Things to Take Care of Checklist
 from the City of Escondido

Utilities – Turn off all utilities
❏    San Diego Gas & Electric             800-411-7343
❏    Water                                                760-839-4682
❏    Cox Cable                                       760-599-6060
❏    ATT                                                   800-288-2020
❏    Escondido Disposal                      760-745-9740

Household Services
❏    Cancel pool service                              ___________________
❏    Cancel landscaper                                ___________________
❏    Cancel newspaper
North County Times                               760-740-5456
San Diego Union Tribune                     619-229-4141
❏    Notify cleaning company                     ___________________
❏    Notify window washing company      ___________________

Stay in Touch
❏    If contact phone numbers change, advise:
        ❏    School                                    ___________________
        ❏    Day Care                                ___________________
        ❏    Doctor                                     ___________________
        ❏    Insurance company             ___________________
        ❏    FEMA                                                     800-621-3362
        ❏    CA Supplemental Grant Program    916-657-1907
        ❏    SBA Disaster Assistance                   800-659-2955
        ❏    Attorney                                   ___________________
        ❏    Accountant                              ___________________
        ❏    Place of employment            ___________________
        ❏    Go to post office to change mailing address and pick up mail
        ❏    Send note or email to friends letting them know where you are
        ❏    Apply for new documents while at the Local Assistance Center: Social Security Cards, Birth Certificates,
                Marriage License, etc                 

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Outreach Opportunities

Impromptu Food Drive - Interfaith's pantry especially needs Jelly right now as well as other non-perishable foods. Let's give whatever we can to restock these supplies for our neighbors in need. See Interfaith below for information on what you might donate.


Meals for Merle's Place - Persons to prepare and serve meals for the Veteran's shelter are needed any night of the week and especially Wednesdays.


Meal Preparation Tikkun Home - The first Monday evening of every month is open to a family or small group to take a prepared meal to 6 women in transitional housing. They also need meals specifically for the 21st and 28th of February.



Business Owners Needed - Inerfaith's Employment Services department wants to match employers with Escondido residents seeking employment through our local Career Center.


For information on any of these opportunities, please contact Gayla Powers.

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Merle’s Place

Merle’s Place is a 44-bed, dorm-style, transitional housing program for homeless veterans. Veterans, who may also be seniors or disabled, work with case management on life skills and vocational training, to ultimately achieve stability, employment, permanent housing, and self-sufficiency throughout the 24 months they are in the program.

Our Women’s Ministry Team collected 95% of the bedding for Merle’s Place through our church!

We are being called upon now to help provide meals for these men and women on their road to self-sufficiency. If you are interested in helping provide a meal on a monthly or quarterly basis or even one time, please contact Gayla Powers at (760) 522-8781.

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Panera Bread Pick Up - Jennifer Velez has coordinated a ministry to pick up bread from Panera Bakery in Escondido and deliver it to Interfaith and Hope Foods. We need 4 to 8 more people to help on either a Sunday or Monday evening each month.  Each Sunday volunteer will simply pick up the bread from Panera at 9pm and deliver it to Interfaith Commmunity Services on Monday between 8am and 5pm. Each Monday volunteer will pick up bread from Panera at 9pm and deliver it to the Escondido Adventist Academy on Tuesday by 8am for Hope Foods to pick up during their rounds. If you have any questions or would like to volunteer, please email Jennifer Velez.

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Interfaith Community Services (ICS) – ICS is a non-profit agency established by a group of churches and synagogues in 1979 to provide more ongoing services to those of our community with the most basic needs. As a member of ICS since 1999 our church has seen the difference we can make by joining efforts with others in a common cause. Over 400 faith-based organizations are part of ICS today and their services range from homeless shelters and transitional housing to a Nutrition Center, U.S. Veterans’ assistance and a Sobering Center.

Interfaith desperately needs donations of canned fruits & vegetables, canned meats, spaghetti & sauce, and other non-perishable foods. They can also use personal hygiene products, toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo, soap, feminine items, diapers and baby formula. Donations may be taken to 550 W. Washington Avenue between the hours of 8am and 5 pm Monday through Friday.

For more detailed information on the history of Interfaith, services they provide or volunteer opportunities, please visit their website at www.interfaithservices.org or call (760) 489-6380.
 

