Help Wanted

On Tuesday, April 12th at 9:00 am we (and hopefully you) at Cross & Crown Mission will be distributing boxes of food and personal care items to 400 families.  We are excited about this opportunity to team up with Feed the Children in a program called, "Americans Feeding Americans."  You can check out some more details here.

We are in great need of volunteers for this event and are looking to get anywhere from 50-75 individuals to commit their time and energy.

Here is a list of a few other things that we are looking to get our hands on for this 3-4 hour event...

       * t-shirts! Because this event will involve several hundred individuals we would like to be able to identify those who are helping.  So, we figured either everyone that is helping should wear the same shirt or everyone helping wear no shirt.  Shirts won.

       * pallet jack & fork lift. Pretty self explanatory.  There will be a bunch of food on pallets and so we need something to lift and move the pallets.  We don't have one.  We want one.  Do you have one?

       *YOU!  Again, we need 50-75 bodies to make this thing happen.  On any given day at Cross & Crown we have somewhere between 15-20 volunteers.  We need more than double this amount in order to make this thing happen.

We are, also, very excited about this event because it will take place in the parking lot of our newly acquired building at 1900 NW10th, the old Whittier school building.  We are excited about this opportunity to meet and begin relationship with many new families in the neighborhood.

If you are interested in being apart of this effort in any form whether it be t-shirts, materials or your services please call 232-7696 and leave a message for Paul.

Spring Break 2011 Rock Island Style

This past week the schools, teachers and students of Oklahoma City observed several days of Spring Break.  During this time we at Cross and Crown closed down the food pantry, clothing room and other ministries in order to focus our attention on the kids.  

Monday and Wednesday morning 15-20 kids from the neighborhood helped Ron and I pick up some food donations and then deliver the food throughout the neighborhood.  

Similar to the week before, the kids organized fruits, vegetables, frozen meats, breads and other foods in 60-75 boxes each day and then traveled with us throughout the neighborhood going door to door to deliver each family a nice Spring Break food basket.  The kids enjoyed themselves and the families were very appreciative.  Everyone wins!

Following their hard work and help we cooked up some pizzas and snacks for the kids, hit the computers and video games for a couple hours and then called it a day.

Tuesday we gathered up 20 some odd kids and headed to go skating.  We had a delicious meal at CiCi's Pizza and then hit the rink.  The skating outing was a first time experience for some of the kids, as you can see from the pictures with most of the girls clinging to the side rails and walls.

Some of the kids walked away from the rink with bruises to remind them of SB2011 Rock Island style for days to come.  There were kids falling and splattering all over the rink every time you turned around.  It was awesome.  

Below are some pictures and videos from our neighborhood food excursion and skating adventure.  

Be warned: some of the videos may contain footage of ridiculous dance moves that should never be mimicked or attempted.  Enjoy!

Loaves and fishes

Wednesdays are normally reserved for the elementary kids at Rock Island but this Wednesday had a little different look.

Instead of the typical Wednesday look of video games, pizza and lots of noise Ron, Paul, myself and several of the junior high/high school Rock Island'ers picked up a couple thousand pounds of frozen meats, fruits, breads and potatoes.

We then distributed all of this goodness to neighbors throughout the neighborhood. Some we knew and others we met for the first time.

This one, relatively simple, act that we were able to do yesterday is one of my favorite occurrences at my job.

People getting food is great but that's not what I'm talking about.

One of my favorite aspects of my job is when the youth from Rock Island contribute and invest in THEIR neighborhood.

Even though they may not realize it or completely grasp the significance of it all, it's crucial that these kids learn and practice practical ways they can influence and make an impact in their community; both now and in the future.

One of the most crucial truths we have learned firsthand about impacting this neighborhood is that there must be indigenous leaders.

We can try to develop ideas, programs and ministries to help stabilize this community but long, lasting impact FOR THIS neighborhood will be performed by people OF THIS neighborhood.

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No school and some snowy fun

Ron, myself and some of the boys from the neighborhood did some snow Olympics a few weeks back. Here are a few pictures displaying our work...
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