Our Lord calls His people to do many things in their walk
with Him. For some it is doing things that will have an impact throughout the
world but for most of us His focus is more of a local one. Where we live, where
we work, with those He places in front of us on a day to day basis.
When the wife and I were a very young, we thought we could
change the whole world. As we grew older and have now grown to what most would
consider or say to be “very mature”, We’ve long ago realized God never called
us to do that. We came to the understanding and knowledge that He only asks us
to touch and help better the lives of our immediate surroundings for His glory.
To do just as Jesus did.
That being the case, my post today is primarily directed to
those who live in our community and area, Chino Valley
That is why Squash Patch Farms Ministry exists. We endeavor
to do this through a number of methods. Of course we have the farm which
produces thousands of pounds of produce each season but in our area, we really
only have one growing season and for some reason, we humans need food all year
long. That is why we also have a small Non-perishable food pantry that operates
all year. Generally we try to help anyone who comes to us and we take referrals
from churches and other organization in our community. We also endeavor to help
individuals and families in other areas of their lives where they may need
help. We keep a data base we keep of almost every other helping entity in our
area so if an individual or family needs help in some other area, we can
usually point them in the right direction.
We are coming us on the holiday season and this is one of
the busiest time of the year for us as far as requests for help goes. All the
other food banks across the state face this same situation. Our requests for
food assistance usually more than double. We try to plan for this but like
every other food assistance program that relies on donations to keep their
shelves full, this time of year always has us a bit concerned.
We trust the Lord to make sure we have the food available to
help everyone He sends our way. The fact is that our Lord works through His
people to accomplish this. If you or your family would like to help us make
sure needy families have food on their tables, we can always use and your help
and donations. They are always greatly appreciated. At the end of this post I’m
provide details about how.
Another program we have is our Work-Share Program. The
program operates like this: Each growing season a number of struggling families
are given the opportunity to volunteer 4 hours of work each week here at the
farm and in exchange, they receive a weekly portion of the crop during
harvesting time. The amount they receive is proportionate to their family’s
size and needs. I’ll be writing about the Work-Share Program in more detail as
we get closer to our growing season.
The Work-Share Program is a win-win for both those
participating and also for the ministry farm. The reality is we simply couldn’t
operate on the scale we do if it was just the wife and I having to do all the
work.
There are many other aspects to Squash Patch Farms Ministry
but I’ll hold off going into those for a latter time.
If any reader would like to help us or become involved here
at Squash Patch Farms, please Contact Us. Food donations can be dropped off
here at the farm ( Drop Us an Email For The Address ) or at Word of Life Church
in Chino Valley
