mustard seeds - MUST Ministries

MUSTARD SEEDS
FALL 2015 Newsletter
A PUBLICATION OF MUST MINISTRIES
Largest fundraiser for MUST is
among nation’s largest holiday races
Big sale open
to public!
There is nothing like being on the historic Marietta Square on Thanksgiving morning for the annual
MUST Ministries Gobble Jog. Neighbors, friends,
out-of-state guests and lots of families join together
to help stop poverty in America’s eighth largest
Thanksgiving Day race.
Come see hilarious costumes, Gobble Dogs,
race mascot Colonel Mustard and all of the excitement of a street festival. Plus, this year, you can stay
and skate on the new ice rink in Marietta’s Winter
Wonderland with all proceeds benefiting MUST!
Glory Haus is a wonderful
partner with MUST Ministries.
This generous home décor
company is hosting a warehouse sale on Nov. 11 from
10 a.m. to 6 p.m. to benefit
MUST! Come to 560 Webb
Industrial Drive to find great
bargains for Christmas and
help those in need!
Statewide day of
giving planned
Georgia Gives Day is almost
here! For one day each year,
Georgia Center for Nonprofits teams up with hundreds of
Georgia-based nonprofit organizations to encourage donations and raise awareness
for many different causes.
This year, Georgia Gives
Day is Thursday, November
12. From 5 a.m. to 7 p.m.,
Georgia Center for Nonprofits and other matching donors will give to the organizations with the most donations
each hour. Whether its pennies saved or a large corporate donation, any donation
is a gift to our neighbors in
need.
This November 12, keep
MUST clients in mind and
give at www.gagivesday.org/
c/GGD/a/mustministries.
HOW TO HELP:
Go to GobbleJog.org for details and race registration. Follow us on facebook (Gobble Jog has its own fan
page!) or on twitter. Don’t miss the 13th Annual Gobble Jog and help raise money for those in poverty in
your community.
MUST Ministries is a nonprofit, faith-based organization helping people in your community break the cycle of
poverty. MUST provides basic needs such as groceries, hot meals, housing, emergency shelter, employment services
and clothing. All services are free and provided without regard to income, race or religious beliefs.
SUMMER LUNCH TOPS TWO MILLION MEALS
IN 20 YEARS OF SERVING CHILDREN
Marking an amazing landmark in one of the area’s oldest and
most effective feeding programs, MUST Ministries celebrated
the donation of the two millionth meal since the Summer Lunch
program began in 1995. The July meal presentation, made by
former Georgia governor Roy Barnes, a current MUST Board
member, and Marietta Mayor Steve Tumlin, represented years of
compassionate service by volunteers and staff.
“MUST delivered meals in eight counties all summer
and reached more than 8,500 children,” according to Ike
Reighard, Pres. and CEO. “Our final total of 303,546 sack
lunches shows the depth of commitment in our communities.
Thousands of people worked to provide meals, check and
pack the sacks, drive them to neighborhoods and collect
food and money to help.”
While the need is heart-breaking, MUST is humbled to
serve, Reighard stated. “Our outstanding church host sites and
extensive network of volunteers make this program effective.
With thousands of children on free and reduced lunch, our
summer mission to feed children in need continues to grow.
Generous community members donate food, time and money to
make the Summer Lunch program a meaningful outreach.”
HOW TO HELP:
Give to MUST’s feeding program so your neighbors in need
can get groceries, hot meals, Summer Lunches, holiday
meals and Thanksgiving boxes. Go to mustministries.org
or donate on our Facebook page.
SECOND HAND GIVES
A SECOND CHANCE
The first ever MUST Marketplace “HUGE TENT SALE” brought
beautiful weather and record sales. Everyone loves a deal and
finding new cooking pans for a dollar to discovering an outdoor
patio set for $125 brought delight to the buyers while helping MUST
raise money for client services. More than $3,500 was raised at
the largest sale to date. All proceeds benefit client services.
HOW TO HELP:
Donate high quality items and shop at the MUST Marketplace!
It’s a great place to find new and used treasures!
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MUSTARD SEEDS
A photo recap of the 20th year serving hungry children
Former Gov. Roy Barnes, a new board member at MUST, joins Summer
Lunch alumni AliMae Hartley (center) to present the two millionth
Summer Lunch and mark 20 meaningful years of this program.
