Exciting News! Journey to Jerusalem was a huge success! This year, we hosted our first-ever interactive experience to celebrate Holy Week and point families toward Jesus’ sacrifice for us. And let us tell you, it was a blast! When we started planning, we weren’t sure how to pull it off. But with God’s provision, we had a team of amazing volunteers who came together and made this happen.

The night before the event, we had a team transform our dining hall into a Jerusalem marketplace. They used all sorts of random objects in the building, like clothes racks and hanging fabric to create tent-like booths for our activities. For the event, we had dozens of volunteers come and dress up in tunics and facilitate the event.

The experience was designed to take families through Bible times and Jesus’ final days on earth. Guests were placed in groups of ten and guided through the Jerusalem marketplace. They tasted artisan bread in the bakery, constructed a cross ornament in the carpentry shop, and learned about ancient dyeing techniques in the dye shop. They enjoyed a “buffet” of hummus, dates, grapes, and more at the Last Supper and explored traditional herbs and spices in Jesus’ time at the perfumery.

Next, guests ascended the stairs to the Coffee Hall where they learned about the Prayer Wall in Jerusalem and were invited to write their own prayers and stick them to the wall. Finally, they walked through the sanctuary, reflecting on Jesus’ journey to the cross. For example, they were invited to place a nail into a cross as a reminder of His sacrifice.

The experience was so encouraging, and we were honored to have over 160 guests join us. They were able to step back in time and truly think about Jesus’ life. The feedback we received was overwhelmingly positive, and guests shared how emotionally moving the Passion experience was and how it helped them reflect on their own relationship with Christ.

We want to extend a huge thank you to all of our volunteers who made this experience possible. We couldn’t have done it without you, and we are so grateful for your hard work and dedication. Above all, we give thanks to God for His provision and for the opportunity to share the love of Jesus with our community.

Our pantry is complete! This project has been in the works for a long while, and we are so excited to announce that it is officially finished! 

This Food and Hygiene pantry is extremely important for our participants. They can come shop every 30 days for some essential items to help get them through the month. We have dozens of participants visit this pantry every week, and we are so honored to be able to help people in need.

Now that our pantry is renovated, we are able to better host our guests. The new pantry is much larger in size, so it can hold more and different items than before. We are now able to offer more pantry staples, such as spices and vegetable oil. The renovation work was not easy, but it will be so worth it to serve many more people to come. 

We wanted to specifically thank these people and groups who worked on the pantry: 

Brad Brunsun 

Christopher Brunsun 

Lubbock Christian School 

The Matador Club 

Southcrest Baptist Church Men’s Group

Atmos Energy

Ucrew 

Live Oak Community Church Men’s Group

Lubbock Christian University 

 

Check out these photos, and make sure to scroll to the bottom to see it completely finished!

On Friday, March 31st, Lubbock Impact held an Easter Egg Hunt for the community in our neighborhood at Wheelock Elementary Park. We invited our Lubbock Impact participants and the kids who attend Wheelock Elementary. 

God started bringing churches, organizations, and individuals to partner with us to make this event happen. People were grilling hotdogs, making snowcones and popcorn, offering prayer, and fellowshipping with guests. Families sat on picnic blankets, kids played on the swing set, and we all tried not to blow over in the wind. 

The kiddos who attended loved our Easter Egg Hunt. In the previous weeks, volunteers came to fill thousands of eggs, and kids from toddlers to high school had a blast running around the fields for eggs. 

In addition to the Easter Egg Hunt, we hosted a traditional Easter meal on Wednesday, April 5th. Ham, rolls, beans, and corn casserole were all on the menu. Not to mention our amazing homemade pies made by Karen Bearden!

We definitely could not have pulled off this event without the faithful people who came to serve. A huge thank you to Peoples Bank and the Glasheen Family for sponsoring our Easter meal! 

Please see the photos below!

We have an exciting project happening over Spring Break!

Next week, multiple groups will volunteer their time and effort to renovate and relocate our Food and Hygiene Pantry.

Our pantry is a well-used resource for many of the working poor in our community. Open every Tuesday evening and Thursday morning, guests are welcome to shop every thirty days. They are given an imaginary seven dollars and can “purchase” items that they are in need of, ranging from shampoo to Spam. Our pantry is extremely helpful for participants to get some essentials for the month.

Currently, our pantry is located on the office side of the building, while most of our other activities are housed on the social side of the building, like our Clothes Closet and Community Meal. This presents itself as a safety issue, as there are typically only one to two volunteers running the pantry for multiple guests, and they are on the opposite side of the building from everyone else.

By using the space on the social side of our building, we will be offering various resources all in the same area of the building. Not only will this be safer for our volunteers, but our guests will find it more convenient to shop our clothes coset and pantry in the same area.

Additionally, the new space will be much larger to house all pantry items. We hope to start including more kitchen staples in our pantry, such as salt or flour. This space will also carry all of our hygiene items sponsored by Superior Healthplan’s Hygiene Grant that we have received to give out hygiene essentials to participants.

We have been looking forward to this project for a while, and we are so thankful for all of the people who will make this happen!

Here is a picture of our current pantry:

Here is a picture of the new pantry location, before any renovations:

Go like and follow our Facebook and Instagram pages to see real-time updates of this project during Spring Break.

