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Local
Missions
Below and on the following pages, read about local
organizations and events Orchard Hill Church supports on various
levels, and stay up to date on the current needs of each. Local
service is not limited to these organizations and events! Individuals
at Orchard Hill serve the community in a variety of ways, Be encouraged
to serve on your own! Find further service opportunities on the
Volunteer Center of Cedar Valley website. Or practice random acts
of kindness and be a light in someone’s day. Visit this Servant
Evangelism website and find some ways to love and serve those around
you.
For more information about how Orchard Hill Church helps to serve
the Cedar Valley, contact Laura
Hoy (319-266-9796).
Alternatives Pregnancy Crisis Center
1006 Decathlon Drive, Waterloo (319-232-5683) -
directions
Alternatives is a pregnancy crisis center with staff and volunteers
who counsel and support women throughout their unexpected pregnancies.
Volunteers provide services such as office help, mailings, organizing
the clothing closet, and being trained as a counselor. Orchard
Hill Church supports their annual fundraising efforts.
Current Alternatives needs include: Newborn
diapers. Volunteer nurses who can give pregnancy tests. Young
married couples who are willing join a team that will share
stories of God’s blessings through abstinence with local
youth groups.
To volunteer or make a contribution, contact Emily Veiseth (319-232-5683).
Boys
& Girls Club
515 Lime Street, Waterloo (319-234-2839) - directions
The Boys & Girls Club provides quality after-school
and summer programming to Black Hawk County youth. Programming
begins after school and continues until 7:45 p.m. weekdays and
includes “The
Arts, Education, and Career Development,” “Health
and Life Skills,” “Sports, Fitness and Recreation,” and “Character
and Leadership Development.” Orchard Hill Church helped the
Boys & Grils Club through past Love
Cedar Valley.
Current Boys & Girls Club needs include: Committed, regular volunteers to help weekdays between 3:30 –7:00 p.m.
To volunteer or make a contribution, please
contact Jason or Shirley (319-234-2839).
Catholic Worker House
321 E, 8th Street, Waterloo (319-232-2116) -
directions
The Catholic Worker House is a shelter in downtown Waterloo that
serves a meal to the needy on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.
We provide a group that cooks, serves, and eats with guests once
a month.
Current Catholic Worker needs include: 1) Cooks! Prepare a meal in the Orchard Hill kitchen (4:00-5:30pm) and transport, serve, and eat at the Catholic Worker House (6:00-7:00pm). 2) Donations of towels, blankets/quilts, laundry detergent & dryer sheets, paper goods (napkins, paper towels, toilet paper), and men’s clothing.
If interested or to make a contribution, contact Kris
Hoskinson or Laura
Hoy (319-266-9796).
Drug Court
Black Hawk County Courthouse, 316 E. 5th St., Waterloo - directions
The Black Hawk County Drug Court Program was created to help men and women who have been involved with drugs and arrested for committing a crime in order to feed their drug habit. If approved, they work toward rehabilitation through the Drug Court system rather than through a jail or prison sentence. Drug Court meets every Wednesday at 3pm in the Black Hawk County Courthouse. Barb McMahon began visiting and mentoring through Drug Court in 2007. Learn more about Barb's experience with Drug Court or read more about Drug Court in an article published by the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier.
Current Drug Court needs include: Men and women to mentor drug court participants.
If you are interested, contact Barb McMahon (319-266-9796).
Habitat for Humanity -
directions
803 W. 5th Street, Waterloo (319-235-9946) - (website)
The Iowa Heartland Habitat for Humanity is active
in the Cedar Valley! Currently, Orchard Hill Church and Nazareth
Lutheran Church are teaming up to build a home on Newell
Street in Waterloo. On June 2, 2007 over 100 volunteers from
both churches
participated in the Powerbuild – they framed and roofed
the house in one day! (See photos).
Throughout the year, on the third Saturday of every month, a
work team from Orchard Hill
works with Habitat to help build a home.
Current Habitat for Humanity needs include: 1) Volunteers to help build. 2) Also needed are people who are interested
in landscaping and are willing to work one-on-one with new homeowners.
3) The local Habitat office especially needs a good office paper
cutter and a 20” or larger TV. Also: sharpie markers, utility
knives, carpenter pencils, and colored copier paper. Drop off
items at Orchard Hill (attn: Laura
Hoy) or at the Habitat office.
To sign up with a group from Orchard Hill, contact Laura
Hoy (319-266-9796). To sign up anytime through Habitat, call their
volunteer coordinator, Shalon Atwood (319-235-9946).
House
of Hope
306 Walnut Street, Waterloo (232-3823) -
directions
House of Hope is a two-year transitional housing
program for homeless moms and children located in downtown Waterloo.
Orchard Hill supports House of Hope women and families in a variety
of ways, including through the Guardian Angel Program. In this
program, a small group adopts an apartment at House of Hope for
one year to help provide occasional inspections and general maintenance
to that apartment.
Current House of Hope needs include: Small
groups to adopt apartments through the Guardian Angel Program.
For
more information or to make a contribution, contact Laura
Hoy (319-266-9796) or Mary Schmitt, House of Hope director
(319-232-3823).
Immigration
Raid Relief Effort
The Orchard Hill Church urges the community to pray for individuals and families involved in
the immigration
raid in Postville. Monetary donations are urgently needed to
help support families by providing for their basic needs. Donations
are being accepted through Orchard Hill. Make checks payable
to “Orchard
Hill Church” and mark “Cup of Cold Water – Postville
Support” in the memo line. Past donations have supported
St. Bridget’s Hispanic Ministry Fund (ie: rent & groceries
for families, operation costs including paperwork, etc.), St.