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Tikkun Home – One ministry provided by Interfaith is Tikkun Home. The word Tikkun is Hebrew and means to heal, restore or transform. Jewish tradition teaches that Tikkun is everyone’s responsibility within our community, and this is how God will heal the world through His people.

The home was established over ten years ago by Interfaith Community Services (ICS) as transitional housing for homeless women diagnosed with one or more mental disabilities (i.e., addiction, depression, bipolar disorder, etc.). At Tikkun Home they are given the care and assistance they need from medical treatment to job training. The women are able to receive a breakfast and lunch from the ICS nutrition center each day. However, they depend upon the faith community for meals each night.

Our church serves these women by providing meals every Monday evening. We are currently looking for someone to prepare and deliver a meal for these six women on the first Monday of each month. We always welcome anyone who would like to be a substitute on occasion when one of our regular meal providers is unable. If interested, please email Gayla Powers at gaylapowers@yahoo.com.

TIKKUN HOME DONATION NEEDS LIST
PLEASE CONTACT DONNA STINSON 760-489-5468
OR EMAIL donna-stinson@sbcglobal.net

• Shampoo
• Conditioner
• Soap
• Household Cleaning Supplies
• Laundry Detergent
• Car Donation
• Rope Ladder
• Bath Rugs
• Floor Runner Rugs
• Plastic Hangers
• Alarm Clocks
• Tampons & Feminine Napkins
• Booklets of bus tickets for North County Transit
• Women's Razors & Shaving Cream

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Orange Glen High School (OGHS) – There are many students in need of bus passes and shoes attending OGHS. Here is how you can help: $28 will purchase a youth monthly bus pass. Any amount you can donate is greatly appreciated and may be mailed to the church office or placed directly in a tithe envelope marked OGHS. Bus passes may also be purchased at Long’s, Ralph’s and Von’s stores or the Escondido Transit Center on Quince and Valley. Another big help would be Payless Shoe Source gift certificates.

You are making a huge difference! Over $6,000 was donated in 2007 for public high school students to receive the shoes, clothing and bus passes they desperately need.
 

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Adventist Community Services – Three members are now certified volunteers through ACS Disaster Relief! Plans were made following the November meeting to create a local ACS team along with the Escondido SDA Spanish Church for 2008. Eight members were also on call for service at the ACS Warehouse to help with donations for fire victims.

Angel Tree – Every Christmas Women’s Ministry collects gifts from our church members for children who might not otherwise receive gifts.  Our church provided presents for 58 local children for Christmas 2007.

Aster Street Family Housing – Apartment complex, which houses 66 families transitioning out of homelessness. Our Junior High group offered face painting for their block party last February. Our Summer Interns planted 9 garden beds with the help of their own residents. EAA also donated approximately 50 gifts for Christmas.

Bethlehem Walk – Christmas-time outreach displaying a live scene of Bethlehem on the night Christ was born. Our church partnered with the Methodist Church by providing actors, greeters and snacks. Over 1,200 visitors experienced the tour.

Bread Delivery – Panera Bakery Escondido generously donates bread weekly for our church to deliver to local agencies serving the hungry. Panera Bakery Rancho Bernardo also donates bagels and pastries each month to serve at our church construction site.

Can Hunger! – City-wide youth food drive benefiting Interfaith. Over 40 student and adult volunteers collected 1,170 pounds of food and attended the celebration following. Von’s Market also donated 500 grocery bags for us.

Center for Student Missions – Five Junior High and Two High School students took part in a weekend mission trip to Los Angeles in May. In addition to a four-hour prayer tour and scavenger hunt through the city, they participated in children’s ministry and serving food to the homeless.

Ecuador – Please visit our Missions page for photographs and updates on our trip last summer!

Escondido Youth Leaders Association – Partnership between youth leaders from our church and the Methodist Church. Provided a community Easter Sunrise Service, weekly summer beach days, Back-to-School BBQ and Thanksgiving weekend celebration (including Can Hunger! food drive).

Harvest Baskets – Our church provided Thanksgiving groceries and $600 in grocery store gift cards to thirteen local families. Women’s Ministry helped sort and organize over 40 bags of food.

Harvest Festival – Our church teamed up with Neighborhood Church to put together a huge festival for the community on October 31. We estimate close to 300 community members came out to enjoy games, bounce houses, a petting zoo, “trunk or treat,” great music and food. Admission was free and all proceeds from the food booth went toward our Mission Team, who cooked it up. Over 50 members volunteered or donated goods for the party.  

