First Baptist Church St. Simons Island

Missions

Dorcas Group Update – May 2014

Where have the Dorcas Ladies been? They’ve been sewing, sewing, sewing!

Missionaries and mission teams are gearing up to “go and tell”, and many of the Dorcas Group’s little dresses, little boy shorts, ditty bags, and man bags will go with them.

In March 2014, going with the Fussells and their clean water initiative in Haiti and the Dominican Republic were 50 little dresses with panties, 50 ditty bags, and 5 man bags.

Later in March, the Zimmer family, missionaries on the island of Yap, were furloughed and getting ready to go back to their mission. Through contacts with our sister group in SC, they were invited to SSI to receive items from the Dorcas Group. They spent one night in the Mission House. With Sylvia Martin as hostess, the family attended our Wednesday night services and presented an informational program and video about their mission.

After the Wednesday night service, the Zimmers and their four younger children met with Dorcas members in the Dorcas Room. They took the items with them that Dorcas had made for their mission so they could get the items to the container which would be shipped back to Yap with goods collected on their furlough. Their oldest son will remain here in the States to attend college.
Sent to Yap with the Zimmers were:

  • 50 little dress with panties
    50 little boy shorts
    50 ditty bags
    4 boxes of scraps and trims for a lady on one of the outer islands who pieces together scraps and makes skirts

Lori Adams, with whom Dorcas has sent items to Haiti before, came in person to present a program about her mission to the Dorcas Group on April 24th. The small Baptist Church she attends has built an orphanage, and continues to make trips in January and May to continue serving the people in Haiti. This is Lori’s 4th trip. This trip she is taking with her a limited supply of items because she has only 2 suitcases and a 50 lb. limit.
Dorcas ladies packed and sent with Lori Adams for this trip to Haiti:

  • 10 man bags
    60 little dresses and panties
    40 ditty bags
    44 little boy shorts

Mark Kreikemeyer of Alpharetta Baptist Church is going back to Venezuela to Bread of Hope mission in May. He has requested items
again from Dorcas, and will be receiving 100 dresses and panties, and we hope to complete as many little boy shorts as possible.

Lastly for their Alaska Mission, items were sent to Shiloh Baptist Church, Americus in January 2014. The team that was going took 50 ditty bags, 3 man bags, 7 sheets, 2 new pillow and blanket sets for children, 6 pieces of heavy fabric to be used for outer garments or bedding. These have been Dorcas Group’s international projects since January 2014.

Meanwhile, on the local front, many items have been shared with individuals and agencies here at home:

  • 17 bibs to Hospice and individuals in home care
    81 ditty bags along with personal hygiene items to Faithworks for distribution in their homeless and street ministries
    7 walker bags to individuals in nursing homes or home care
    2 catheter covers to Hospice
    15 “fidget” blankets for Alzheimers patients in nursing homes and home care
    10 neck pillows to Hospice and home care
    3 cancer caps, 6 flannel blankets, 5 lap robes to Karen’s House of Hope

During these last four months the Dorcas Group has also been given generous donations of sewing supplies; but fabric is being cut into little dresses, ditty bags, bibs, fidget blankets, and our other items at an amazing rate.

Therefore, if you find fabric tucked away that you know you’ll never get around to using, please remember the Dorcas Group always needs fabric. Remnants are welcomed because they make great ditty bags. When you do your spring cleaning, remember Dorcas. Old jeans, boys, girls, men’s and women’s, make great bags!

Hearts to seek Him. Hands to Serve Him.

Dorcus Group Update

York Co. Quilters “First Friday Group” has been called our “sister group” because Dorcas Group member Sylvia Martin’s sister, Wynnell Shows, is a member of the First Friday Group. Their location is Rock Hill, SC and agreements with textile mills in the area gives them access to bolt ends and surplus materials which they have generally shared with the Dorcas Group- the other reason they are called our sister group. They have a heart for sharing. They, too, make “little dresses” to send to underdeveloped countries with people going “on mission”.

