October Newsletter
Meet Carey, (pictured above to the right). We met Carey almost a year ago. He was in a hard situation and had lost hope. Carey visited the Ministry Village office to receive a hot meal and our weekly "go bag." As the weeks went on, Carey continued to visit the office. Our staff and volunteers were able to encourage him and see his hope restored. Carey recently found a job with a company building infrastructure on military bases in Florida. A few weeks ago he headed to Jacksonville, Florida, in this rental car that his boss helped him get. Carey will earn money and work hard in Jacksonville for the next few weeks. Help us pray for Carey as he travels and begins this new season of his life.
Meet Janet,(pictured above to the left). This Ministry Village Volunteer faithfully donates baby items for single mothers and other items for our Charis House ladies. In the upcoming months, Ms. Janet will begin tutoring our Charis House ladies so they can get a GED if needed or attend college classes in the future. Ms. Janet began to donate baby items as a way to remember her recently deceased sister, Joan. Her sister was a Labor and Delivery Nurse for many years, working at Shanes Hospital in Gainsville and as a traveling nurse. Joan was a humble woman, married, with three adopted children. Joan loved the Lord and children until her very last breath.
We remember Joan and are grateful for Janet's willingness to carry on her sister's legacy.
In October, Woodmen Life Financial Services presented $10,000 to Tender Hearts Caring Hands and Charis House Women's Addiction Recovery Program. Pictured to the left are some of our staff and the representatives from Woodman Life Financial Services. One of our volunteers observed our outreach with our homeless community and the ladies in our program. This volunteer recommended that our ministry receive this money for our efforts in ending homelessness and addiction. We immediately used this money to purchase a storage container for our Shower Ministry. This container will serve as a storage space for some of our supplies.
Our Shower Ministry volunteers and staff operate out of a garage, utilizing every inch to serve clothes, hygiene, hot food, and other needs of our community. Biggest thank you to Woodmen Life Financial Services for choosing to award our organization with this donation.
Charis House Women’s Substance Abuse Recovery Program
We have received 82 applications since August. Currently, 9 ladies are in our Program.
On September 10th, we celebrated three of our Charis House ladies,
Kim
Stinson,
Kimmy Johnson, and Nicole Dibono, they completed 12 months in
our
addiction recovery program.
This was a wonderful day, with many tears,
as our ladies were able to rejoice with their families and friends. Many of
our
Charis House volunteers and Olive counselors were able to congratulate
these ladies at the reception after the Sunday morning service. A special
thank you to Chef Bob and his staff for preparing a wonderful meal and
gorgeous cake for this event.
Kim Stinston lives in Jay, Florida, close to her two beautiful children, mother and stepfather. She is working a full-time job and recently got her License restored so she can drive to work.
Kimmy Johnson is currently living in our Phase 2 transitional home. She is working part-time and attending school with Southern Columbia.
Kimmy hopes to complete an associate's degree in Business Administration in the next 2years. Nicole Dibono is currently living in our Phase 2 transitional home. She is working full-time as the intake coordinator for the Charis House. She is also attending classes with City Vision University. Nicole hopes to complete a degree in Addiction Counseling in the next 2years. Nicole Dibono is currently living in our Phase 2 transitional home. She is working full-time as the intake coordinator for the Charis House. She is also attending classes with City Vision University. Nicole hopes to complete a degree in Addiction Counseling in the next 2years.
It is through your support and prayers that these ladies, have a firm foundation in Christ and are able to see a future career.
Most Excellent Way
Weekly Meetings are held at Olive Baptist Church.
Open to anyone affected by addiction.
Tuesday & Friday
7 pm - 8:30 pm
Bargain Center Thrift Store
Offering valuable items at bargain prices.
Now Open Monday - Friday
9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
We reached our goal for Million Dollar September, and we paid off the ELC building. This is important for our organization to move forward and see more lives changed by the power of Jesus Christ.
The Early Learning Center is a great outreach to our community.
Events coming soon.
Join us on December 9th at 4:30 p.m. for an exciting evening of jeeps, food, and games for all.
All Jeeps will meet at Pensacola’s Casino Beach under the beach ball water tower. The Jeeps will travel from the beach to Olive Baptist Church, where we will have a best-decorated Jeep contest, food, and games. If you plan to enter your Jeep in the run, please register online so we can plan accordingly. If you would like to volunteer for this event, please email mvomarketing@ministryvillage.org.
Ministry Village's first-ever Gala.
This event will be focused on overdose awareness and how the MVO aims to end overdose in Escambia, Santa Rosa & surrounding counties. This will surely be an exciting evening with an elegant dinner, silent auction, and exciting games. All money raised will help fund our current Charis House ladies and efforts to implement the curriculum used to ensure relapse prevention. The Charis House is completely free for all clients and is totally donation-funded. It costs $37,500 for a client to complete the 12-month
Charis House Program.
We are so excited about these upcoming events to raise awareness of women’s addiction recovery. Addiction is a severe stronghold that affects all people in every place. “In 2022, there were 1,085 opioid overdoses in Escambia County. Halfway through 2023, there were already 1,134 overdoses reported, by EMS. The county has not released how many of those lives were saved, but they administered Narcan almost 1,000 times.” - WKRG CHANNEL 5 NEWS
