Andy's Updates - 8/2011
by Rev. Andy on Tuesday, August 30th, 2011, Filed Under General, Rev Andy's Blog | View Comments
Dear Friends,
The number of children coming to URM for shelter and services has increased 55% over last year. This alarming trend makes the battle we are fighting to remain sustainable in these incredibly challenging times all the more difficult and…all the more important.
Weekly occupancy reports do not do justice to needs we are seeing every day. For example, I made dinner for all of the moms and kids at Hope Gardens last week. The campus is bursting with 70 moms and senior ladies and 100 children. I was so thankful for the provision of Hope Gardens Family Center as we served these precious families in two shifts! The next day, I greeted yet 1 more mom with her 12 year old son at URM bringing the total number of children downtown to 88. That’s a total of 188 precious children currently depending on us for help!
Please stand with us, pray with us and support us during this
challenging time of great need by families and children!
Giving for July and August is almost 50% less than we budgeted. This combined with, as of today, not being reimbursed by FEMA, $308,000, for providing last year’s Winter Shelters, has put us in a tenuous position for the next 45 days, when normal Fall giving should hopefully provide some much needed relief!
Could you find it in your heart, despite these trying times, to give an early, generous gift to URM, to bridge the summer gap and keep this life-saving work going?
Thank you and God bless you.
Sincerely,
Rev. Andy Bales
Please Donate Now
On line► www.urm.org/donate
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by Rev. Andy on Friday, August 19th, 2011, Filed Under Rev Andy's Blog | View Comments
Have you ever been seemingly unfairly, severely disciplined? How did you react? I remember some severe times of discipline in my life, like not making the All-Star Baseball team as a Little Leaguer because of my bad attitude. I shaped up the next year and was a unanimous choice! Another time I was wrongly accused of cheating in class, blew up at the teacher who was a former shot-putter in college, and threw my books at the chalkboard and walked out. When we sat down and my mom explained all that was going on in my life – brother in prison, Dad losing his business and everything, and me being diagnosed with diabetes – the teacher, Mr. Klein and I became good friends. There have been times when I understood and deserved discipline, and times when I’ve been bewildered by it.
Right now is one of those bewildering times. I am doing my best, working too hard, and I am facing one challenge after another, poor health, a wicked economy, lots of criticism. One problem after another. I don’t even know whether I will weather next week!!
Surprisingly, I am thankful. I’m counting on the Scripture verse found in Hebrews: 12:5-6:
Hebrews 12:5-6 (ESV)
5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him.
6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”
The tough times make me certain that God loves me as a son. I am also certain that it all will add up for my good, and draw me closer to the Lord.
Job 5:17-18 (ESV)
17 “Behold, blessed is the one whom God reproves; therefore despise not the discipline of the Almighty.
18 For he wounds, but he binds up; he shatters, but his hands heal.
A favorite song of mine is the new one, Blessings, by Laura Story. I want this song performed at my funeral;
We pray for blessings
We pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things
Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise
We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
All the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we’d have faith to believe
Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
And what if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise
When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know the pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home
It’s not our home
Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy
And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise
I believe these words with my whole heart, and I am thankful for the severe discipline that I am currently receiving from above. I know that the only correct response is to do what I did in Little League baseball, get a good attitude, and strengthen whatever area is weak in my life.
Hebrews 12:12-13 (ESV)
12 Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees,
13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.
Blessings,
by Rev. Andy on Wednesday, August 10th, 2011, Filed Under Rev Andy's Blog | View Comments
by Guest Bloggers Chris Strode & Scott Bonovich
Thursday, August 4, 2011 will always be remembered as a very special day in the recent history of Union Rescue Mission.
On that day, four gentlemen from UGL Limited, an international Fortune 500 company, came to URM for the sole purpose of meeting and interviewing ten men who had graduated from our CLDP Life Transformation program. The interview process was set-up and arranged through John Kennelly and Will Nicklas of Toyota Motor Sales, USA who took time from their own very busy corporate schedules to mentor the ten Alumnus over the course of eight weeks. It was a day that changed lives forever.
Brantley Wheeler – Senior Director of Operations, Rodney McSheridan – Director of Operations, Robert Pugh – Regional Facility Manager and Jason Rawls – Operations Manager from UGL Services along with our two friends from Toyota Motor Sales, USA met in the board room where they heard from Andy Bales, CEO of Union Rescue Mission, Chaplain Steve Borja, our Chief Programs Officer and Chaplain Rodney Tanaka, chaplain of our men’s graduate groups - Apprentice and Nikkos. Also present were the ten men interviewees. During the presentation, Andy Bales shared, “…the best part of my job is watching living miracles like the men sitting with us today who have reached past the level of responsibility and accountability of their lives and job functions…they have taken ownership and remained teachable in the process.”
After a tour of our downtown facility, the men from UGL Services got a first-hand glimpse at what is involved in true Life Transformation, coming away from the tour with admiration for the participants as well as the manner in which URM utilized every available space to its maximum, “…far more,” they said, “…than so many other facilities they worked with”.
At the culmination of over 8 weeks of mentoring and job preparation, the ‘hour of decision’ arrived. Two offices were used for the interviewing with the URM alumni receiving last minute coaching from their mentors, John and Will.
The process took several hours with heightened tension and anticipation; “…like expectant fathers waiting for the delivery…” according to John Kennelly. Nobody knew the outcome, nobody really knew what to expect – least of all those ten courageous men going through the interview process, men who only a little over a year before, had come to URM tired of the mean streets, tired of their way of life and looking – needing – to be transformed.
By 4:30 Thursday evening the interviews were completed, and the UGL representatives met to systematically compare notes and began requesting specific men return to meet with them. We would have been delighted had even one of our alumni been offered a job; ecstatic with two. But that Thursday was a very special day indeed…THREE of our alumni were offered immediate employment and a further four were offered jobs in the immediate future! Seven out of ten! Had this been baseball it would have been a Hall-of-Fame day! And perhaps as important were the first words from Senior Director of Operations, Brantley Wheeler and Director of Operations Rodney McSheridan who chorused, “When can we do this again?”
Our hope, as time goes on, is to share even more about community involvement in Union Rescue Mission’s Life Transformation programs as we continue to build upon our Job Development Program. Lives were changed on that very special day; the lives of 10 courageous and hardworking men, the lives of 4 unique executives from UGL Services, the lives of 2 very special friends from Toyota Motor Sales, USA…and our own.
Weekly occupancy reports do not do justice to needs we are seeing every day. For example, I made dinner for all of the moms and kids at Hope Gardens last week. The campus is bursting with 70 moms and senior ladies and 100 children. I was so thankful for the provision of Hope Gardens Family Center as we served these precious families in two shifts! The next day, I greeted yet 1 more mom with her 12 year old son at URM bringing the total number of children downtown to 88. That’s a total of 188 precious children currently depending on us for help!