Food, Health, Jobs, and Family Crisis Assistance Resources in Central Florida

Dear friends,

There are many needy families in our own communities. So, I've hunted down several Christian organizations and government programs that offer assistance for food, health care, family crises (including domestic violence), and other needs in the Orlando area.  If you live in another area, I encourage you to compile your own list to share with folks you know.  Put it on a blog, link it to Facebook, send it to everyone in your e-mail address book, whatever it takes to get the word out in these tough economic times!

My purposes?  One, to connect families who need help with available resources.  Two, to connect families who can donate or volunteer with opportunities to serve.  Most of these organizations would make a great place for a high school student to volunteer for Bright Futures scholarship qualification hours.

A lady from our church puts out plastic bear jars in Sunday School to collect money for Second Harvest Food Bank.  (See link below.)  Here is one of the bears with my daughter Melody.  My girls took two of the bears around the neighborhood last year and collected a decent amount of change!


While we are on the topic of assistance for those who are struggling financially, I thought I would also link to three other posts I have written in the past few years:

• Simple Strategies for Saving Money
• Saving Money on Groceries
• Saving Money on Health Care

Here we go!

Christian ministries & other charitable organizations offering food, clothing and other assistance:

• Second Harvest Food Bank:   Collects and distributes donated food to more than 500 nonprofit partner agencies in six Central Florida counties www.foodbankcentralflorida.org

• Harvest Time International: Offers long-term self-sufficiency program, assistance with groceries, household items, cleaning supplies, diapers, in exchange for low contributions.  Help with applying for government programs. www.harvesttime.org   

• Up Orlando:  "To inspire and empower people living in poverty to lift themselves and their families to economic self-sufficiency." 150 W Michigan Street, Orlando, FL 32806 (407) 650-0774 www.uporlando.org

• Christian Service Center of Central Florida:  Provides food, clothing, financial assistance, shelter, counsel and prayer in Orlando, Ocoee and Winter Park www.ChristianServiceCenter.org or (407)425-2523

• Christian Sharing Center: Open to visitors Monday - Friday, 9 AM - 12 noon, except holidays at locations in Longwood (407-260-9155) and Sanford (407-323-2513). www.thesharingcenter.org

• Orlando Union Rescue Mission:  "The Orlando Union Rescue Mission is one of Central Florida's oldest and largest homeless service providers.  The Mission provides for immediate physical needs -- including food, clothing and shelter -- however, our programs are designed to lead the homeless to permanent independence built upon a personal relationship with Christ."  www.ourm.org/

• Haven of Hope Ministries: Provides food, clothing, and support groups to individuals that are HIV/AIDS infected, as well as food bags for those who are living with a terminal illness and in poverty. www.cflhavenofhope.com

• Rescue Outreach Mission of Sanford: Provides emergency shelter, food, clothing, and spiritual guidance to disadvantaged, needy, homeless and abused individuals and families.  407-321-8224 www.rescueoutreachmission.org

• Jewish Family Services: Offers food assistance to anyone in need.  Financial assistance is offered to those who qualify 407-644-7593, www.jfsorlando.org

Seminole County government food resources

• WIC (Women, Infant and Children) Supplemental Food Program: provides food assistance for families with pregnant mothers and/or children ages 0 to 5 years. www.seminolecohealth.com

• Department of Children and Families Access Program: provides food stamps to eligible persons www.dcf.state.fl.us/ess

• Department of Food Service: apply for free and reduced lunch for Seminole County public school students foodservice.scps.k12.fl.us (based on demographics, some schools also offer free breakfast to all students, without regard to family income). Many schools offer free breakfast and lunch for children during the summer at Summer Breakspots.  www.diningservices.scps.us/summer/

Jobs assistance: 

• Christian HELP: assists the unemployed to find jobs, plus help for food and other resources as needed www.ChristianHelp.org

• Jobs Partnership:  Innovative approach to workforce development that provides a lasting solution to the challenges of insecurity, low self-esteem, and inconsistent work ethic in today’s workplace. In partnership with area businesses and churches. Twelve week Life and Work class at area churches, includes placement assistance.  www.jobspartnership.org/

