More Shots From Make a Difference Day at Bissett School

Make a Difference Day at Bissett School

Peggy and I participated in this along with a bunch of volunteers from AG HQ.


View local KY3 report:




Here's the Convoy report:

Springfield Gets a Shot of Hope

When the gates to the Convoy of Hope outreach opened at 10 a.m. eager guests pushed forward and stepped onto the grounds at Reed Middle School in Springfield, Mo. Among the more than 1,000 guests were Wendi, a twenty-something housecleaner, and her one-year-old daughter Emilie.

“I run out of food every once in a while,” Wendi admitted. “So this [the outreach] came at a good time.”

Indeed it did.

The outreach was one of five Convoy of Hope was holding on October 24th in Springfield where the humanitarian relief organization is based.

“Each year we try to do something special for our community because the community is so supportive of us,” says Jeff Nene, senior director - technology and communications. “This year we decided to hold outreaches throughout the city on Springfield’s Make a Difference Day.”

It is estimated that 46 percent of students in Springfield public schools live in food insecure homes - homes like Wendi’s.

During the Springfield outreaches 5,063 guests attended. More than 400 people received haircuts. One thousand families received portraits. And more than 1,300 volunteers worked.

“We scratch up what we can and squeak by and make it happen,” says Wendi. “With the economy the way it is, we have lost a couple accounts. That cuts into the little amount of money I make.”



And that is precisely why Convoy of Hope holds up to 50 citywide outreaches each year throughout the United States. Since it was founded 15 years ago Convoy of Hope has served more than 30 million people.

“Our outreaches give people a hand up and let them know someone cares,” says Nene. “Many times that is all it takes to help a family through a tough time.”

At Reed Middle School, children bounce around in the bounce houses. Families gather around plastic tables and have lunch. Many guests are also quick to take advantage of the free community and health services that included massages, haircuts and hygiene products.

“This feels good to know that there is someone out there who wants to help you,” says Kim, a single mother, as she waits in a line for free groceries. “These groceries will help out a lot.”

In the Kid’s Zone Emilie, Wendi’s daughter, bounds with arms wide toward volunteers who are passing out balloons. She gladly takes the balloon, smiles then trots across the way to another volunteer who happily hands her mother a newly made blanket. Thirty minutes later the family is posing for a picture in the portrait tent where professional photographers are snapping pictures.

“This is really great,” says Wendi as a huge smile spreads across her face.

After checking out the community tent where various organizations are offering free services, Wendi and Emilie head back to the Kid’s Zone for another round of fun.

Near the exit volunteers load honored guests with bags of groceries that promise to give each person just a little boost and a measure of hope.

And that seems to be just enough for families like Wendi’s.

First Pentecostal Evangel Connections Program

PE Connections with AGTS President Byron Klaus
Pentecostal Evangel interviews Dr. Byron Klaus, President of the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary.

A Contemporary Picture of Blind Legalism

So you want to know what legalism is? Well, a picture is worth a thousand words. Rather than a definition, let's look at a contemporary example of legalistic authority run amok ... not in church but in a public school.

The following is from foxnews.com:

School Chief Sticks By 'Zero Tolerance' Ruling for Eagle Scout

Friday , October 16, 2009

By Joseph Abrams

Call him Mr. Zero Tolerance.

The upstate New York school superintendent who suspended an Eagle Scout for 20 days for keeping a 2-inch utility knife locked in his car is unwilling to speak to the teen's family or bend in his ruling.

Lansingburgh Central School District Superintendent George J. Goodwin, 55, said in a written statement that his district "has an established policy of zero tolerance with respect to the possession of weapons of any kind on school property or in school buildings."

But nowhere in the school district's rule book, which is published online, is there any mention of a "zero tolerance" policy, leading some to question whether Goodwin, in fact, was compelled to suspend the youth.

