May-June ‘22 Update
Quick overview: Pinwheel is getting new windows (cool story), More Than Enough has a new Care Team, the Walk Me Home 5k was a blast, our Faith & Finances graduation felt like a piece of heaven, & you can support Garden 58 monthly via PayPal now. Check out the details & pictures below!
It is always fun to attend our Pinwheel & Firefly students’ awards ceremonies & graduations! This is a small but meaningful way to show students & families that we love & support them.
Pinwheel Tutoring
An example of God’s provision:
Here’s a great story showing that when we bring what we have to God -whether it be prayer, taking the time to share a post, giving $5 or $500!- He is able to multiply it beyond what we were hoping for!
Recently we ran a Facebook fundraiser to replace the broken windows in our building & were shocked when our $ goal was met in one day!
In that fundraiser, we mentioned that one day we would love to replace all the windows, & our friend Jeff saw the post. Jeff is a contractor & one of his friends recently bought a set of white windows for a project- but they were the wrong size! This friend said he would sell the whole lot to us for only $2k!
Check this out: each of the 8 window sections in our building will hold 3 windows & we have 2 offices that need one window each. That means we needed 26 windows..and that’s exactly how many windows he had to offer us. How cool is that!?
Thanks to a few generous friends, we were able to raise a total of $5k for the purchase & installation of these windows. This project will end up saving us hundreds of dollars each month on our power bill- that adds up to thousands each year going to better ends than ineffective heating & cooling efforts! Good stuff.
Also in Pinwheel news, we are praying about starting another branch & looking for ways to finish developing a beautiful, official Pinwheel startup packet. We have meetings coming up with someone experienced in curriculum development & have been offered pro bono work from a graphic designer!
More Than Enough
We are praising God that we got our second Care Team off the ground & running for a family with two adoptive kids & a “family” foster placement!
We are currently looking for more advocates- a person or couple willing to get extra training in order to recruit & train support teams! Please contact us if you are interested in learning more about this role.
We hope to start at least two more Care Teams this year, & have one for each of our county’s foster families by this time next year.
There is a severe shortage of foster families in our county: the ratio is approx. 1 foster family to 8-10 children in custody. Having a better foster support community has been shown to not only maintain current foster families, but to increase the number of families willing to step out in faith to foster.
We wanted to share this thank you note with all of you who helped us raise money for the 5k!
So many of you chipped in to help Garden 58 reach Gold Sponsor. Thank you.
It was an honor to be a Gold Sponsor for our county’s Walk Me Home 5k. We had a great team of volunteers participate in the walk, and as our group gathered at the end, one walker pointed out that her previous foster mom was walking in our group! Though we wish foster care was not needed, it was so encouraging to hear about the positive impact foster care makes in our community.
Our Garden 58 team of walkers: Brandy, Shyla, Amy, Cara, Wendy, Denise, Cadence, Xander, Amy, Janell & Carol.
Did some of us get lost on the 5k? Yes. Yes we did.
Revolving Door
Our Faith & Finances class wrapped up at the end of May with a special graduation dinner. Friends who have supported the class came out to eat & celebrate with us. We had the joy of hearing from several ladies about the impact this class made on their lives. Throughout this 12-week class we formed genuine friendships, learned so much, and took practical steps towards using our gifts for God’s purposes in the world instead of our own!
We are excited to welcome another volunteer from Mountain View Church who stepped up to assist with the resource closet in June! Pray with us that this will be a good connection point for women transitioning out of jail or abusive situations.
We want to encourage you to engage with & thank God for the work that
Rock Bottom Recovery,
the Hurlburt Johnson Friendship House,
Reach,
Renewed Hope,
Highways & Hedges and others are doing in our area. They faithfully work with people dealing with substance abuse, domestic abuse, & incarceration.
So thankful for all those who walk in the truth that it is never too late for God to bring healing, redemption, & glorious purpose into anyone’s life! Please pray for our efforts to increase communication & collaboration with others already laboring in this often-forgotten part of God’s garden.
Garden 58
Garden 58 is committed to connecting willing hands to waiting needs in our community!
We want to see the flourishing promised in Isaiah 58 to all those who want to walk with God in His life of service, compassion & generosity.
We need your help to raise a base of monthly support both to meet ongoing needs & to give us additional credibility when we apply for the grants we are qualified for.
If you or someone you know would like to be a monthly supporter of Garden 58, it is super easy, barely an inconvenience… (Pitch Meetings, anyone?) Just click this link to view our PayPal account, select the amount you’d like to give monthly, & that’s it!
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this update!
We hope it is encouraging to see some ways God is at work through His body, the church. Though we may meet in different buildings & have different strengths & gifts to offer, we follow one Savior, Jesus, whose law is love.