• Dress for Success of Greater Orlando: assists women with interview appropriate clothing as a tool to develop self-sufficient lives  www.dressforsuccess.org/orlando

Health care assistance:

• Shepherd's Hope Clinic: "Caring People Caring for People", Christian ministry provides free health care to the uninsured at clinics in 9 locations around Central Florida  www.shepherdshope.org/

• Seminole County Health Department: free immunizations for all county children (no income requirements) and free dental care for Medicaid recipients  www.seminolecohealth.com

• Orange County Health Department:  www.orange.floridahealth.gov   

• Florida KidCare: Subsidized health care insurance for children throughout Florida.  Premiums are based on income.  If have low income for your family size, you may be automatically approved for Medicaid instead. www.floridakidcare.org/  888-540-5437

Crisis pregnancy assistance:

• Life Choices Medical Clinic: Free pregnancy tests and practical assistance 441 Maitland Ave., Altamonte Springs, FL 32701, phone: 321-422-4168, after hours, 800-712-HELP  www.lifechoicesfl.com

Domestic violence crisis assistance:

• SafeHouse of Seminole: A confidential shelter for victims of domestic violence and their children, includes counseling, practical support, legal help, etc. www.safehouseofseminole.org

• Harbor House (Orange County): Shelter for victims of domestic violence, includes counseling, practical support, legal help, etc.  www.harborhousefl.com

• National Domestic Violence Hotline: 800-799-7233

• Kids House of Seminole Children's Advocacy Center: Help for families dealing with child abuse; friendly, non-threatening atmosphere,  includes counseling, support, information on resources, referrals for substance abuse treatment, etc. www.kidshouse.org

Thanks for reading this!  

Virginia Knowles

www.VirginiaKnowles.blogspot.com

Global Hunger Relief

"Hunger in Africa"

Dear friends,


The theme of the P52 photo project this week is Hunger.  What better time to highlight global hunger relief?


I chose the continent of Africa for my picture because that is where my mind usually jumps when I think of starving children.  I have no idea of whether black beans and rice are staple foods there, but I didn't have any exotic African root vegetables lurking in my pantry cupboard. :-)


I also chose Africa because that is where my heart goes  (along with my money and care packages) since I have been corresponding with Pastor Headson Makazinga in Malawi for about 10 years.  (See Christmas in Malawi, Christmas in America,  What in the World Is This? and Out of Africa: A Letter from Headson Makazinga.)  Pastor Makazinga, who oversees dozens of churches in the villages of Malawi and Mozambique, cares for widows and orphans in his ministry.  Please click those links for more information on how you can help!


Are you looking for other ways to help?


Read here for information on three reputable Christian charities with global hunger programs (all three are rated 5 stars at www.charitynavigator.org):

• West Africa Food Crisis Q & A (World Vision)
• Rescue Babies and Mothers (Compassion International)
• Children of the Nations International

Do you want hands on service opportunities?  Here are two more ideas from the same organizations:

I am extremely intrigued to find out that Children of the Nations has opportunities in the Orlando area (as well as in California and Washington State) for groups to sponsor and package nutrient dense meals to be sent to hungry children overseas.  See here: Meal Packaging Projects.

Last year, the youth at my mom's church in Maryland did a 30 Hour Famine to raise money for hunger relief through World Vision.

Yes, I know there is hunger in our country, too.  I am in the process of compiling a list of food and medical assistance resources in the Orlando area.  That will be my next blog post!  I already know of several organizations, but if you know of one, please send me a web link.  (Note on 3/23: The post is here! Food, Health, Jobs, and Family Crisis Assistance Resources in Central Florida)


Grace, 
Virginia Knowles
www.VirginiaKnowles.blogspot.com


This blog is linked to two memes this week:


Click here to see Project 52!

 

Click here to see Ann Kroeker's Food on Fridays

"Rebound" (A Poem)

"It’s an old Bible, burgundy leather..."  

"Well loved, well worn..."

"Rebound"

By Virginia Knowles

It’s an old Bible, burgundy leather

Not ancient from generations past

But growing old with me

From college days until now

Three decades and change.

Oh yes, the changes:

One wedding, ten children

Two grandchildren in the generation after that

Entered onto the Marriage and Birth pages.