Seventeen-year-old Matthew Whalen, a senior at Lansingburgh High School in Troy, N.Y., says he got in trouble over a survival kit he keeps in his car that includes a sleeping bag, water, a ready-to-eat meal and the small pocketknife, which was given to him by his grandfather, a police chief in a nearby town.

When Whalen acknowledged he had the knife locked in his car, he was barred from school for a calendar month. Now that he is getting just 90 minutes a day with a tutor instead of 7 hours of instruction in class, he says he is worried that the suspension will mar his academic record and affect his application to attend the U.S. Military Academy.

Whalen was initially suspended for five days by his assistant principal — but then had another 15 tacked on by Goodwin following a hearing to decide his fate. Though Goodwin was not present at the hearing, he told Fox News he listened to a tape of the proceedings, and decided to extend the suspension.

Since then, Whalen's family says, Goodwin has refused to speak to Matthew even during daily interactions at the district's head office, where he meets with his tutor.

Not much needs to be said about this. This ludicrous legalism rivals anything you may have heard of before. This authoritarian went out of his way to make the punishment worse and compounds his despotic intolerance with authoritarian arrogance that even refuses to speak with the boy or his family.

"I don't think it's unreasonable to ask for some intelligence on the part of administrators to use discretion and judgment in their daily decisions," said Bryan Whalen. "Otherwise, what are we paying them for?

"You could have a trained monkey or a computer sitting there just spitting out right and wrong and never any gray areas. That's just not the way the world works," he told Foxnews.com.

Goodwin's office did not return repeated requests for comment from Foxnews.com. His office took a message seeking an interview, but one was not granted.

Read the whole story here.

Peggy Has Minor Injuries After Accident

We're thanking and trusting the Lord.

It has not been that long since Peggy finished her several months of treatment for cancer. Yesterday she was rear-ended by an SUV while at a full stop. We don't care much about the damage to the car, but she is just starting to get back to her old self since the end of her treatments and now she is dealing with neck pain and headache from this.

I left work early and we spent about 4 hours at the emergency room at Cox South. Because of all the radiation she had just had they did not want to do X-rays, but they are sure Peggy has a whiplash. They don't feel it is severe but they expect her to have significant pain for a few days ... both head and neck pain

The pain meds they gave her made her sick last night.

Peggy is dealing with this in her usual overcoming way. She is absolutely a champion. (But I am really mad at the devil.)

Thanks for all the prayer support.

Images of Niger

A few shots from my trip to Niger a few years ago. Few trips have impacted me more.

Chicago Cubs Declare Bankruptcy

The Chicago Cubs filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection yesterday. Chicago Cubs fans have been waiting for something good to happen for 101 years. Their last World Series title was in 1908. That's 1908.

They are of all sports fans the ones most to be pitied. Let me take you back in time to an earlier lament when the Cubs were still considered the team to beat. It was right near the beginning of their long losing streak.

Baseball's Sad Lexicon

A poem by New York Newspaper Columnist Franklin Pierce Adams, published in 1910


These are the saddest of possible words:
"Tinker to Evers to Chance."
Trio of bear cubs, and fleeter than birds,
Tinker and Evers and Chance.
Ruthlessly pricking our gonfalon bubble,
Making a Giant hit into a double--
Words that are heavy with nothing but trouble:
"Tinker to Evers to Chance."

"Pricking our gonfalon bubble" means popping the balloon of pennant hopes for the poet's beloved team of choice, the New York Giants. Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers, and Frank Chance were a renowned double-play combination who helped the Chicago Cubs win four National League pennants (1906-08, 1910) and two World Series titles (1907-8). This was the Cubs' last hurrah.

The bankrupt Cubs could use them today.

One of My Favorite Photos of My Parents

Rose and Roy Horn, Oct. 1978.

Pokeberries

Shot this earlier in the week. Pokeweed is abundant on the trails I regularly walk.

Quail

I shot this last week in the backyard of the home where we stayed in Scottsdale, Arizona (Peggy's cousins Melba & Dick).