Emily Roque Cisneros – Grand Junction, Colorado … The Grand Junction Lights Pathfinder Club kicked off a powerful new initiative by assembling 54 lunch bags for neighbors experiencing homelessness, July 5. Following their assembly, Grand Valley Eagles Adventurers club director Millie Higgins delivered these bags directly to the Joseph Center*—a vital local daytime shelter—where they were immediately distributed to those in need.
This successful kickoff is the start of a new ongoing year-round program. Collection boxes were placed in the foyers of the Grand Junction, Fruita, and Palisade Seventh-day Adventist Churches in Western Colorado in June and will remain, collecting items throughout the year.
Every month, students of Intermountain Adventist Academy and the local Pathfinders and Adventurers clubs will gather to assemble the lunch bags in rotating groups.
Because these lunches are distributed at a daytime drop-in center, all items are highly practical for individuals who may not have access to kitchens. Collected items include crackers, protein drinks, energy bars, packages of nuts, chapstick, kleenex, disinfectant wipes, and bandaids. To add a personal touch of comfort and hope, every single bag also includes handwritten, custom cards made by the kids.
“I feel very strongly that the Holy Spirit is leading us in this ministry,” said Higgins. “We are so incredibly blessed to be a part of this work God has given us to do, and we are repaid tenfold in joy for any effort we put into it!”
She believes this project can easily bless other communities across the Rocky Mountain Conference.
If you are a club leader, pastor, or member interested in learning how to implement a similar service project in your own local club, she would love to chat with you. Please feel free to reach out to Millie Higgins, lead director of the Grand Valley Eagle Adventurers, at 970-778-5087 or via email at [email protected]
Together we can be the hands and feet of Jesus!
* The Joseph Center is not affiliated with the Seventh-day Adventist Church nor the Rocky Mountain Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.
—Emily Roque Cisneros is the Palisade Seventh-day Adventist Church communication secretary. Photo by Millie Higgins.
