Helping Families in Need Enjoy the Holiday Season
San Antonio, TX (PRWEB) November 25, 2013 -- The Steven and Le Ann Cyr Family Charitable Fund is a huge supporter of Hill Country Daily Bread Ministries and is proud to help families in need, especially during the holiday season. The following story is a testament to the support that both of these organizations provide.
Samuel couldn’t shake the feeling of emptiness. The children had been through so much already. How could he make sure they did not endure one more loss? He had to ask for help. He just needed a break, one thing to go his way. He had survived cancer and homelessness and now his wife was being told she had incurable cancer. Her treatments left her debilitated and weak and he was essentially left raising his two children, ages five and seven, on his own. He often felt overwhelmed yet he prayed to God for the strength to deal with his sadness. He needed just a glimmer of hope amidst the emptiness that his hardships had caused.
Samuel landed on the doorstep of Hill Country Daily Bread one Tuesday morning, desperate for resources. The holidays were quickly approaching and he had no plan. He was providing for his family on $1000 a month. The mere thought of the accumulating medical bills for his wife’s treatment just crushed him. He had been told about Hill Country Daily Bread Ministries (HCDBM), and the work that they do for the community. He went not knowing what kind of assistance, if any, he would find. He knew the children needed stability, but he was worn and fragile. He wished for things to be back the way they were before his wife fell ill. It was hard to be both the mom and the dad for his children.
HCDBM welcomed him with compassion and the grace of God. They are a Christian non-profit organization dedicated to helping individuals and families living in poverty throughout eight counties in the Texas Hill Country. They offer intake and support services to people like Samuel. They listened, counseled, and prayed with him. They walked with him as he desperately tried to replace the spirit of emptiness with a spirit of hope.
The ministry partners with more than 150 churches and agencies throughout the Hill Country to serve 8,000 families and children in crisis per year. They provide assistance throughout the year, but one of the most visible times of year is the holiday season. They see a lot more people going through situations similar to Samuel’s show up, anxious for help. They provide hope by loving them where they are and asking them to look down the road at what is possible. Sometimes they set small goals because that is all they can muster. HCDBM walks with them so they can feel the Love of Christ and know they are not alone. “We grow with them in order to walk out of the crisis together” says Agnes Hubbard, Executive Director. She and her husband, David, started the ministry thirteen years ago from their garage. They have grown into a 13,000 square foot warehouse with plans for further expansion to meet the growing needs of families in crisis. “Our goal is to break the cycle of poverty and impact these families so that they can move out of their situation.”
During the holiday season the community comes together as volunteer and mentor families come from local churches to pack and provide complete, cook-at-home Thanksgiving meals to the families in this program. “We try to be in the background so that it is more about building those relationships with families and volunteers. It’s about offering emotional and spiritual support to families in crisis,” Hubbard said. To people like Samuel, who come in hopeless, they provide another layer of defense and the payoff is two-fold; the volunteers see God’s love as much as the families they mentor. The participation of the community is tremendous at this time of year. There are several ways to help; by volunteering your time, providing food or resources for our Thanksgiving box program or toys for our Christmas project. For Christmas, HCDBM quietly gives toys to the parents in their program so that they have the dignity to give their children gifts themselves. This allows fathers like Samuel to witness a glimmer of hope. Being helped by your neighbor is just one way God shows his love.
The numbers of those in need is increasing each month. HCDBM looks forward to the day where they can expand even further by breaking ground on a new 42,000 square foot resource center and warehouse. However, it takes a lot of support from the community to help HCDBM be able to help families in need. For this very reason The Steven and Le Ann Cyr Family Charitable Fund is on board with Hill Country Daily Bread Ministries to help give all they can in order to help such an amazing organization thrive and grow in order to help as many families as possible.
For more information on volunteering, mentoring or donating, please visit http://www.hillcountrydailybread.org or call 830-249-0025.
LeAnn Cyr, Orthopaedic and Spine Institute, http://www.SASpine.com, +1 (210) 487-7463, [email protected]
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