On October 13, we finally began a long-planned outreach service into the community handing out diapers, wipes, formula, and baby food to families in the community with babies and toddlers. Twice a month (the second Monday, 5-7pm and the third Saturday, 9-11am) members from Hope Lutheran Church in Batesville and our sister church, Shepherd of the Hills in Horseshoe Bend volunteer to provide a much-needed service to our community. While open to all, our unique work certainly helps the many lower income families. (Of 75 counties in Arkansas, Independence is 29th at 19.6% below poverty line and Izard 16th at 21.1%. FYI—the National average is 12.4% and Arkansas’s population has 16% below that line.)
This project began in 2023 with fundraising and just as we were about to start, in June of 2024, Hope was struck with major storm damage. When the damage was fixed in November 2024, we were preparing to get opened when the member who was going to run it moved away. This left us with the problem of an organizer. God has a funny way of answering prayers at just the right time: enter Dawn and Tim Vaughan. They moved here in January of 2025. Tim finished a career in the military retiring as a Sergeant First Class and is now able to work remotely. In a previous church, Dawn organized and served as the manager of that church’s food pantry.
In May, Dawn took up the mantle to start organizing things. She has truly been a gift to Hope as she has helped organize the congregations to serve in this important work. At our last give away on November 15, we had 18 volunteers from our two small churches! There is a lot of behind the scenes work and without her dedication things would definitely fall through the cracks.
On Saturday mornings we offer breakfast to the families who come. This gives the opportunity to get to know the people and invite them to hear the Word of God. Which, of those who have come, over 60% have no church home! We have also been able to meet the significant Hispanic population in Batesville and some of our members are brushing up on their Spanish to communicate with them. We are providing a variety of the CPH pamphlets, especially ones on baptism and the catechism to help teach people why it is so important that we are Lutheran, both in Spanish and English! CPH through their Gospel outreach program provides our Pantry with the classic arch books to give away and they offer this to us free of charge.
People can give to this mission outreach by mail to Hope Lutheran Church 2415 E. Main St. Batesville, AR 72501. memo line: FLP. An online option is coming soon through our website: www.hopelutheranbatesville.org.
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