Tonight has been all about you. We wanted to host you as a small way to show you our appreciation. I always say that if donors are the lifeblood of Souls Harbour, volunteers are the veins. You carry out our principles of providing food, clothing, shelter and life changing programs in Halifax, Bridgewater, Truro, the Eastern Shore, and soon, Cape Breton! You are our boots on the ground at our ministry centres and Mission Mart, and we couldn’t do what we do without your partnership.
In my recent annual board report I referenced our first report from 2011, and I wanted to read a bit of it here to show you how much we’ve changed in the last decade:
The Mission opened its doors the week before Canada Day. We spent the prior month cleaning and painting and furnishing the basement for a daily drop in time. We serve coffee, tea, homemade soup, hot dogs and cookies from 1-4 pm. We average about 20 people a day, although we hit a high of 40 one day.
Michelle does most of the cooking and Ken does most of the serving. We both do setup and clean up. We have two regular volunteers who help out a combined three days per week, and they are high quality and real partners in the work.
Being a two-person staff is very challenging and tiring. PR, cooking, maintenance, teaching, serving food, laundry, dishes, janitorial, donations, etc. leaves us pretty beat. We are slowly getting past the point of set up and start up to where we can focus on volunteers and local resources. Pray for us as some days have been very good and others very discouraging. Satan knows how to hit you when you are down, but God protects and restores us.
Okay... imagine me doing all the cooking today? And 2 volunteers helping out?
Shrink this room full of volunteers down to 4 people, and that’s where we were 10 years ago. If I were to write that today it would be preposterous! We still have hard days. But we have all of you to see us through them now. And we no longer serve 20 people a day, or 40 on a good day. We are able to work with 400 souls a day throughout the province, and that number is expanding to meet a growing need.
In less than 2 months, we will be opening doors for 12 women, or single moms who have no place to call home. We’ll offer them a brand new apartment, fully furnished with all the amenities. We just bought a property in Sydney, Cape Breton, where we are planning to open a drop in centre and a freemart. And we’re looking at adding more shelter over the next year as opportunities arise.
What is happening at Souls Harbour is inspiring - to see growth of 1900% since those first days, ten years ago. But I know it couldn’t happen without you.
The Christmas story in the Bible has a star as one of its central themes. Most of us have seen the mangers where a star is placed on top. I remember playing with our nativity set as a little girl and placing the wise men on the way with their camel.
The star of Bethlehem is from the Greek word, “angel” and there is some speculation that the reason the star was able to lead them and stop right where Jesus was born that night in the stable, was because it wasn’t a star at all, but an angel.
I like this version of the Christmas story that I’m going to read to you tonight, because it’s got a lot of drama. I mean, it’s not just 3 wise men heading over to give Jesus some expensive gifts for the baby shower. It’s them scouting him out, unwittingly, for Herod to destroy the child! Here let’s read it:
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem village—this was during Herod’s kingship—a band of scholars arrived in Jerusalem from the East. They asked around, “Where can we find and pay homage to the newborn King of the Jews? We observed a star in the eastern sky that signalled his birth. We’re on pilgrimage to worship him.”
When word of their inquiry got to Herod, he was terrified—and not Herod alone, but most of Jerusalem as well. Herod lost no time. He gathered all the high priests and religious scholars in the city together and asked, “Where is the Messiah supposed to be born?”
They told him, “Bethlehem, Judah territory. The prophet Micah wrote it plainly: It’s you, Bethlehem, in Judah’s land, no longer bringing up the rear. From you will come the leader who will shepherd-rule my people.”
Herod then arranged a secret meeting with the 3 wise men from the East. Pretending to be as devout as they were, he got them to tell him exactly when the birth-announcement star appeared. Then he told them the prophecy about Bethlehem, and said, “Go find this child. Leave no stone unturned. As soon as you find him, send word and I’ll join you at once in your worship.”
Instructed by the king, they set off. Then the star appeared again, the same star they had seen in the eastern skies. It led them on until it hovered over the place of the child. They could hardly contain themselves: They were in the right place! They had arrived at the right time!
They entered the house and saw the child in the arms of Mary, his mother. Overcome, they kneeled and worshipped him. Then they opened their luggage and presented gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
In a dream, they were warned not to report back to Herod. So they worked out another route, left the territory without being seen, and returned to their own country.
You know, there’s a part 2 to this story that you can read yourself and it’s just as dramatic. In a dream, God tells Joseph to take Mary and Jesus and run for their lives - literally - before Herod, who was furious, came all the two year olds in the county. You can find this in Matthew chapter 2.
This Christmas, YOU guys are the stars of Souls Harbour. You shine bright. You help us lead the way in our community through our commitment to excellence.
We don’t want to be a soup kitchen where people come in, eat, and run. We are a community drop in space where volunteers like you take the time to learn people’s names, and serve guests with dignity.
We don’t want a place where women just crash for the night, grab a Pop Tart for breakfast, and head out for the day. We want a place where women are overheard saying, “This place is so peaceful. I live at a seaside spa!” And by the way, that actually happened!
We don’t want to be just any thrift store. We want to be a place where people of all abilities are welcome to serve, and where the love and care we show to our Drop In Centre guests gets shown to our customers.
So thank you all for coming tonight; but moreso, thank you for showing up every week to shine brightly to our neighbours in need in Nova Scotia. Thank you for being the real stars of Souls Harbour Rescue Mission. You are truly our angels. Merry Christmas, and God bless each of you.
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