Moving right along!

Now that Covid is (hopefully!) making its exit, servants with a heart is ready to get back into the regular swing of things. We are continuing to host SWH Impact Days down at our space at Furniture Factory Outlet World in Waxhaw (those events fill very quickly—make sure you’re on our email list if you want to know when to sign up). On June 26th, we will be experimenting with some of our regular lines in half the room while keeping the other half socially-distant. If you’d like to help us figure out the new configuration, please email me directly at suzanne@servantswithaheart.org and I will let you know if we still have space. Note that these volunteer spots will not be separated by family and you’ll be working immediately next to others.

We are excited that organizations are again contacting us to host their own packing events and we now have several on the horizon, both confirmed and in early planning stages. Most of these regular events are open only to members of the sponsoring group, but if they are ever available to those outside, we will send an email to our email list (again, make sure you’re on there if you aren’t already!).

Also, with our new space in Waxhaw, we are happy to be able to offer the opportunity for smaller private events (our regular minimum is 50,000 meals, or $7500, and usually about 200 people). In this smaller dedicated space, we can accommodate groups with as few as 20 people or as large as 60, depending on current state Covid guidelines (possibly more, which is what we will be determining on June 26th); each person is responsible for paying for the food they pack during a two-hour shift ($45/person). Please contact us if you are interested in hosting your own packing event.

Suzanne Yoh
Update from nicaragua

Here’s the latest information from our partner, Samaritans international of nicaragua

In Nicaragua, we are still being really careful with the Covid-19 situation; the government began vaccinating the elderly in March. At our school, we are working with a modified distance learning plan due to a rise of Covid-type sickness in Pochocuape, with pre-school and elementary children coming three days per week and high schoolers coming twice a week. We continue wearing masks, social distancing, and extra hand-washing. We are doing everything we can to protect our families while obeying the government order that we have in-person school.

Hundreds of families are still struggling to recover from last November’s back to back hurricanes. With entire crops wiped out and dozens of homes destroyed, the daily struggle for food continues. But the Lord has been faithful to provide for those most affected, the children. Each month, people are reminded of God’s love and compassion as over 130,000 vitamin-enriched meals are served to children living in the lower river region. The love of Jesus shrines through every child’s smiling face, knowing that they will not go to bed hungry.

Finally, we continue with our agriculture project. Our chickens should start laying eggs in the next two weeks, and the rainy season is just starting so it is time to plant. We planted banana and plantain trees.

Thank you for your prayers!

Suzanne Yoh
Thanks from Guatemala

We received a nice thank you note and a couple photos from friends who packed with us at Pineville Church last month and wanted to share. Thanks so much!

We just want to share what an incredible ministry Servants With A Heart is! We have worked with them several times and they are a tremendous organization. They are friendly, caring, efficient, and great to work with. In each of our first four years, they helped us pack over 50,000 meals. Last year and this year we packed over 100,000 meals each time. This has enabled us to feed numerous children in the villages of Guatemala. This year with the Covid-19 pandemic, we were unsure how it would all work. Servants With A Heart did a wonderful job of adjusting the process so it was organized, efficient and safe. Social distancing was incorporated into the process while families were also able to work closely together. Thank you Servants With a Heart! You have our highest recommendation!


Mike & Carol Claypool, Co-Founders Give and Teach, Guatemala

Suzanne Yoh
Thank you!

“What is the essence of life? To serve others and to do good.” – Aristotle

April is a month dedicated to recognizing the importance and significance of volunteers. Servants with a Heart would like to say a special thank you to each and every volunteer who has helped over the last ten years. That’s more than 155,000 thank yous! What an amazing and awesome job done by volunteers who have dedicated time to something bigger than themselves. Needs are everywhere around us and without volunteers sometimes those needs are never met. There is not much more important than a meal! Servants with a Heart volunteers have packed more than 20 million meals and counting.

April was made the official National Volunteer month by George H. W. Bush in 1991. He developed the 1000 Lights Campaign which aimed to create a global culture of volunteerism. Volunteers are a force that can change the world!

Every volunteer makes a difference. As we look forward to 2021 we invite you to find a volunteer opportunity! Find a Servants with a Heart event at this link.

Kristin Reynolds, SWH Leadership Team

Suzanne Yoh
Don’t take for granted…

For many Americans, this is not an uncommon scene around meal time: I got up the other morning with designs on having bacon and eggs for breakfast, but to my frustration, there was neither in my refrigerator. So I hopped in my car, ran to the grocery store, grabbed what I wanted and headed home to cook. In the mile and a half to the store, I passed three semi-trucks carrying food to restaurants and said grocery store. I normally wouldn't pay attention to them, and would simply be frustrated being behind them in traffic. I would also not give a second thought to going to the store in our fast-paced life, but I was going to load a container of meals for our meal recipients in Nicaragua the following day. We had just received an email from our partner, Samaritan's International, about the plight of the people in the Mayangna region in Nicaragua. They are not only dealing with the normal travails of life there, but also the devastation of being hit hard by two Category 5 hurricanes that destroyed much of the little infrastructure they had. Death from starvation has become an everyday occurrence for them. The 42,000 pounds of life-saving food on that truck packed by our great volunteers and local partners took on even greater significance. I can only imagine the hope and joy they feel when they see the boxes being delivered and know they can survive another day with food in their bellies due to the kindness and generosity of strangers. So the next time you're frustrated being stuck behind that big truck in traffic taking food to the grocery store, don't take that for granted. Be thankful.

