According to Pastor William D. Sanchez of the Faith Family Worship Center Apostolic Church (FFWCAC) in Sanger, more than 650 people were served a free meal, were registered and given free school supplies, and had their name put in a prize drawing for free bicycles, during their second annual Back to School Community Outreach event.
H.O.P.E. Sanger formed six months ago when a small group bonded together to give hot nourishing meals to those in need. Julie Mendoza is the leader of this successful organization and she loves every minute of the fast pace and heavy workload. H.O.P.E. Sanger is made up of about 25-people which includes pastors from 11-local churches.
If you have ever been to Downtown Fresno, and explored the outskirts near the new federal courthouse, you are bound to have seen the buzz about the Downtown Community Arts Collective (DCAC).
If you ask the Rev. Dr. Sharon Stanley to describe Fresno Interdenominational Refugee Ministries (FIRM), prepare to hear stories. For Stanley, it is the story that makes the ministry, the story of short term assignment that became a life time labor of love, stories of the aspirations of new Americans, stories of hopes and dreams, and stories of the struggle to adjust to a new culture, language, and land.
Less than 30 minutes drive from Reedley, in the little mountain community of Squaw Valley, sits Mountain Valley Community Church (MVCC) under the interim leadership of Pastor Chris Lewis. A core group of members in this country congregation have taken on the mission of making life easier for men and women in the Armed Forces. They have never turned away any military person someone wanted added to the ministry.
Things really are meant to be... even rain during a two day outdoor film shoot! The Hopes and Dreams Project’s first film, How to Build a Better Fastball, was touted as a professional production by those involved and those observing, and we are very proud of this; the detailed planning allowed this to happen.
It’s strange how things happen, but it seems that sometimes they’re just meant to be. Through a friend I was approached in early December to produce a series of short films through a non-profit outreach program called Hopes and Dreams Project.
Animal Compassion Team of California (ACT) is a 501c3 non-profit organization founded in August of 2009. ACT fulfills the vision of several good friends who were both volunteers and employees of the Central California SPCA.
In this day and age, Christian outreach is a difficult thing to accomplish. At Reedley High School, students prove that they can overcome this difficulty and provide a Christian outlet for students on their campus.
Recently the Reedley Downtown Association (RDA) asked their membership, as well as individuals, to consider sponsoring a teen parent and their family through Community Youth Ministry’s (CYM) teen parent program this Christmas.