(There are Deaths, too.)

Nine moves, a dozen churches, in three states

And many more states of mind.

I have many Bibles in many versions

Each one an anchor, a refuge for the soul.

Yet I always return to this one  

Well loved, well worn: underlined, highlighted

Small prayers, Greek and Hebrew roots,  
And faith jingles mingle, scribbled in margins

Even diagrams and tiny impromptu sketches

To illustrate some fine point gleaned along the way.

And when I do not know what to read

This Bible always opens, as if by itself

Pages falling quite naturally to Psalms 65 to 68:

“You gave abundant showers, O God,

You refreshed your weary inheritance.”

And so you have, Lord, raining showers and refreshing

This weary soul from this worn Book.

In a hard moment

One of many hard moments in these years of change

I carry this refuge to a quieter place to read, reflect.

And I see again in a new light

The three decades and change of

Wear and tear on Book and soul:

Frayed-edged pages pulling away

Unstitching themselves in great chasms

From the burgundy leather cover

Which was meant to shelter them.

I too am tattered in places

At times tossed loose by life

From my Shelter, my own dear Refuge.

This will not do, Book or soul.

(Rein me in Lord, reign in me.)

So still pondering the words on the frayed pages

And out of respect for the Eternal Word that never fades

I set out to repair, rebind

Making sure the loose pages do not slip

Out of the sheaves, out of my heart

(Even the hard ones I would rather not always read).

And when I am done, my fixes are conspicuous 

It has been rebound, not to look fancy and new

But merely to hold pages together in burgundy leather

To hold me together inside my Enduring Refuge

For thirty more years and change.

~*~*~

Open to Psalms 65 to 68

Poet Notes:

I had already been thinking of writing "Rebound" when I read the "Roses are Red" post on the Allume blog for Christian women bloggers.  Part of the "31 Days to Become a Better Writer" series, it challenges reader/writers to pen a poem.  So I set to it.

I started with a thought web, the words "Old Bible Rebound" circled in the center, with spokes leading to various and sundry brainstorms of what I might include, like a mention of the Family Record pages to fit the recurring theme of passing years and generations.  Then I jotted my first draft, crossing out and rephrasing as I went.  With prose, I nearly always start a first draft on the computer, but poems (at least mine) are best born with pen and paper.  

You have noticed that I do not use rhyme (except "jingles mingle") or regular rhythm.  I am mainly a free verse poet, relying on metaphors, parallel themes, and spiritual symbolism.  And yet even a free verse poet cannot just throw the words on a page.  There is always tweaking and pruning.  Not everything can be crammed into the verses without rambling or distracting or breaking the flow.  I did not want your train of thought to lose its caboose.  So I had to choose.  There is much I did not say then in the poem, but some that I will say now. 

Stuck together somehow!

In this poem, I use the word rebound loosely.  I am not a professional bookbinder; I didn't replace the cover or painstakingly stitch pages back in.  I  used strips of two inch wide clear packing tape to secure the pages.  I could not, however, bring myself to use the word tape in my poem; it seemed too modern, not universal enough.  Then, too, I hoped my readers would subtly pick up the alternate meaning of rebound, the present tense verb.  I didn't elucidate on this in the poem, because I didn't want to complicate it or confuse anyone.  But here it is:  "to bound or spring back from force of impact, or to recover, as from ill health or discouragement."  It is also my prayer that I will always be able to rebound, in due time, from setbacks and discouragement that wear me down. 