Homeless Help – 8 to 10 members took part in a plan to help our homeless neighbors by handing out packets of food gift cards, bus passes and information on how to obtain long term assistance through Interfaith and our church.

Interfaith Community Services (ICS) – Agency of over 400 partnering faith groups providing needs such as food, shelter, sobering center, veteran’s assistance, computer lab, career center, laundry, mail, showers, tax and legal services for our neighbors needing help regaining self-sufficiency. We provided $5,400 plus $180 in bus passes this past year to ICS, as well as in-kind donations and volunteer help cleaning and serving in their kitchen and other services mentioned in this report.

Martin Luther King, Jr Day – Eight volunteers from our church and EAA spent their holiday cleaning and renovating Central Elementary School in Escondido. Our church also lead out the games for the 50+ teens participating from Escondido high schools.

Mexico Missions – Our church and school have been to Mexico three times in 2007. In March and June at Valle de la Trinidad we provided repairs, dentistry and VBS for the Adventist school and local orphanage. We also gave out food and clothing for over 100 residents of a local migrant camp. In November we joined the South Eastern California Conference Power Mission to build 14 homes in a village outside Tijuana.

Ministry of Construction – Our church provides a monthly lunch feast for our workers building our church. We also bring breakfast  and other goodies to show our appreciation for their hard work.

Monarch School – Public school provided specifically to homeless children in San Diego. Escondido Adventist Academy has provided meals and clothing for students and their parents once a month in 2007. Our church partners with EAA in this outreach and helped them provide a special Christmas celebration.

Orange Glen High School – Gift cards for clothing, bus passes and school supplies were donated to needy students on an ongoing basis.

Relay for Life – A walk to support cancer survivors and raise money through the American Cancer Society. Several of our church members participated through EAA in four teams of walkers. Our Holy Grounds band provided music for participants on Saturday afternoon.

San Diego Wildfire Relief – Three families in our church and many co-workers, neighbors, family and friends of our members were greatly impacted by the October 2007 Wildfires. Our church provided gift cards and donations of clothing, coats, food, appliances, furniture and help with shelter and housing site clean up.

Tikkun Home – Transitional housing for 6 to 8 women coping with mental illness. Our members faithfully served meals three Monday per month in 2007.

Tikkun Home II – Recently a new home just like the first Tikkun opened in Escondido. We currently serve one meal a month there. Members from our church donated brand new dishes for their house warming.

Vacation Bible School – 46 children from our church, the Neighborhood Church and local community joined us for a wild ride through God’s Word at Avalanche Ranch. We actually had 38 helpers there to share Jesus’ love with them from both our church and Neighborhood Church.

World AIDS Day – On December 1, 2007 our church participated in a day of awareness for those suffering from AIDS and HIV along with other churches and organizations worldwide. ADRA provided informational materials and a video for our service and $82 was raised for children orphaned by AIDS in Africa.

World Vision’s 30 Hour Famine – 21 students chose to go without food for 30 hours on March 30 and 31 to raise money and awareness for those who go hungry in Uganda. EAA provided their gym where students spent the evening living as those who try to survive war, disease and famine. The following day they served food at Interfaith and worked in local gardens before breaking their fast. They raised over $700 for World Vision’s mission in Uganda.

World Weekend of Prayer for Children at Risk – In June 2007 our Kindergarten, Primary and Juniors Sabbath School classes participated in a special prayer service for children around the world who are at risk from war, poverty, disease and exploitation. It is amazing how compassionate our children are toward those in need. 

The purpose of this update is to keep our membership and friends aware of how we are meeting the needs of our community. Praise God for all the ways you have shared His love with your neighbors in 2007.


So don't get tired of doing what is good. Don't get discouraged and give up, for we will reap a harvest of blessing at the appropriate time. Galatians 6:9

      

   

   

   

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Additional Community Ministries
Other ministry groups in our local church and larger denomination also provide ongoing outreach assistance locally and globally. Please browse our website for information on the following:

Celebrate Recovery
Coronary Health Improvement Program (CHIP)
Missions Team
Women’s Ministries
ADRA
ACS
Maranatha


For more information please contact Gayla Powers at gaylapowers@yahoo.com