August 18 – 23, 2019

Hi all ,

My family and I have just returned from a missions trip with several other Sojourner families to Gleanings for the Hungry, a YWAM base in Dinuba near Fresno. 

Volunteering in the winter months (Sept – May), you make dried soup mix that Gleanings sends all over the world, this is an annual thing for our family that we have done the past four years. For this they accept families with children of any age.  Space for groups is often booked months in advance.

During the summer they normally accept only groups of teenagers to cut and dry donated fruit which then get packed into buckets and sent to countries in need.  These spots (80 people per week) also usually book up early.  We have never done this activity and would like to.

This year they are in need of youth and will also accept families with preteens to work for the week of August 18 – 23.  As it is the last week of the summer they will not be running the fruit processing machinery, but we will be collecting the dried fruit from the drying racks in the fields and packing it in buckets.  They are set up for looking after youth; as well as the permanent staff (who are incredible witnesses to God’s power), they have both summer staff leaders and summer staff to look after the teens.  If you just want to send your children they will be well cared for.  I will be coordinating rides there and back – hopefully we will have enough families or individual parents to be drivers/chaperones.  (Our winter group usually consists of moms and children, as dads can’t take the week off work.)

I think this would be an incredible way to start the school year, so I have offered to try and coordinate a group to go down and help them.

This is where I am asking you to step up!

Their website is gleanings.org  Please take a look at what they do; it is amazing.  They will work you hard, but there is time for breaks, they feed you very well and the morning chapel time is true honey for your soul.  Oh and did I mention it will be hot down there so all the rooms do have AC and there is a swimming pool for end of day recuperation.  My personal feeling is that the gap between heaven and earth is very thin right there!

They request that you donate to help with the food costs and room upkeep costs, so for the Sunday through Friday adventure they ask only $15 per day per person, so $75 per week.  This includes all the food you will need.  We arrive after dinner on Sunday and leave after lunch on Friday.

I would like to be able to coordinate a group from Sacramento area and one from San Jose to help that week, so here is a google doc available to anyone who has the link.  Feel free to share this link with friends you would like to serve with, but please don’t send it out on big group emails or on facebook.

If you are interested in going as a family, partial family, sending one or more of your children or going as a chaperone please fill in the google doc before next Wednesday, 22nd May with the following:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1cwlEioeqtN8GdhILUWhUtYITWYliZ5HqNhmORt9lKSU/edit?usp=sharing

• Indicate if you are definitely going, or just a maybe at this point.
• Family name, 
• number of people in your family, 
• email contact, 
• location you will be leaving from, 
• if you are driving or needing a ride, 
• and # extra spaces if you are driving.

I will be reaching out to everyone on the list before the end of next week, so if you would like more info please fill in the document!

In the mean time if you have questions feel free to email me directly.

I really look forward to serving the Lord with you in August!

Helen Prince