Tattered and frayed pages

Perhaps a few more background details about my Bibles?  The first Bible I personally owned, purchased a day or so after I got saved in 1976, was a little white King James Version (KJV) Bible.  Unfortunately, a dozen years later, I accidentally left it in my toddler daughter's room during nap time, and she shredded the delicate pages into hundreds of pieces.  Just as an odd lesson on the worth of the Word, I had her sit and watch me tape it back together, sliver by sliver.  It was, of course, completely unusable, and I eventually discarded it.  In 1979, I bought my first New International Version (NIV), a brown hardback, when it really was new, quite the innovation.  It is certainly easier to read than the KJV, though not as poetic.  I received the burgundy leather NIV Bible as a gift from a (long gone) boyfriend in April 1981 when I was 17, in my first semester of college, at the cusp of the adventures of life.  Along the way, I also acquired an NIV Study Bible (a gift from my sister), a few English Standard Version (ESV) Bibles), a Message New Testament (a rough paraphrase, not a true translation), my grandfather's Revised Standard Version  (RSV), and a few others.  (I never really liked the ESV, since it seemed a bit stilted to me, but it was the version used in a church we attended for many years. I remember sighing with satisfaction once when the pastor pulled out an old NIV to quote in a message, saying his ESV was in the shop being rebound.  There was a redemptive yes in my soul! I was also quite relieved to find that our new church uses the NIV 1984 version; on the one hand because I love the NIV, on the other, because I'm not sure I could go along with some word choices in later NIV editions.)  But I digress. I also use www.BibleGateway.com or the free YouVersion Bible app in on iPod nearly every day to look something up.

So there you have it.  "Rebound" and more.  Can you write a poem about a significant object in your home or one you remember from childhood?  Yes, you can!  Go do it!

Related posts:

• My Glorious Dish Towel (essay which parallels this poem's themes)
• Fixing This and That -- Like a Pile of Books!
• My Story of Liberty in 1976 

Refuge and Renewal to you,

Virginia Knowles

www.VirginiaKnowles.blogspot.com

My Daughters Then and Now

Dear friends,


Just a little photographic nostalgia...


My sister Barb just posted this picture on Facebook.  It's from a 1994 trip to the  Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, D.C.  My four oldest daughters and my niece wore matching jumpers that my mom bought. (We had several sets, either purchased or homemade.)  I'm in the middle with the denim jumper (typical home school mommy of the time), pregnant with my fifth.  My sister is on the right with her oldest daughter.  My brother is holding my sister's son on his lap.  

And here they are again at my second daughter's bridal shower last fall, along with the three younger sisters!  (Too bad they won't still wear matching jumpers, though we did get most of them into matching bridesmaids dresses in October!  See here: 

Just a Few Wedding Pictures!)  My oldest, who is second from the left, was then pregnant with her second son.  No girls yet in that family, but we did get three boys in ours! 

I love to look at old family pictures, don't you?  Why not pull out your albums and take a trip down memory lane?

Virginia

Be Still: A P52 Photo Post

Dear friends,

This week's Project 52 photo theme is "Be Still." (The link goes up on Friday.) I know my selection of photos to link might seem odd, and certainly out of place with the rest of this post, but here it is:

Badger Sleep Balm
(There's a pretty cool video 
at the end of the linked page --
showing how they make this stuff!)

Why this for "Be Still"? 

Because the container is cute,

and more importantly,this organic essential oil salve works.

My mom gave it to me a while back but I hadn't tried it yet.

I remembered it because we've had really sick kids in the house,

and they've had a mighty hard time sleeping with fevers.

A little of this rubbed on the temples brings on the groggies!

I know, because I tried it myself, 

and within minutes, I was ready to zonk!

So, for a fretful child who can't sleep,

Badger Sleep Balm might help them to "Be Still"!

OK, enough unsolicited commercial.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming...

Isaac and his great grandma (my mother)

My mom flew down to Florida a week ago. Besides visiting my new grandbaby, Isaac, she has a tradition of taking each of her grandchildren on a "12 year old trip" of their choice.  Micah chose the Everglades because he is an avid photographer and birder. (His photos will take another whole post by themselves, when he's ready!) Last Thursday, on their second morning down there, Mom lost her balance on a nature trail, fell down hard, and hurt her hand and shoulder.  She didn't want to ruin Micah's sight seeing, so she waited until after dinner to go to the hospital, where she was told she had a fracture in her hand and got a cast.  (She went to her doctor at home in Maryland, and they said it is just badly bruised and gave her a removable splint.  That's good news!) She still managed to keep going on their adventure, complete with alligators and airboats, until Saturday afternoon, even longer than originally planned!  My mom is a real trooper!  She knows how to "Be Still" and not complain!  (That's important, because she's also the primary caregiver for my 97 year old grandmother!)