The federal and state funding changes currently happening will deeply impact the people we serve. Please be in prayer for our families as they adjust to these difficult changes.

Since 2020, all families receiving SNAP (food stamps) benefits have had an extra emergency allotment to help them endure uncertain times.

As of March 1st, 2023, this extra emergency allotment has been removed. Every family will experience a minimum reduction of $95 in food stamps, “with the average Texas household losing $211 in benefits.”

With the decrease in food stamps and increase in the cost of living, we expect to see an influx of guests at Lubbock Impact. Families will know they have a seat at the table for our free Community Meal on Wednesdays at 5:30. Additionally, they are more than welcome to shop our free Food and Hygiene Pantry every thirty days for essential items.

To further help our participants, we have partnered with MCH to bring in a case manager every first and third Tuesday of the month to help people fill out SNAP forms and ensure their information is up to date.

Concerning healthcare, continuous Medicaid ends at the end of March. This means that all Medicaid recipients must reapply for benefits for the first time in three years. The application is being sent to the address on file, which is problematic if the recipient has moved. We are notifying all of our participants of this information, and encourage them to visit YourTexasBenefits.com to ensure their personal information is up to date.

While the full public health emergency expires in May, we are already anticipating an uptick in uninsured patients seen at The Free Clinics.

Now, more than ever, we know our resources are needed to support and empower the working poor in our community.

If If you are able, consider grabbing some extra hygiene or food items when you are at the grocery store to donate to Lubbock Impact. Or you can shop online and have items shipped directly to us. To see what we are in need of, check out our Walmart Registry here: https://www.walmart.com/registry/RR/c6e0b11b-e541-4a51-9545-e1506d8a94fa

Works Cited & to read more SNAP information:

Changes to SNAP Benefits Will Worsen Food Insecurity in Texas, but Help Is Available

Read more about Medicaid changes:

https://www.hhs.texas.gov/news/2023/01/hhsc-urges-all-medicaid-recipients-update-their-contact-information-continuous-medicaid-coverage

Lubbock Impact hosted our very first family night of the year and it was a huge success!

We were thrilled to host families and provide a night of fun, food, and laughter. Our goal was to create a space where kiddos and parents could enjoy each other’s company and make lasting memories.

Families ate hot dogs together and played bingo. We had a sweet end to the night with an ice cream sundae bar! 

We are so grateful for Classical Conversations Homeschool Co-op who volunteered as families to help host this event and make it a special evening for our participant families. We look forward to hosting more family nights in the future!

You may be seeing two new faces around here very often! 

Welcome to our team, Brandi and Delaney!

We are so excited to partner with HeartCorp to host two full-time paid volunteers here at Lubbock Impact. 

These two individuals bring with them a passion for serving our programs, as well as promoting heart health awareness in rural communities. We have no doubt that their contributions will be invaluable!

When you see these two around Lubbock Impact, please join us in giving a warm welcome!

H-E-B Feast of Sharing gave us $5,000 to use for several of our Community Meals! We were able to provide two meals with their generous donation during the holidays. One meal was a delicious warm stew and for the other H-E-B catered a BBQ sandwich meal to kick off the new year! 

The participants loved the meal! Everyone was raving about how amazing the sandwich was. And not to mention the banana pudding! 

Along with H-E-B providing the means for the meal, they also brought in volunteers to serve. They served Lubbock Impact with such care. We had a blast with them! 

We are so thankful for the partnership with H-E-B and their thoughtfulness for the working poor of Lubbock, Tx.

Thank you again, H-E-B!

Blessings, blessings, blessings.

We are overwhelmed by the generosity our community has shown to help us get through the winter months.

We have been given food, clothes, and monetary donations. We could go on forever about how God brought provisions through our community to care for the working poor!

Here are some photos of the kindness we have received in the past few weeks. Pictured are people preparing food, serving meals, giving children’s gifts and hygiene bags, handing out coats, giving turkey boxes, and much more. We could not do it without y’all!

Makenna is one of Lubbock Impact’s children’s ministry volunteers, and her heart is to consistently show up for our kiddos! 

She is a senior at Texas Tech studying Human Development and Family Sciences. She has been volunteering with Lubbock Impact in the children’s ministry for over a year now. Specifically, she is in charge of kindergarten through 5th graders every Wednesday night. 

Not only does she get to teach Bible stories, games, and crafts to these kiddos, but she actually gets to learn a lot from them! Since volunteering with Lubbock Impact, Makenna stated that she learned “how to be a leader as well as being a listener.” 

When she got put in her current leadership role, she didn’t feel qualified. But, she jumped right in, knowing that she wanted to be there for these kids. Now, she has a lot of experience and confidence to lead an elementary-aged group.

Listening was the other thing Lubbock Impact kiddos taught Makenna. Oftentimes, these kids want someone to talk to about their week. Instead of trying to solve their problems, Makenna learned to listen to hear, not just listen to respond.

To anyone wanting to volunteer, Makenna would say, “you don’t have to know what you’re doing, you just need to be present for these kids!”

She adds, “if children’s ministry isn’t for you, don’t be afraid to look elsewhere at Lubbock Impact, because there are plenty of opportunities to volunteer.”

Lubbock Impact is very thankful for the hard work Makenna gives to our kids every single week.