Seeking to Empower
By Patrick Lemmons
One of the primary goals of the Impact Distribution Center – now called the Resource Center – is, while continuing to provide people with the supplementary food and clothes they need to adequately feed and clothe their families, to also equip people with the tools, knowledge, and information to improve their situations and not continually find themselves in such tenuous circumstances.
To that end, a recent Thursday night saw our committee’s inaugural effort – the first of five money management classes taught by a partner agency. Having advertised for a month to our Resource Center clients, invited Impact members on Sunday, and even reminded by text message those who had signed up, we were thrilled and overwhelmed to see 250+ people descend on our campus!
Taught in English in one room and Spanish in another, this first class taught them how to begin tracking their expenses, utilizing a budget, reducing debt, repairing credit, saving for emergencies, and much more. We concluded the evening with a short lesson by one of our Spanish-speaking ministers, and they were given materials to take home to work on.
We chose Thursday night because we had the built-in childcare (and wonderful teachers) of our usual Thursday night Children’s Bible Classes, as well as the participation and gracious hospitality of Impact’s Spanish-speaking church members on their usual mid-week bible study. We are grateful for both those groups, as well as for those who made it possible for us to offer additional groceries that night as well as a family hygiene bag, which blessed the families tremendously and also provided an additional incentive for them to come.
We were thrilled and overwhelmed that so many came seeking to learn to manage their money better, and are prayerful that the following classes will be similarly well-attended. We pray that the classes will empower those who attend to take greater care and responsibility for all aspects of their lives. And we also pray that having walked through our doors will lead them to a greater walk with their Creator!