Mom also planned an extra few days to spend with us, especially since my second grandson was born three weeks ago. We did a 550 piece jigsaw puzzle, went to church, ate dessert at Denny's, played our traditional game of Scotch Bridge, and more.

"Bless Our Home"

We worked on the puzzle a good part of Saturday afternoon and evening. There were so many of us working at the table that I took a picture with my iPod of my section of the puzzle from the box lid so I could take a tray of pieces and do them by myself without passing the box back and forth. As we got toward the end, we counted and thought we had a few pieces missing. Andrew and Lydia were each holding out to put in the last piece and finally agreed to put them in at the same time.  Right after that, Naomi laughed and pulled out a piece she had been hiding so she could put it in last. We all got a kick out of that! But then Micah, who hadn't worked on the puzzle at all, leaned over and unexpectedly discovered the last missing piece under the table, so he managed to put in the very last piece!

Apple crisp and ice cream

Scotch Bridge with my
Blue Ridge Mountain playing cards

I teach at a home school co-op on Monday afternoons,

but we made plans to visit Leu Gardens that morning

with my oldest daughter Mary and her two little guys, Jacob and Isaac.

(Free admission the first Monday of each month!)

If I had to choose a "Be Still" photo from Leu Gardens, 

it might be this one -- except for one thing!

This butterfly would not "be still"!

It kept flitting from plant to plant.

It's a good thing my iPod takes really fast photos!

A "flying flower"

This would be my next pick for "Be Still."

My grandson Isaac slept soundly most of the time.

Maybe his Mommy used Sleep Balm on him?

Isaac and his grandma (that's me!)

Shadows on the path

I had never noticed the holes
in this kind of huge leaf before.
These weren't holes chewed by insects, though.
They grow that way!
(Yes, I know I am easily amused!)
Jacob is easily amused, too,
particularly fascinated with "wawa"
even if it is just a little in a puddle.
He cried when we pulled him away to move on...

We headed for the rose garden first, but....

Where are the roses that usually bloom
up behind the fountains?
Every bush (dozens of them!)
had been pruned back to the stump!

A pruned push is "being still"
-- remaining dormant,
getting ready for brand new growth
and full blossoms.
We humans do that sometimes
in various seasons of life.

There were still plenty of other gorgeous flowers.
I loved the variations of pinks in this camellia.

 

More "wawa" for Jacob and his Mommy!

And more easy amusement for Grandma,
who even takes pictures of bubbles in the "wawa."

    

Jacob didn't want to leave the fountain either,
but I carried him over to the lake
to see more "wawa" and some turtles.

Jacob throwing the bread into the water

  

One big turtle (on the left, with fish swimming over his back)
and several smaller turtles.

We were trying to feed the turtles,
but the fish always kept getting to the bread first,
this time right over the big turtle's head!

  Two more cute little Jacob photos.

Can you tell I'm a Grandma?

Be still 

before the LORD and wait patiently for him; 

do not fret when men succeed in their ways, 

when they carry out their wicked schemes.  

Psalm 37:7

Jesus got up, rebuked the wind 

and said to the waves, “Quiet! 

Be still!” 

Then the wind died down 

and it was completely calm.

Mark 4:39

Be still, 

and know that I am God; 

I will be exalted among the nations, 

I will be exalted in the earth. 

Amos 46:10

Still,
Virginia Knowles
www.VirginiaKnowles.blogspot.com

Click here to see Project 52!

(This Friday's theme: Be Still.)

For Those Who Read Via a Blog Reader

Hello friends!


If you get this blog via a blog feed reader, you may have wondered why a flurry of posts showed up in the last day or so. Something was stuck in the Feed Reader, and those were the posts from the past two months with incorrect dates!  So no, I wasn't being unusually prolific in one day.


While I have your attention, if you DO get this via a blog reader, could you please drop me a note or leave a comment on this post?  I know who gets it by e-mail, but I don't know who or even how many follow it by blog reader.  I like to know my audience!


I also just made a few minor changes to the blog layout, so take a peek at www.VirginiaKnowles.blogspot.com!  I also tweeked the layout on my mommy blog at www.ComeWearyMoms.blogspot.com and would love to have you visit there, too.

Comments are always welcome and appreciated!


Virginia Knowles