Friday, July 5, 2013

Sharing at Trinity Church in Morton on Sunday

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.

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