Cycling For Safe Families

Saturday, May 22nd, 8 people from Harvest were brave enough to participate in “Cycling for Safe Families” and biked up to 45 miles through small Illinois towns to raise funds for the Rockford Region of Safe Families for Children. There were around 30 riders total from the Region (which covers Freeport to Elgin) and nearly $4,000 was raised to support this ministry at large. Of the nearly $4,000 raised, individuals from Harvest stepped up and generously donated $890.00 of that! This money will go directly towards helping this organization assist families and children who are in crisis. We are so thankful for the continual generosity of this church.

We chose to take place in this event because this is a ministry that is close to our heart. There are many ongoing ways that you can get involved. We currently have 5 families who have signed up to be a Safe Family, and have opened their homes for children whose parents are in an emergency crisis situation, yet there is always a need for more. In addition to this, there are numerous ways to be involved that go beyond housing children.

One of these ways is to become a support family. Like it sounds, this means supporting those who have signed up to be a Safe Family. It could mean being a mentor, a prayer partner, offering financial support, purchasing needed items such as diapers, offering to help with rides or offering to help baby-sit. To learn more or to get involved, you can always sign up in the lobby or contact Bret Krebeck at b.krebeck@comcast.net.

Tutoring Club

It is amazing to see what God is doing in the lives of families because of Tutoring Club. Tutors (volunteers from Harvest) gather at the church every Tuesday night to tutor kids from our community. In addition to helping them with their homework, this is an opportunity for kids to hear the gospel and for people from within the church to show the love of Christ. This year a couple of kids have given their lives to Jesus! Volunteers are needed in many capacities: A big one is the need for weekly meals for the club. If you, your family or your life group is interested in serving a meal (even just one or two a year), you can contact the Tutoring Club Food Coordinator, June Jones, at thespice@comcast.net. We also need regular prayer warriors to pray for each child. Lastly, in the fall we will be looking for a whole new crew of tutors. To learn more or to help, contact the Tutoring Club Director, Matt Titus, at mstitus@gmail.com.

"Safe Families for Children is an opportunity for volunteers to have a powerful impact in the lives of others while practicing biblical hospitality, extending the love of Christ to people in need — all from their own home (www.safe-families.org)!"
We have chosen to make this opportunity open to our church because we believe in the mission of it. As a volunteer, you have the chance to open your home to children whose parents are caught in an emergency (like hospitalization) or a long term crisis, which will vary in nature. We currently have a number of "safe families" at Harvest, but we can always use more.

In addition to this, there are numerous ways to be involved that go beyond housing children. One of these ways is to become a support family. Like it sounds, this means supporting those who have signed up to be a Safe Family. It could mean being a mentor, a prayer partner, offering financial support, purchasing needed items such as diapers, offering to help with rides or offering to help baby-sit. To learn more or to get involved, you can always sign up in the lobby or contact Bret Krebeck at b.krebeck@comcast.net.

You may sign up in the lobby if you are interested in helping or you can contact our Safe Families coordinators, Bret and Martha Krebeck at m.krebeck@comcast.net. To view our online brochure, click here.

Abort73.com is a ministry that we support on a monthly basis. Started by Mike and Carrie Spielman (members of Harvest Rockford), it exists to educate people on the realities of abortion. Mike and Carrie moved to Rockford in 2006 from Los Angeles to be involved at Harvest alongside long-time friends John Dirkse and Jacob Ronan.

The Mission of Abort73 is as follows:
"Motivated by our Christian calling to establish justice, to expose evil injustices, to minister to the needy and helpless, and to extend love to every human person, Abort73.com aims to expose the practice of abortion as an injustice of historic proportions. We believe the best way to do so is to persistently, creatively, and comprehensively educate individuals (esp. students) with the massive body of evidence that stands against it. We strategically target a young audience (e.g., high school and college students) and are taking full advantage of the technology available to educate as many people as possible (i.e., the internet). We think it is good and necessary to use both secular and theological arguments to make our case against the practice of abortion. Since abortion claims the lives of thousands of the helpless unborn everyday and millions every year, we cannot do nothing (abort73.com)."

Ways to help Abort73 vary in nature, but one way you can help is by volunteering to assist Mike and Carrie fold and package T-shirts. T-shirts are just one tool Abort73 uses to spread awareness. Here are 10 other ways you can support this ministry. To learn more you can contact them at info@abort73.com.

"Children's Hunger Fund (CHF) works in some of the most needy regions in the world (including the U.S)...Love without action is of little use. Enduring strategies must be enacted to influence meaningful change in the lives of poor children. At CHF, our strategy is to equip qualified, local churches with the things they need to build relationships with the poor. Because of their long-term presence and proximity to the need, local churches are ideal hubs for distribution of aid (www.chfus.org)."
Currently we are developing strategies to plug in at Harvest, by reaching those we can in Rockford. To learn more about CHF, you can visit their website, or to learn about how to help, you can contact Mark Schuth at theschuth@yahoo.com.