A little boy enjoys his Chick-fil-A meal as a special treat one day each
summer.
AliMae Hartley (left) shares her story of relying on MUST for
meals during the summers as a current Summer Lunch recipient in
Marietta listens.
Chick-fil-A Day is always exciting! The good food, cow toys and
the cow herd visited 7,500 children this year during Summer
Lunch. Such a generous gift from our friends at Chick-fil-A.
CHEROKEE EXPANDS
WITH NEW PORTICO
Thanks to the generosity of Watermarke Church, the
MUST location in Cherokee now has a drive-thru.
During inclement weather, the addition is a God send,
but it also helps in pick up and drop off throughout the
year. MUST friends and staff gathered to dedicate the
new area earlier this year.
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FOOTBALL THEME SCORES BIG FOR MUST
Hundreds of guests gathered at the College Football
Hall of Fame to celebrate the 44th annual gala, the second
largest fund raiser hosted by MUST. A tour of the new
interactive museum was great fun, and then guests enjoyed
the silent auction before a tailgate dinner and live auction.
Special guests Coach Vince Dooley and UGA former
quarterback and NFL player Eric Zeier (pictured here with
MUST president Ike Reighard) joined the festivities, posing
for pictures and signing autographs. For the first time, MUST
encouraged college football attire at the gala and everyone
enjoyed showing off their school loyalties – with some friendly
rivalries throughout the crowd.
Saturday
Feb. 20, 2016
7 p.m.
Mack Powell
& Mark Lee present
An Acoustic
Night of
Praise
Benefiting MUST Ministries
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Roswell Street
Baptist Church
iTickets will have
tickets on sale soon!
MUSTARD SEEDS
MUST ACQUIRES ALIVE TO TACKLE
CHILDHOOD HUNGER
MUST Ministries and Alive Ministries are merging to help
for the communities we serve as we join forces to tackle child
end the significant challenge of child hunger in the communities
hunger together.”
they serve, according to MUST Pres. and CEO Ike Reighard.
In the counties where MUST operates its Summer Lunch
MUST served more than 20,700 children in poverty in the past
and other food programs, more than 250,000 children face food
year and Alive established school food pantries in 19 Cobb
insecurity every day. “Child hunger is a serious problem at our
schools to reach more than 6,750 children in poverty this year.
back door that will have major ramifications for our community
The organizations and their respective boards have entered
if we choose to sit on the sidelines and ignore it. We are putting
into a definitive agreement to merge Alive Ministries into MUST
a call out to the community to get in the game and help tackle
Ministries, Reighard explained.
MUST has acquired the assets
of Alive and will continue to
operate the “Save It Forward”
couponing and food pantry
initiative begun five years
ago by Alive founder and
executive director, Rhonda
Smith. She is joining MUST as
Senior Director of Program
Operations and will continue
to lead and expand the
campus-based food pantry
program. In fact, a pantry
was added at the Graduate
Marietta Student Success
Center at Marietta High
School on Oct. 22.
“This merger makes sense
because eliminating child
hunger has been a key initiative
of MUST Ministries for years.
Our 20-year Summer Lunch
program alone has delivered
more than two million sack MUST Team tackles childhood hunger. Chris Fields, Rhonda Smith and Ike Reighard plan details of
lunches to hungry children. the merger that benefits area children.
Under Smith’s leadership,
hunger for children in our local schools. Education provides
Alive’s team, their board and 2,000 dedicated volunteers have
children with an opportunity to rise above their circumstances,
built an innovative and sustainable program to provide for atbut it’s difficult for a hungry child to learn,” according to the
risk children, maximizing their opportunities to succeed in
MUST team.
school… a winning game plan that works,” said Chris Fields, SVP
of Programs and Administration for MUST.
HOW TO HELP:
Smith adds, “By teaming up and combining synergies,
Go to mustministries.org and click on “Donate” to contribute to
this unique campus-based food pantry program becomes
a family in need in our schools. Donations can also be made on
scalable allowing us to have a greater impact in the Cobb
the MUST Ministries Facebook page.
County community and the additional seven counties MUST
now serves. This combined strategy has huge impact potential
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NEW FAMILY ROOM EXPANDS
CAPACITY AT MUST SHELTER
New accommodations include eight beds and a crib for families needing shelter.
