Spring of 2024 has been a great time for HEART. We helped so many families and individuals near and far that needed it most. Thanks to our volunteers, staff, and generous donors we have made so many impacts on the Shakopee community and well beyond. Keep reading for some spring stories.
Life Center Easter Outreach
*As told through the lens of a staff member at ICCM Life Center.
Our annual Easter Outreach is a time of fun and celebration, where we pick up families from shelters in Minneapolis and treat them to a hot meal. Thanks to the generous donations from HEART and your suppliers, we were able to assemble 300 Easter baskets to give to children! Every part of these Easter baskets, from the stuffed animals and Easter eggs to the toy cars and baskets themselves, was provided by Heart.
We are incredibly thankful for your partnership, and we want you to know that you brought smiles to the faces of so many children in Minneapolis!
Getting Outside the Walls
HEART's outreach team has been busy this spring blessing people around the community. We work closely with the schools, police deptartment, and city of Shakopee to help where we can!
A story from Pastor Aaron Davitch:
Today a group of us from HEART/Hosanna went out for our weekly Thursday outreach. We brought with us a few items from HEART and stepped out for an adventure!
Our first stop was a local hotel where we saw two women sitting outside enjoying the glorious weather and having a smoke. I was in the truck with Pastor Jon Russell and Aubrey (Shakopee Kids Director). Jon pulled up to the women and as he rolled down his window he said to us, “I’m going to ask a dumb question.” He asked the ladies, “Do either of you have size 12 feet?” (One of the items we had brought was a new pair of size 12 shoes). The women laughed. We engaged in some chit chat and then got out of the truck. Dylan Olson and Jeff Boldt pulled up to join us.
One of the women, Tina, remembered that Jon had prayed with her in 2020. So we sat down to love and mostly listen to them. There were a lot of tears and emotion as we asked how we could pray for her now. Aubrey prayed for Kelly. She, too, began to cry as she told us she was having a very challenging day. This opened the door to giving them a Bible and sharing the Good News of the SImple Gospel
Next stop was to revisit a man in the community we met a couple years ago. He’s an Atheist and believes religious people are responsible for a lot of bad things throughout history. He loves flowers so we brought him a bouquet of flowers and to keep the relationship going. He’s becoming familiar with all that HEART does in the community and I hope we are surprising and delighting him about who Jesus is and what his followers are like!
Lastly, we stopped at Palmer Bus in Shakopee to drop off some presents from HEART for Bus Drivers Appreciation Day (it was actually yesterday, Feb 21). We first got to know the wonderful folks at Palmer a few years ago. They are an essential part of this community! We shared a nice time of prayer together as well.
In the book of Acts we read about the Apostle Paul revisiting churches he had started on his first missionary journey. There’s power in the revisits! Today was a great reminder of that as we seek to Pastor and love the city.
Multiplying the Hope and Heartbeat of Jesus with you
The First Family Experiencing Homelessness Moves In!
You may remember that a while back HEART/Hosanna Shakopee and an outside ministry partner, Allos, submitted a proposal to Scott County to address family homelessness. The County liked the proposal so much they awarded some money as seed money to purchase some properties. Allos Ministry purchased a nice Fourplex in Shakopee and today the first family moved in! A group of us welcomed this family - a single dad with two young children, ages 3 &8 - with a welcome basket of clothes, toys, food and some gift cards. This family has been homeless for 2 years, staying with family for part of the time and in a small 1 room unit at the Super 8 since last June. This family will be able to live in this home for up to 24 months as a transitional period. We prayed with him and shared the hope of Jesus for him and his family, During this transitional period people from Hosanna and HEART will come around this family to help, pray for and connect them to resources so this family can get their feet on the ground and enter into the abundant life Jesus has for them!
These are just a few of the ways we have impacted our local communities this spring.
Interested in making a difference? Please consider volunteering or donating >>
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