WOW.......15 years ago today the HOPE outreach program of First Baptist Wentzville opened their doors to serve food to our hungry neighbors. In the first month, May 2004, we gave 100 bags of food to 30 families, and all with 185 volunteer hours to "set up shop" from the team.

Today, fifteen years later, we are serving over 5,000 people annually, 500 families per month. We have seen many trends through the seasons; the difficult year of 2011, with being top 10 in the Nation in unemployment, we were serving double the amount of families compared to now with the many jobs in our "General Motors" community.

We have seen many broken families over the years that received many prayers and hugs of encouragement; we have also seen many with injuries and disabilities, cancer and medical issues. Many folks with confessed substance abuse that overcame. Including the man that received the "lecture" from me when he was drinking alcohol in the church parking lot while waiting for his Thanksgiving meal.... (The following week he apologized to me. Since then, we have had a great friendship and I am happy to share he is "alcohol free” years later.)

So many wonderful relationships built within the HOPE community, as well as, in the HOPE family. I am so thankful that God has allowed me to be a part of this outreach, even though you all have taken away my many jobs of cleaning, data entry, lifting heavy boxes, late hours of work, giving Saturdays, and begging people for money...LOL

I love this community, our Church, our administration team, and all of YOU ... thank you for the great years of service!

Kathy :)

On December 12-14, First Baptist Wentzville and the HOPE Food Pantry partnered with LINC for their annual Christmas Store. Individuals, retail stores, churches, Toys For Tots and community groups donated new unwrapped toys for boys and girls ranging in ages of birth to 18 years. Families that had an emergency need were able to schedule an appointment for one of the three days for their own shopping experience. A loveable “elf” was there to greet them upon their arrival and played The Annual Christmas IQ Test with them until it was their turn to shop. 

Each shopper was accompanied by a personal shopper (one of the many volunteers) who walked through the store with them while they made their selection. This gave the volunteer and shopper an opportunity to connect on a personal level. The volunteer had an opportunity to discuss the real meaning of Christmas and share the Gospel message of Jesus Christ with them. 

Because of all the generous donations, shoppers were able to select seven gifts for each child and additional smaller items to be used as stocking stuffers. Because of the kind donations from the Solid Rock Preschool our families could also then select a winter hat, gloves and scarf for each of the children. 

A new addition to the Christmas store was the idea of giving back. After all the gifts were selected, shoppers were encouraged to write a note of thanks to all who donated and, if they had the means, to make a small donation of their own to support the Crisis Nursery. 

Because of the generosity of the community, 222 children were blessed with a bountiful Christmas. Additionally, gifts for 100 more children were sent to a government agency that was unable to secure gifts to cover their requests for assistance.