MUST Ministries is celebrating the addition of eight new
beds benefitting families at the Elizabeth Inn Shelter in Marietta.
The much-needed beds result in a total of 72 for men, women
and children, increasing the family capacity at MUST ‘s shelter
by 42 percent.
“We’ve seen an increase in demand for families seeking
shelter, so this will help those families in need,” says Rachel
Castillo, Senior Director/Housing
Services, “While the additional beds
help, we still have a significant need
for shelter beds in Cobb County.
MUST has the only emergency walk-up
shelter in the area and focuses on work
recovery and stable housing solutions.”
The Elizabeth Inn has been turning
away an average of 10 persons each
day because the shelter is at capacity.
While MUST serves as a place of refuge for many facing difficult
circumstances, MUST cannot always meet the large demand.
In Cobb County alone, more than 87,700 people are living in
poverty. MUST helps 31,000 of those annually; 65 percent of
those are children.
The Elizabeth Inn is not solely a shelter. It is a six week work
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recovery program that helps people get back to work and on the
road to stability. “The Elizabeth Inn provides extensive support
services tailored to meet the unique needs of each client or
family,” according to Chris Fields, Senior Vice President of
Programs and Administration. “Those comprehensive services
include three meals a day, case management, education,
innovative employment services program and recovery
meetings and assessments. In addition,
many family services are provided to
help stabilize those in need. MUST
and its partners provide healthcare,
backpacks for school, after school
tutoring, toy shops at Christmas and
many other family resources.
At the recent dedication, MUST
Ministries honored the North Georgia
United Methodist Conference Housing
and Homeless Council for their generous funding for the
additional beds at the shelter.
HOW TO HELP:
Give to the housing program at mustministries.org or sign up
there to volunteer.
MUSTARD SEEDS
JANET HUCKABEE
VOLUNTEERS AT
MUST DURING
GEORGIA TOUR
Kendall Jones, Program Director, Dale Cooper, Operations manager. Janet Huckabee
and volunteer Gary Conrad talk about the 7,500 people who came to the Cherokee
location for food last year and the 1,000 Thanksgiving boxes distributed there.
No charity in Cherokee County is serving as
many people in poverty as MUST, so pitching
in to help in the MUST food pantry was a
logical choice for Janet Huckabee. Wife
of Presidential nominee Mike Huckabee,
the Arkansas native said her Christian
values of helping others and her role as
a pastor’s wife leads her to support local
missions. She praised MUST for serving
one of every two people in Cherokee who
are struggling in financial instability. Almost
7,500 Cherokee residents came to MUST
for help in the past year.
DWIGHT “IKE” REIGHARD • Career highlights: Reighard is the president and CEO of MUST
Ministries, serving almost 34,000 people a year struggling in poverty. Ha has successfully combined
business experience with ministry and has an outstanding reputation for transforming communities
through serving others. In the corporate arena, he served as executive vice president, chief people
officer and originator of The Office of People and Culture for HomeBanc Mortgage Corp. from 2000
until 2007. Reighard is also senior pastor at Piedmont Church.
TOURNAMENT
PROCEEDS
BENEFIT THOSE
IN NEED
Pinetree Country Club is a beautiful setting for a fall tournament.
MUST Ministries hosted 120 golfers on Sept. 21 in its largest and
most successful tournament yet. The $35,000 raised will help
the 38,600 clients who come to MUST for help and hope during
financial instability.
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NON-PROFIT
ORGANIZATION
U. S. POSTAGE
PAID
MARIETTA, GA
30061
PERMIT NO. 93
1407 Cobb Parkway North
P.O. Box 1717
Marietta, GA 30061
770-427-9862
For more information,
volunteer application
and lists of needs:
www.mustministries.org
MUST MINISTRIES
Cherokee Program Services
Donation Center
Elizabeth Inn Campus
Marietta Program Services
Smyrna Program Services
Are you connected?
Find out the latest MUST news first and
help us spread the good news about helping
your neighbors in need! “Like” MUST on
facebook, follow us on Twitter and view our
videos on YouTube! Gobble Jog is getting in
on the action too with @MUSTGobbleJog
on Twitter. Gobble Jog has its own web site
(www.gobblejog.org) and facebook fan page!
© 2015 MUSTARD SEEDS is a publication of
Must Ministries. All rights reserved.