July 2024 Newsletter
Dallas City Hall
This past Sunday we found many homeless men and women at Dallas City Hall Plaza. The recent intermittent rain had folks looking for a dry place to hang out and sleep. Our team was able to park close and help more than 150 needy men and women. We passed out 100 bags, 33 ladies’ personal care backpacks, 2 bags of dog food, 72 spray bottles of insect repellent, 402 articles of clothing, and 110 hamburgers. Sadly, we had to tell some folks, “Sorry, we are all out.”
Busy, Busy, Busy!
Saturday 1:00 P.M. Each outreach begins with a group of wonderful volunteers assembling bags and organizing items that we will be delivering on Sunday. It is a busy, but fun, time of fellowship.
Sunday 11:30 A.M. After morning service more volunteers join in. It is a busy time, while some are in the kitchen placing two frozen bottles of water into one hundred, one gallon Ziploc bags. Others take these bags and add them to each big bag. The bags, backpacks, dog food, clothing, and other items are then loaded into four vehicles. We take a deep breath, have a prayer, and then convoy to the local McDonald’s to pick up our order of hamburgers.
Sunday 12:30 P.M. Our navigator, Jim Lackey, directs us to our first stop! On this day it would be our only stop, Dallas City Hall. It is now time to greet and engage our homeless brothers and sisters. We park, open the clothing vehicle, and are immediately busy helping people with shirts, shorts, pants, caps, ladies’ underwear, and bras.
We open one of three “bag vehicles”, and two of our team members begin taking names, ages, and prayer requests. Additional team members begin passing out ladies’ personal care backpacks, and our big bags topped with a hamburger. Other team members are going through the crowd offering new men’s underwear by sizes, and insect repellent.
Sunday 1:30 P.M. Our team is overjoyed with this opportunity to serve so many needy people. Our homeless friends expressed their appreciation verbally and with smiling faces. It was a good day!
What is in the bags? What does each bag cost? What can you do to help?
Big Bag and contents cost $20.93
6 Bottles of water (2 frozen) McDonald’s hamburger Large print New Testament Homeless Services directory Spiral notebook & pen Pair of socks Mylar emergency blanket Rain Poncho Toothbrush & Toothpaste Lotion 4 band aids Lip-chap Anti-bacterial wipes 3 body wipes Emery board Roll of toilet tissue 2 Nut Bars 2 Chewy Protein Bars 2 Nutri grain bars 2 packs of crackers 1 Rice Krispie treat Bag of cookies Chicken salad kit Apple juice Vienna sausages Fruit cup & spoon 2 small beef sticks
Ladies’ Personal Care Backpack cost $5.25
Maxi pads, Wipes, Cocoa Butter Lotion, Hair ties, Socks
Dogs Bag cost $2.00
2 Bottles of water, Dog Food, Dog Biscuits, Food & water bowls
Underwear average cost $2.50 each
Insect Repellent average price on sale $3.91 each
Clothing and Shoes donated cost $0.00
100 Bags @ $20.93=$ 2,093.00 33 Ladies’ Personal Care Backpacks @ 5.25=173.25 2 Dog Bags @ 2.00=4.00 70 Pair of Underwear @ 2.50=175.00 72 Bottles Insect Repellent @ 3.91=281.52 Donated Clothing @ 0.00=0.00
Total cost for outreach on 07/21/2024………. 2,726.77
What can you do to help?
Please pray for this ministry and these we met last Sunday.
John, Quinshana-45, Bob-73, Ricky-60, Anthony-34, Salveryo-38, Billy-52, Jaime-50, Carlos-58, Brenda, Wayne, Chris-40, Amant-73, Stephanie-46, Julio, Keith-38, Holan-63, Rodrick-42, Nadia-23, Oscar-61, Harold-69, Tony-43, Joe, Darlen-57, Angel-39, Erik-53, Derrick-61, Jesus-26, Alberto-26, Wallace-68, Amando, Saleem-72, Scout-37, Josia-20, Lynn-44, Juan, Feliz, Lorenzo-38, Anthony-34, Thomas-62, Markus-64*prayer for his finances and he broke up a fight earlier today, Ocossie-69*for family, Hope-39*get her apt. back, work, and safety, Anita-61*get back to Albuquerque, Tony-62*for relationship to work out, Michael-46*housing, Richard-73*For his mom who passed away, Lemuel-56*getting an apt., Ashley-38*strength, kids, finance, stability, Harold-71*health, Paulus* job, Joel-29* family, Sebastian-30*just got out of jail, peaceful return to society, Randy-52*for work, Ginger-57*her legs and a home, Tray-45*keep God with them, Mark-58* his sister just passed, Ralph-45* for our group to get home safely, Jody*quit raining, Mike-35*strength, Ishmael-46*thanksgiving, Labon-51*move around and not held back, Travis-54*everything, Elliot-45*everybody out here, Heavenly-23*family and health, Tommy-62*peace, birthday, Willy-56* family and his 10 kids, Elizabeth-46*health, family, friends, everyone, David-64*grandkids, Paula-42*get off streets, Mohamid-24*strength, Trescon-34*get off streets, Adrin-35*get from being homeless, Alonzo-63*get off streets, Indio-62*strength and wisdom, Jermain-53*disability to go through, Oscar-45*get better as time goes on, Evelyn*get off streets, Joe-64*get a bed, Kristen-50 and her son Adien-16 to get indoors.
We are always in need of clean men’s and ladies’ shirts, tops, pants, sweaters, coats, socks, bras, caps, and new underwear. We especially need men’s pants, jeans, and shorts in sizes 30-38. Shoes & boots suitable for outdoor wear, blankets, sleeping bags, & tents
Assembling and filling Bags and Ladies’ backpacks. This is generally done one Saturday each month and is a fun time of fellowship.
Sorting clothes. People are responding to our need for clean or new clothing items. Volunteers are much needed to help sort, size, and organize these items. We meet in our fellowship hall every Monday morning from 9:00 to 10:30, and always appreciate help.
Financial contributions. As you can see it takes a lot of time, energy, money, and prayer to keep this ministry going. Your financial contributions will allow us to continue this ministry and share God’s love with others.
Bob’s Bags is a self-supporting ministry of First Christian Church of Duncanville 203 S. Main St. Duncanville, Texas 75116 bobsbags.org
fccduncanville.org
