For those of you who haven't made the connection yet, I am the woman that Station Manager Dave Brooks is talking about in the latest WCIC "Things are not business as usual" radio spot. I have told God that if he is going to give me a story, that I will share it... and He is making sure I keep that promise! :-)
I attend Rock Church in East Peoria, but I also volunteer at the
Community Harvest Food Pantry in Morton. Community Harvest and Trinity Church have asked me to speak for about 5 minutes this Sunday about Community Harvest and my testimony.
Since most of you will not be there to hear it, I thought I would share with you what I am going to tell them...
My name is Kindall. I am a single mom of four. I could talk
to you for hours about how amazing God is… but I only have 5 minutes… so here’s
what I want to tell you today!
My children and I used to live in Galesburg, but I began to
feel that God's place for us was the Peoria area. I knew that I was supposed to
move us here... but instead of waiting for God’s direction; I took the first
avenue I saw open. Seven months and one unhealthy relationship later, my four
children and I were homeless... living in an RV at a local campground. We were
stuck there for nearly six months. My son was 10, and my daughters were 6, 8
and 14.
Shortly after that I started coming to the Community Harvest
Food Pantry regularly. I had been once or twice before, but it never meant so
much to me as it did after we became homeless. Everyone was so welcoming and
friendly. I remember tearing up the first time someone loaded food into my van
and telling them that they had no idea what a blessing they were. I also prayed
several times with volunteers. When I didn’t, I still wrote my request down so
that someone would pray for me during the week.
Trying to find work was difficult. I have my degree in
Elementary education, but I had let my license lapse and couldn’t go back to
teaching unless I went back to school. Besides that, what school was going to
hire a homeless teacher? Instead I
decided that a good start would be to get a part time job doing some
housekeeping, and put an ad on Craigslist. In an effort to make my ad different
than all of the others, I titled it “Hire A Housewife” and listed off all of
the things I could do that your average cleaning lady would not. Cooking,
organizing, pet care, event planning… whatever was needed.
The first person to hire me truly took my ad literally. He
and his boys didn’t just need the house cleaned. They needed food cooked,
decorating taken care of, errands run… everything. I started working at their
house five days a week. Over time I built a relationship with this family…
Thanks to some help from some friends and some people who
believed in me, we were able to get into an apartment in September of last
year. Shortly after that, I started
volunteering at Community Harvest. As much as it touched me to be served
through the program, being on the other side of the registration table has
touched me more.
I try very hard to make sure that people who come in do not
feel like a number. I work on remembering their names. If I see a new haircut
or something else that has changed, I comment on it too… because I know what a
difference it makes to know that someone sees you as a person. I have watched miracles take place over and
over at Community Harvest. Food nobody expected, a vehicle that was badly
needed, most importantly people who come in in pain… physical, emotional,
spiritual… and leave with hope and healing.
I love everyone that comes through the doors at Community Harvest… but different circumstances that people have, will always affect volunteers differently.
My heart goes out to the ones who come in and, eyes looking at
the ground, tell me they’ve never been here and then start explaining what
happened… more than once I have had someone tear up at the registration table
and say the words, “I’m sorry… it’s just embarrassing to have to be here.”
That’s when I have the opportunity to say, “I understand, but you need to know
that this is what we are here for… and if you look at the people who are
working here… there are very few of us who haven’t stood in your shoes. Things
will get better. In the mean time, we are here for you.” I get to give that
peace and encouragement now because Community Harvest gave that to me.
Between my Saturdays at Community Harvest, I worked a couple of other part time jobs
here and there, but when I was working as a “housewife” I was doing something I
loved.
When I decided to take on a few more clients, I started a
Facebook page… and then a web page, and a blog. As interest picked up, I had a
logo designed, filed with the county as a business, and even took a couple of
classes through the Small Business Association.
In the last four months, my business “Hire A Housewife” has gone
from working with just two families to needing to hire three women part-time to
help me with the workload. .. and while it is work, we are building
relationships and bringing JOY into people’s homes every day… and who could ask
for a better job than that?
I am here today because I wanted to share with you what God has done for me over the last year
and a half and I wanted to tell you how Community Harvest was part of that. Community
Harvest is not just about giving hungry people food, just like Hire A Housewife
isn’t just about cleaning. In both cases we are building lasting relationships
with people who Jesus loves... Whether they already know Him or God is putting
us in their paths so that we can show them who He really is… the reach is so
much bigger than we can even imagine… and it is all for His glory.
