July Mercy Service
The Mercy Meals
initiative begun this year by Orphan Grain Train--Michigan was blessed mightily
with another premier packing event conducted by members of Our Savior Lutheran
Church in Gladwin, Michigan.
In record time , and with enormous spirit and enthusiasm,
these volunteers on July 11 exceeded their goal of
10,000 Meals. The service was wonderfully directed by Josiah
Schultz, Director of Christian Education. During the two-hour packing
event Josiah cooked up one of the Mercy Meals packets so everyone could be
offered a taste.
The food is substantial and delicious. One can
immediately understand how welcomed such simple food is to a desperately hungry
child or a mother distressed to know how to feed her children,
We thoroughly enjoyed the hour they spent with us sharing
the story of Orphan Grain Train's mercy work.
Holy Redeemer, Dryden had previously displayed multiple ribbons of color July 5 when bringing beautiful quilts into God's house to be blessed as gifts to those in need. These are the quilts now delivered to us at Orphan Grain Train. Holy Redeemer's Pastor Evan Veen shared this photo of the result of the loving efforts of their wonderful quilters. We thank them sincerely.
That very same morning, July 28, Rosemary
Hoff and Karen Berner arrived with 81 absolutely
beautiful quilts sewn by those at Trinity Lutheran Church
(Monitor), Bay City. Karen and Rosemary then stayed on through the morning to
share their time and energies along with our regular volunteers.
Receiving all these friends with their gifts made the day
even more lively and cheerful than usual. We are also thankful all these
folks could be with us for our daily morning devotional time too.
Hardly a Tuesday or Thursday (our operational days at Orphan Grain Train--Michigan) passes without Diane Menzel here to provide such valuable and consistent volunteer service. But if that wasn't enough, she so often--virtually every occasion-- accents it with every sort of home-make baked confectionery. She spoils us. Today it was fresh blueberry muffins.
Orphan Grain Train--Michigan's 18th International Shipment
On the afternoon before June 9 we
received a call from New Jersey and a freight desk that our container order had
been was mis-dated and they were scrambling to see if another could be
obtained. Through multiple communications another was found but ETA would
be about 11:00 am instead of 10:00 as we planned. Our volunteer crew had
already been informed, so a subsequent E-mail blast late that afternoon
hopefully updated everyone. O.K.
So the following morning we receive
another call again from New Jersey to inform me the trucker was able to get out
early and ETA was now 10:00 again. Such are the exigencies which can
happen, but this time we had the use of a high-low (forklift) which was
great.
Kids
hustled to help with some of our regulars who all pitched in. Anyway, the
load finally pulled away after another successful job. This cargo has
Riga, Latvia as its destination.
Monday, June 15
Dear friends,
We are happy to announce the shipment arrived safely last night. Thanks to your
efforts the shipment arrived and our community will benefit from your
packages. We thank you and may God bless you for your efforts.
Boghian Ghiorghita
Fundatia de Binefacere a Nevazatorilor din Romania
The Romanian Foundation for the Blind
The picture here show only the final contingent of attendees and delegates at the Michigan District Lutheran Women's Missionary League Convention who volunteered for a servant event to pack Mercy Meals.
On June 26 packing lines were set to mix the rice, soy, vegetables, and nutrient packs for eventually send to those suffering food insecurity.
The great spirit and effort from these wonderful people adds momentum to the newly established Mercy Meals.
Though we have received thermal mats before, the word "plarning" was new to us. Plarning is the craft of transforming discarded plastic bags into sturdy, reusable "plastic yarn then used to knit waterproof items like these sleeping mats.
Karen Acha (foreground) and DCE Denys Zucher delivered to Orphan Grain Train a large quantity of mats made by members of Holy Cross, Flushing and others in the community. The group is soon obtaining a weaving loom to continue efforts so far done by hand. We appreciate the loving efforts.
Meet two of our loyal support team. Lyle and Marlene Brewster repreatedly drive from Saginaw with goods gathered from around the churches. They almost always then stay to help at the OGT center sorting clothing and adding to the enjoyable friendship and conversation. We can't thank them enough.
