Helping Hands Belton Blog

Helping Hands hosted the Annual Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon on April 5th, 2013.  Helping Hands is blessed by hundreds of incredible volunteers who sacrifice their time, resources, and strength to make the mission of Helping Hands a success.  Several volunteers were recognized for their above and beyond service.  The following volunteers were recognized as Helping Hands Heroes: Mike Bergman Jr., Sharon Fischer, Henry Bunke, Doris Cantrell and her late husband Earnest, Gary Caraway, and Ivan & Sue Everts.  Debbie Emerson was awarded the Helping Hands Superhero award for her 12 years of service, especially in the area of Project Apple Tree.  The volunteer of the year, for 2012, went to Alice Ramirez, who has committed hundreds of volunteer hours serving in the clothing area.  Alice is a gentle, humble, and sweet woman who is ever helpful and always ready for a good laugh.  We thank our Great God, and thank you volunteers, for another great year at Helping Hands Ministry of Belton!

Hannah of Foundation United Methodist Church decided to celebrate her 13th birthday on March 17, 2013, by having about a dozen of her friends come and serve the community in the love of Christ. They brought food donations, which they themselves weighed and put up on the shelves. They also weighed half a ton of clothing, sorted, and put clothing on hangers. We praise God for the service these children did in the name of Christ! We are currently in need of volunteers to help with nearly all areas of Helping Hands during the days we are open (Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday). If you are interested, please follow this link and send us a message at the bottom of the page: http://www.helpinghandsbelton.org/get-involved/become-a-volunteer

During Spring Break, many grade school children miss out on meals which they normally find at school. To address that need, Helping Hands is providing, for the second year in a row, Snack Sacks that contain 5 bags of nutritional food for these children. Altrusa International of Temple came out and assembled the 3500 meals. We at Helping Hands want to give out a huge THANK YOU to everyone involved and praise God for all his generosity towards us.

The 3rd Annual CANstruction Belton event is now over and brought home an excess of 30,000 pounds of food!  We had close to 1,500 people visit the structures throughout the weekend.  Learn more about CANstruction by clicking the link at the top right!

Body of Christ Community Clinic

The Body of Christ Community Clinic, located in the back of Helping Hands, is offering free flu immunizations to clients of Helping Hands Ministry.  You do not need to be a client with the clinic to be eligible.  Immunizations will be performed on Thursdays between the hours of 1PM –  4PM and 6pm – 9pm.

Visit their website at http://www.bodyofchristclinic.org/

Thank you to everyone to participated in the Food for Families Food Drive on Friday at HEB Plus in Belton.  12,500 pounds of food were collected!  HHM is also thankful to the Texas National Guard who spent the day volunteering to receive and deliver the food donated.

1,452 children were readied to start the school year as they received everything from clothes to hygiene kits the week before school began.  The Apple Tree Ministry provides Belton ISD children in grades Pre-K through 12 with a packet of grade-appropriate school supplies, a new backpack, complete outfit of new clothing (including one pair of jeans, one shirt, a package of underwear, a package of socks) and a new pair of shoes. In addition, every child receives a hygiene kit with a toothbrush, toothpaste, bottle of shampoo, bar of soap and a washcloth. In addition, children have the opportunity to be given an on-site professional haircut and any needed immunizations. Each child receives a scripture verse tied to their school supplies and a Bible.

Click to read the 2012 Spring/Summer Newsletter online.

Architectural Edge, Canstruction Belton’s winner of the Juror’s Favorite, Best Theme and Structural Ingenuity awards, recently received a higher honor, the Structural Ingenuity Award in Canstruction’s International Competition.  The Society for Design Administration’s Annual Convention in Portland, OR hosted the awards ceremony on May 4^th.   All winners from the 2011-2012 local competitions were forwarded to the International Competition.  Hundreds of cities in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia and South America entered their winning exhibits into the International Competition.

Architectural Edge has won Canstruction Belton’s Juror’s Favorite award in each of the first two years of the Belton competition. In addition, this is the second year in a row in which Architectural Edge has won an award at the International Competition.  In 2011, Architectural Edge won the Juror’s Favorite Award, the highest award, at the International Competition in Charleston, SC.

For a copy of the Canstruction® International Competition’s Press Release, go to www.canstruction.org/documents/2012-press-release.

The 2013 Belton event will again take place at the Campus Mayborn Center located at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor.  The dates are the 24-26 of January.  100% percent of the food and monetary donations collected during the weekend of the Belton competition goes to help stock the food pantry of Helping Hands Ministry in Belton.

Check out the wonderful story about Helping Hands Ministry’s volunteer, Mary Anderson, the Assistant Director of the Food Pantry.