the baby that we have helped before. Her little boy turned 1 last week and she was so thankful for all the food and diapers you all provided again. We also gave her clothing and school supplies for her cousin who is now here in the U.S. She said to tell you all thank you again!

Josh H.,Caleb,Hunter,Patrick,Taylor and the Thornes also did a delivery this week to a single mother. They took a TV and cabinet along with some Easter chocolate and a baseball bat for the kids. This little boy is 10 and just got baptized so we are really excited for him! We also delivered one other Easter dinner this week to a family in Ashburn Village.

This is exactly what we hope for from this network, that people will feel so loved at the moment they are being helped! We want to thank you all again for your support, time and items that you continue to help with! Happy Easter to you all!

We have a new need for a battery for a van

2009-04-06T14:05:00.001-04:00

We have a new need for someone that needs help getting a battery for her van. It's a 96 town and country van that she says has all electric items. I am not sure what that means myself but maybe it will make sense to some of you! :) She said the batteries are about $82 at walmart. She knows how to put the battery in but just needs help buying it so she can get to work. She cannot take the bus because it is too far. If any of you can help with this need it would be appreciated! She is worried she will lose her job because she can't get there.

She also just told me her son was baptized! We have been helping this family for awhile and I have gotten to know them all so I am very excited for him! :) He is about to turn 10 years old and we are going to take him a baseball bat that the Adams donated to L2F with a card congratulating him on his baptism because he wants to start playing baseball! :)

Please email me at L2F@j10church.com if you would like to help with this need. Thank you and I hope you are enjoying this warm day! :)

This blog is finally ready!

2009-04-01T21:41:00.000-04:00

Hello! Welcome to the L2F Blog. As you can see below we have been fine tuning this since February.

We went out to dinner tonight and ran into someone we had helped in the past. She was the first person L2F helped. Stacy finally got to meet this mother and we had such a good conversation with her. She had been hurt but her arm was healed and you could tell she was so glad to be back to normal taking care of her children. She looked so beautiful and happy. It was nice to see someone we had helped at a low point now enjoying life!

That is what we want to be about. Helping people at low points get back to the top of life. We will try to update this regularly with stories about who we are helping and opportunities for you to help us. We have updated the current needs column and will send an email reminder to check this whenever we get a new need. We will keep the items needed list always current with what we are trying to find. We now have over 60 people in this group and we are so very thankful for all of your hearts and your willingness to help!

Have a great week!

Yes! A sofa will Fit in my Van!

2009-03-20T12:11:00.001-04:00

It's funny - everyone teases me about my van! My husband calls it the Chicken Bus because we have eaten so many chicken nuggets in there. It is amazing what we have fit in there at different times for deliveries!

We delivered yesterday to a lady who had no furniture and was sleeping on the floor with her kids. We took a sofa, love seat, chair and a floor lamp. Traci and Brian Thorne and their coworker Erika (who translated for us) helped donate and deliver with me during the day. Then we went back at night with more furniture (from Sam and Nikki Hendrix) with Stacy, Elisa and Josh Johnston and our kids helping with the delivery. :) The lady we helped said to tell you all "thank you very much because she had nothing." Thank you to Erika for translating for us!

Josh Johnston and Stacy Hills help deliver so much and I am very thankful for them! :)

Welcome

2009-02-25T23:51:00.000-05:00

February 23, 2009

Welcome to our page! I made this so you can check here and see what is going on with L2F Needs Network. I will have our latest projects and Needs on here along with pictures and stories. :) Today we delivered over 500 diapers, wipes and food to a young mother. She was so appreciative and said to tell you all thank you so much!