Paul Lutheran Church (ie: packing food boxes twice weekly), and
Guatemalan
men detained in the Fayette County Jail (ie: phone cards to call
families back home in Guatemala).
Current needs include: 1) Financial
support for members of the Postville community working to sustain
immigrants and their families.
Specific needs change daily. 2) Comprehensive
immigration reform. To learn more about a Christian response,
listen to "What
Would Jesus Say About...Immigration" by
Ed Baker, and research the actions others in the faith community
are taking.
For more information or to find out how you might assist individuals
and families in need, contact Heidi
Fuchtman (319-415-2546).
Longfellow Elementary
233 Edwards Street, Waterloo (319-433-1960) -
directions
Due to a budget deficit and declining enrollment in the Waterloo School District, the Waterloo School Board voted in favor of closing Longfellow Elementary June 5, 2008. Please pray for peace, wisdom, energy & strength for teachers and families as they work to guide and nurture the children at Longfellow in the days ahead. Thank you for your support, your hard work, your generosity, and your prayers as we continue to walk alongside the children and families of the Longfellow community.
To learn more about other Orchard Hill activities with Longfellow,
contact
Maribeth
Boelts.
Love Cedar Valley
Orchard Hill Church works alongside local churches once a year to organize a day of service to local communities and neighborhoods. Participants reach out to love others through projects ranging from giveaways, to cleaning & renovation projects, to volunteer service at local organizations
To learn more, visit the
Love Cedar Valley website or contact Laura
Hoy (319-266-9796).
Neighborhood
Hub (website)
Jubilee United Methodist Church, 1621 E. 4th Street,
Waterloo (319-234-7600) - directions
The Hub serves about 70-100 people each Thursday night in Waterloo.
Mealtime begins between 5:00 and 5:30 p.m. depending on the
night’s
programming and cleanup ends by 7:00 p.m. There is a program
after every meal and volunteers are invited to stay to hear the
speaker.
Current Neighborhood Hub needs include: 6-8 volunteers each week
to serve and clean up after a meal. Most groups who serve also
provide some of the food for the meal, but supplies are provided.
Prepare in your own kitchen or use the spacious, well-equipped
kitchen onsite. Cash donations are also welcome to help purchase
dinnerware, food, and drinks.
Contact Barb (319-234-7600, ext. 20) for more information about
how you, your family, or your group can volunteer or make a donation.
Northeast
Iowa Food Bank (website)
106 East 11th Street, Waterloo (319-235-0507) - directions
The Northeast Iowa Food Bank works to reduce
food waste and provide emergency food relief to nonprofit organizations
and individuals in Northeast Iowa. You can help by volunteering,
contributing financially, hosting a food drive, or provide food
donations.
Current Northeast Iowa Food Bank
needs include: Volunteers for their Kids Café program, offering nutritional
meals, education and recreational fun to children in the area.
Help is needed Monday through Friday after school hours to
assist in tutoring, mentoring, playing games, doing crafts,
and much more. Locations include Hoover Middle School, Salvation
Army, and the Boys n’ Girls Club. Contact Jodie at
the food bank (319-235-0507, ext. 116).
If interested, contact Patrick Bird, 235-0507 (x118)
Quilting
The quilting team meets regularly to make quilts that are given
to young people who enter a youth detention facility in the
area. The raw materials used are all donated cotton scraps of
fabric
remnants and come from the generosity of Orchard Hill members.
The creativity used in putting the fabrics together into patterns
is pure enjoyment. The labor involved in sewing the quilts
together gets lost in the fun of doing it in the company of friends.
The
finished products are always amazing reminders of how God blesses
the cooperative efforts of His children. And finally, the quilts
themselves become a very tangible way of sharing God’s
love with those in need.
For more information, contact Sally
Baker.
SHOUT! Ministries (website)
408 Archer Avenue, Waterloo (319-232-6720)
"Shout! For the Lord has given you the city..." (Joshua 6:16). SHOUT! exists to tear down walls of injustice, hatred, and violence by uniting the body of Christ with world changing events and ongoing evangelism. SHOUT! believes that when the body of Christ comes together in love, regardless of differences in cultural background, denomination, or cultural gaps, the Church becomes a brighter light that God can use to change the world! SHOUT! organizes events such as basketball tournaments, slam poetry events, and music concerts in neighborhoods with histories of violence or drug activity in order to help release God's liberating spirit among the people. All money raised through these events helps support SHOUT! and local ministries.
Get involved with SHOUT!: 1) Join in community prayer and evangelism walks. Meet at a different church each Sunday at 2 p.m. to walk, pray, and meet people in the church neighborhood. All are welcome! Call 319-232-6720 for location each week. 2) Fellowship with believers with Community Bible Fellowship every Thursday night at 7 p.m. to learn more about Christ and read the Word of God together. 3) Participate in SHOUT! events. Visit the website or watch the calendar for upcoming special events.
Contact SHOUT! Ministries to learn more about how to get involved.
Tornado & Flood Recovery
Orchard Hill commits to helping with tornado and flood recovery
efforts. Click here to learn more about current needs and volunteer
efforts.
If you have any questions or would like to lead a project, contact
Becky Bartlett (319-269-8999).
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