A Special Thanks....

A VERY SPECIAL THANK YOU TO

FOR PROVIDING WONDERFUL FOOD FOR OUR
BOSSES DAY LUNCHEON.

JERRY WEST
GENERAL MANAGER

(Located in the Holiday inn airport)
3201 BANKHEAD DRIVE
LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS 72206
(501) 235-2000

Men's Graduation 8/25/09

Last night we were able to graduate 4 men from our drug/alcohol recovery program. The dinner and ceremony were hosted by Otter Creek Assembly of God. The Union Rescue Mission's Executive Director, Dr. William Tollett, brought a message about being committed to finishing and finishing strong!

Here is a shot of graduate Thomas Morrison giving testimony to the work God has done in his life over the last nine months! Congrats men!!

3,821 Rolls of Toilet Paper!!!

I have so much faith in young people. If you give kids a vision for how they can make serious impacts on a worthy cause, they don’t play around. If teenagers know that they can personally do something BIG that’s going to affect the lives of others, they go to work. They do their part bigger than you and I do. They do it with excellence, and they take pride in it!

Don’t believe me? Take a look at what happened when one local youth pastor encouraged kids through his Facebook status to bring toilet paper for the Union Rescue Mission to church camp with them.

If you want something done right, get young people involved. 3,821 rolls of TP.

Summer Serving

Summer is here and it is hot, hot, hot at the Dorcas House. All the children are out for school and some days it feels like pure mayhem! However, one of the really fun things about summer is that we get a lot more teenage groups of volunteers who are also on summer break and willing to pour their time and energy out on the "least of these" just out of sheer devotion to Jesus. So there they are outside my office door, patiently taping off the woodwork in the hall so they can paint yet again. They have already painted walls and murals in the Daycare, upstairs dorms, and cleaned almost every reachable part of the House. They have also brought in supplies that we desperately needed. They've spent hours entertaining children who need to be told again and again in subtle ways that they are safe and loved. They have helped repair the House, but more importantly they have helped repair the souls of the population dearest to the heart of God, the widows and orphans, the poor, the outcasts. Not once this week have I heard them complain or bicker. How strange they must seem to the youth around them who are spending their summer thinking only of themselves! But we can give our lives away when it is done out of gratitude and devotion to the One who gave His life away for us! I think they should all have t-shirts that proclaim, "I am lovesick" Proverbs 5:8

H2 - h0meless Water Outreach Snapshot!!

This past Friday I was able to get a little snapshot created of what it’s like when we hit the streets with cold water. Our cargo van has gone to be with Jesus, so Antioch Missionary Baptist stepped in and helped us get out there. If you are interested in helping out with this amazing outreach opportunity, please contact me! Enjoy!

Busy Busy Week!!!

We are busy busy this week at the Dorcas House and it's only Tuesday!! There have been a lot of excited kiddos running around the last few days! This week we have 2 extremely fun activities going on! First of all, in the mornings the children ages 5-12 are attending Vacation Bible School at Little Rock's First Baptist Church. This year, the theme is Boomerang Express and the kids have been having a great time experiencing the "Land Down Under" in a unique way! Secondly, our kids and mothers are attending Willow Springs Water Park's Bible Camp in the afternoon and evening times! So, between hearing the VBS songs in the hallways and seeing some tan faces, I know that the children are having a great week so far!!!

I have spent the last 5 summers and the 13 months prior to working at Dorcas House working at a Christian Sports and Lakefront Adventure Camp outside of Austin, Texas called TBarM Camps. One thing that I loved about camp was the fast paced and relational environment! For these 2 reasons, I have really been enjoying my summer so far at the Dorcas House!! I love the constant commotion (most of the times=) here! I love the relationships that I am able to develop with the women and children! I love seeing the children riding their bikes and playing in our little kiddie pool! I know that I am still the "newbie" and have miles of things to learn, but I am very excited about the road ahead!

Affecting Change

I recently celebrated my first year of service with the Union Rescue Mission on June 2. Coming from the world of academia, this has definitely been a year of transition for me. I taught writing at UCA for three years - mostly freshman composition; and I would teach an occasional Technical Writing class, depending on the need.

I prayed every day that I would make a change in a student's life somehow, someway. I was always open and honest about my relationship with the Lord to my students, and I never judged them for sharing different opinions or beliefs. In fact, those students brave enough to trust me to share their own beliefs would usually ignite some of our more passionate, classroom discussions. I miss them from time-to-time - the students and the discussions.

I left UCA because I felt a call on my heart to help people - to share the things that I had learned through trial and error in my walk with the Lord. So I took this ministry position with a tractor trailer full of excitement and a bucket full of apprehension. It would be my first step into "ministry."

My office was this 10' X 10' room with no windows on the second floor of the Dorcas House. I revamped the Mission website and the newsletter, helped organize Feeding the Multitudes, organized volunteers, and took several HUNDRED phone calls between October and November for 600 food box orders. Was this ministry? It couldn't be! Obviously, it's all ministry. It's not how I envisioned ministry, but what I do still affects this Mission. My ministry tools are a computer, some software, the Internet, and a telephone; and what I do with these tools reaches you in your home quarterly, monthly, and maybe even daily.

I still miss a classroom setting and probably always will. I may even return one day. However, my passionate, classroom discussions have now turned into so much more. You see, none of this was ever really about me. It's about them - the men and women we help at the Mission; and it's about Jesus and how he wants to reach them. I am the bridge in this Mission between you and the people we serve. I have the honor of sharing their lives with you, our faithful contributors and donors.

I now understand how God uses our skills and talents to expand His kingdom and to bring Him glory, and it's humbling to know that He chose me for this.

May the Lord anoint you where you are!
Blessings,
Denise Pote
Director of Public Relations