Randy Erickson – Memorial Service

by Souper | May 13, 2016 | Summer Staff

A memorial service for Randy Erickson will be held Saturday, May 14th, at 2:00 pm at Wellspring Christian Center. (205 N I Street, Dinuba CA 93618.) Refreshments will follow the service. Expressions of sympathy may be made by the way of a memorial fund through Gleanings For The Hungry.

For those needing accommodations, we will provide a men’s dorm and a women’s dorm; these will be available on a first-come-first-serve basis. You will need to bring your own bedding. Meals will not be provided.

All other rooms have been reserved. Thank you for understanding.

May 9th – 13th

by Souper | May 13, 2016 | Summer Staff

While there is no way to replace the loss of our friend, Randy, we’ve been experiencing the sweet touch of God in our brokenness. Not only has he met with each of us on a individual basis, he has strengthened us through mutual support. Many off-base friends and family have also come to be with us in our time of grieving; former staff members and dear friends, Jim and Shauna Biermann, arrived last weekend. Their presence and support have been crucial for so many of us. Former directors, Rick and Lynn O’Dwyer, drove down from their home in Canada. Eric and Lisa Rivera, with their youngest children, Anna and Jesse, flew in from Guatemala last night. It’s amazing how God has allowed us all to be together in this time.

Also the work here at Gleanings has continued this week. Flexibility has been one of the themes as we worked together to get the jobs done.

April 25th – 29th

by Souper | Apr 29, 2016 | Summer Staff

The week began with the arrival of two teams, Faith Harvest Helpers and Shepherd of Sierra. Faith Harvest Helpers is a newer YWAM base in Washington, launched by former students of Gleanings’ Discipleship Training School. Their operation is very similar to ours, focused on spreading the gospel by feeding the hungry. Shepherd of Sierra is a group brought together by one of our volunteers and is full of dear, sweet friends.

We also had several other short-term volunteers, two being a pair of sisters coming from separate directions. Not only do they come they come the same week to have time together, they take full advantage of the opportunity the pray for and bless everyone they can. It’s always a sweet time having them here!

Wednesday afternoon we sent out a truck, headed toward our friends and founders of Hope of the Nations in Guatemala. The weather offered us heavy wind and the threat of rain; as a result, prayer for the truck took place in the shelter of the warehouse. We are excited about this load, knowing first-hand the loving hearts receiving and distributing the product. A few notes of love an encouragement from the staff were tucked in as well.

On Wednesday night, a group of men from Long Beach joined our forces. Many of these men are graduates from a program in their Rescue Mission. Their presence provided a boost to everyone’s working spirit; with their help, we reached 1.5 million servings of soup by the end of the week. They also provided relief for the kitchen and helped with many manual jobs around base.

April 18th – 22nd

by Souper | Apr 22, 2016 | Summer Staff

First off, here’s a shout out to all of our volunteers! Not only from this week, but everyone who has made Gleanings possible!

Also, we are so grateful to all of our donors! Among other donations, we received a shipment of raisins on Tuesday. The raisins are enjoyed and appreciated as a healthy meal whenever we send them out.

Sometimes we get an extra-special treat on Thursday night’s love feast; while every love feast is special, there is the occasional variation of events. This week, staff kid Kaleigh Lawrence and eight of her fellow choir members entertained us with a short selection of their songs. Their strong harmonies engaged everyone and earned them a standing ovation in the end. We also had the pleasure of hearing our very own Abigail Grysban share her testimony in the format of a spoken word poem. Her rhythm and masterful wording brought us all to the edge of our seats as we listened to the ups and downs of her life, ending in a strong acclamation of God’s redeeming sacrifice and the relationship He desires with us all.

This morning the general production numbers were shared at chapel. 1.2 million servings of soup were bagged and packed, 3 1/2 stacks of trays in the wood shop were repaired, and 20 quilts were assembled. Wednesday we sent a truck out for South Africa with a million servings of soup.

WEEK: APRIL 11-15

by Souper | Apr 15, 2016 | Summer Staff

This week has come to an end way too fast. Seems like it began just yesterday. So much has happened. We made a little over a million servings of soup this week. We had a mid-week group of 50 people and many extra tasks were taken care of with their help: weeding, repairing trays, washing buckets, etc…

There were 2 containers of humus going out this week; also 16 pallets of rice crisps, noodle bowls and fish sauce stir-fry paste, forwarded from an outside donor to ministry partners. We’ve been blessed with many more products coming in, including empty barrels, 13 pallets of Odwalla bars, 4 truckloads of Odwalla juice and 1 load of potato products for our soup mix.

On Fridays, we ask our volunteers to share their experience here through the week. This week has blown our socks off, to hear the stories God has done through work and through people who come here and are willing to be Jesus to one another.

I left the best for last; we celebrated a long time volunteer Russ’s 98th birthday this week, and in his own words, “It has been the best birthday ever, serving his Lord.”

It has been a week full of joy and laughter.

Have a glimpse of it in the photos below.

April 4th – 8th

by Souper | Apr 9, 2016 | Summer Staff

One of our volunteers, who has served several times in the past, spent a bulk of his time here redoing the upholstery on several old chairs and worked on one of the golf carts. It’s such a blessing to get this sort of help!

Once again, we had many young people this week, but several groups were only able to stay so long. But the fact of the matter is that although we had several people leave early in the week, many others join for the latter half. So we were always in good shape.

We’ve also sent out a couple loads of food. One one was full of pasta, baby food, dried fruit, and raisins; this food is in the process of going to Mexico and, possibly, some to Ukraine as well.