Summer of Service

“We do so much more for our clients than just food here. We love our clients and go above and beyond.”

– Judy Nahs

Streams of Hope is home to a variety of community outreach programs. From our fun, student-oriented programs to the bountiful Food Center and community garden, we love serving our community. Our team’s passion for service often brings them to help individual lives beyond our programs. In this blog post, we will be sharing some stories of service from both on and off our campus.

Kristi

Kristi Cole, Tutoring Coordinator
“This summer, area students volunteered in our tutoring program. Our tutoring program kids spend 40 minutes with a volunteer and play games or read for the remaining 15 minutes. Our volunteers are the top middle and high school students in the area, with even a college student coming to join the fun!

The tutored students like the break from the traditional tutoring environment and it provides positive interactions with older students. The volunteers enjoy working with a variety of kids and giving back to the community. The volunteers say their students are ready to work hard and focus with them because they get that fun time built-in with the volunteers.

Parents of the students also love this program! They often request longer tutoring sessions so their kids not only learn more, but they can also have time to run errands and such. They report that their kids are enjoying tutoring, which might not normally be their first choice on a nice summer evening!”

Barb (left) and Judy (right)

Judy Nahs, Food Center Volunteer
“Streams of Hope had a client, Dee, who needed her mobile home painted soon but could not due to her age and various health issues. She was on the verge of eviction for this reason. So Barb and I talked to Joyce, a volunteer, to see if she could help us.

Joyce recognized Dee from “shopping” with her several times at our Food Pantry, and was happy to help! After Joyce and her husband, Merle, talked to a group from their church who help people in need, the group went right over and painted Dee’s mobile home for her. Dee was so happy and appreciative of their service!”

Barb Nauta, Food Center Director

“Recently, our amazing partner church First Cutlerville CRC was able to quickly provide for a community family. Mariah lives near Streams of Hope in a mobile home with her mother and two boys. She receives food from us and was also referred to us from one of our Spring GR graduates, Kaboose, to possibly receive a bike that would allow her to obtain a job near her house.

Mariah has had a very difficult year.  Her two boys ages 7 and 9 both needed to have heart surgery to replace their pulmonary valve. While paying an Uber driver to take her back and forth to work four days a week as a Nurse Aide,  she was also frantically trying to take care of her children. One boy ended up with pneumonia and the other had fluid around his heart. Thankfully and with the grace of God, her two boys made it through the surgery and are now on the mend.

While meeting with Monica and the team at First Cutlerville Church, I had mentioned that one of our families needed a bike to be able to ride to a job that would be closer to her house. During our meeting Monica had sent an email message out to the congregation asking for help to obtain this bike. Within minutes of our meeting she had a bike secured that was going to be dropped off at Streams of Hope for Mariah. Wow, God is truly working through this wonderful partner church and congregation! Mariah picked up her bike and will now be able to ride to work and spend some family time riding bikes with her boys.”

When you join one of our programs, you’re also joining our family. It’s a helping relationship that exceeds our campus limits. Explore all that we have to offer for the Kentwood community here.