Our Dorcas Group has been able to expand the variety and quality of items it can now donate to local and foreign missions because of the variety of fabrics received from our
sister group.

Dorcas learned that the Rock Hill group had a request from one of their local pediatric cardiologist, Dr. Joel Lutterman, for 200 “little dresses” to take to Honduras at the end of October on a mission trip with the International Heart Foundation. This is a non-profit medical charity dedicated to providing life-saving surgical care to children with congenital heart defects who live in underdeveloped countries. Dr. Lutterman wants to distribute the little dresses in the areas of his work in Honduras.

Dorcas Group, because dynamo dressmakers, Billie Gomez, has been sewing 25-30 dresses every two weeks, had a good inventory of dresses and sent to our SC “sister group” 50 little dresses, which was gratefully received as part of the 200 requested by Dr. Lutterman.

So, “sister groups” in Rock Hill, SC and FBC-SSI have joined our hearts to seek Him and our hands to serve Him.

Anyone who wants to join Dorcas is invited to join and contribute in whatever way you are able. Dorcas meets on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of every month in Room 105.

Dorcus Group Update

Mrs. Jennifer Fussell attended the Dorcas meeting on August 8 to discuss the “clean water” ministry in which she and her husband, local Dr. Kevin Fussell, actively participate in Haiti and The Dominican Republic. After the meeting, she took with her 50 little dresses and 60 ditty bags to distribute in the small villages they serve with their clean water ministry. These items will be sent to Haiti and DR with representatives attending their “clean water” conference and fund-raiser in Atlanta this month. When the Fussell’s return to Haiti in November, they will take with them additional dresses and ditty bags.

Recent donations of Dorcas-made neck pillows, adult bibs, crocheted and fleece throws, and memory pillows taken to Hospice of The Golden Isles were gratefully received by staff, who deliver them to both in-home and Hospice-housed clients.

Ditty bags, to be filled with personal items, for the local Seafarer’s International “Christmas at Sea” program, will become the focus of the group until mid-November. FBC-SSI congregation participated in the filling of the ditty bags last year, and the Dorcas Group invites you to again donate socks, gloves, warm scarves, books, Bibles, personal hygiene items, and non-perishable snacks. The Dorcas Basket will be found at the Fellowship Hall door for your contributions for the men who come to our ports during the holidays. These men are away from home for six months at the time, so a little bag of unexpected Christmas cheer and love can be a really meaningful experience for them. “Walk in their shoes” in your mind for a moment…and be generous.

Dorcas Group Hosts Sister Sewers

The Dorcas group recently entertained three ladies from their “sister” group in Rock Hill, SC., Wynelle Shows, Gail Moss & Cynthia Slagel, who came bearing donations of many sewing supplies. Their proximity to textile mills gives them access to remnants in abundant supply and they share that abundance generously with Dorcas sewers. They also brought 112 “little dresses” and 40 pairs of shorts to be donated to mission groups by Dorcas.

In addition to this “sister” visit, we wanted to give an update on our most recent mission activity:

  • 51 dresses (25 made by our Dorcas group and 26 made by our “Sister” Dorcas group) were picked up by Shonda Betts (Glynn Co.Teacher) to be taken to South Africa to a school with a mission of educating children in hopes of breaking the cycle of oppres-sion and poverty and creating hope. Teachers locally will continue to work replenish supplies for this school. (More info about the school: www.lao-setfree.org)
  • 25 dresses, 4 man-bags & 4 ditty bags will go to Bread of Hope Mission in Venezuela with Mark Kreikemeier of FBC Alpharetta. (More info: Bread of Hope/Facebook)
  • 35 ditty bags & VBS Supplies (crayons, Bible coloring books, glue, etc.) were taken to Shiloh Baptist Church in Americus for their mission trip to Teller Alaska.
  • 25 ditty bags, with travel sized hygiene items went to Faithworks locally.
  • 125 ditty bags will go with our own youth to Costa Rica to be used in ministry there.

Opportunities are coming to us from far and wide. As we see what individuals and small groups do to spread hope and The Good News,