There are several ways you can help. We pack meals on a small socially-distanced scale most Saturdays in our facility in Waxhaw. Donations are accepted to help those less fortunate. We do everything at cost and have no paid staff, so know that every dollar donated is used to feed people. You can learn more about our work, schedule your own socially-distanced packing event, sign up for an Impact Day or make donations on our website.

Brandon Faulkner, SWH program director

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Suzanne Yoh
Back to (normal?)
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What a great time we had returning to Calvary Church in Charlotte, NC for a (mostly!) conventional packing event last weekend, where more than 250 volunteers created more than 100,000 meals for hungry people in Nicaragua and in our local area!

Our packing event at Calvary was not completely “normal,” as we used our socially-distanced packing model which allowed for a total of 8 “pods” of volunteers per shift. People signed up as family units (or in groups that had already been exposed to one another), so no section contained more than six people, and there were jobs for individuals and smaller families as well. Many Calvary members signed up but we were also able to eventually open signups to those on the SWH email list; many people had the opportunity to take part.

All volunteers wore face coverings, hairnets, and gloves, and individuals did their best to remain socially-distanced from those not in their groups and be respectful of others. We skipped our normal video training and went old-school, demonstrating in person how to use the new packing configuration, and watched the SWH Intro Video on big screens in the packing room itself. Obviously with this new arrangement, things went a little slower than normal, but we were still able to pack 101,952 meals on Saturday. With two more packing events at churches over the next couple weeks, we hope to add between 100,000 and 175,000 more meals to that March running total. We love our SWH Impact Days, but usually are only able to pack between 10,000 and 15,000 meals on those Saturdays—so it is exciting to add so many meals to help hungry people!

We are very grateful to be slowly (and carefully) returning to larger packing events, and hope this trend continues past this month. We will also be hosting SWH Impact Days down in Waxhaw again soon (likely in April)—so watch for signups on our social media channels and here on the website. And if your church, business, or other group is interested in hosting its own packing event, please contact info@servantswithaheart.org.

Suzanne Yoh
HOPE

Today’s blog is from Cynthia Hair, SWH Leadership Team member

During the Covid-19 pandemic, servants with a heart has distributed a large percentage of the food we’ve packed around the greater Charlotte area.

HOPE (Helping Others Progress through Education) of Rock Hill, a local South Carolina crisis assistance ministry, received 6,840 meals that were packed at the Elevation Riverwalk Campus. The leader of HOPE of Rock Hill, Gordon Bell, said that they distribute 6 tons of food each week to families in need in York County. Each family receives 3 meals a day for 7 days. Bell was very grateful to have the servants with a heart food to add to the weekly distributions. “It’s easy to prepare and it’s a huge supplement to ensure that people get the nutrition they need. It’s got everything in it,” Bell noted.

He also encourages his volunteers to try the food so they are able to tell their clients what it tastes like. One of his volunteers took a bag of our food on a camping trip and came back saying, “This is good, really pretty good!” Families receiving the food also appreciate having something easy to prepare when the kids are unable to attend school.

Thank you to all the great volunteers who have been packing with us at SWH Impact Days in Waxhaw. We also look forward to a few more conventional packing events at churches in the next month!

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Suzanne Yoh
Swh update

Today’s blog post is from SWH founders, Suzanne and Jeffrey yoh

Now that we are firmly into 2021, we wanted to give a short update on the “State of SWH.” Although 2020 was a difficult year for many, including servants with a heart, we were blessed to be given space down in Waxhaw at Furniture Factory Outlet World by our partners from Samaritans International, so we have been able to continue to pack meals on many Saturdays. We are very grateful for so many volunteers, the new ones as well as those who faithfully show up regularly to help us. Our signups typically fill within hours of posting! During one two-hour shift at an SWH Impact Day, using a socially-distanced packing model, 25-40 people are able to produce between 12,000 and 15,000 meals. Although this is a definite pivot from our normal events of 50,000-100,000+ meals, we are thrilled to be able to continue to provide food both locally and for shipment to Nicaragua.

One of our SWH Leadership Team members, Jeff Wilson, has worked tirelessly to be sure we stay up with local partners who distribute our food. We are happy to have recently delivered meals to such organizations as Common Cupboard, Refugee Support Services, Common Heart, and RiceNBeans. With the current climate, need has increased in the greater Charlotte area, and it’s been a true pleasure to help.

We have also continued to ship containers to Nicaragua. Currently, Samaritans International has two containers from us in customs (which, with recent developments in that country, can be an arduous process). We plan to ship more once those clear. Each container holds 285,120 meals, so with production slower, we have been shipping less frequently than in the past. We are praying for a return to normal soon, as we also miss our regular trips down to Nicaragua to help distribute SWH food.

We do have a few tentative upcoming events with churches (though understandably, none are currently scheduled with any schools). As we get closer to the end of covid-19, we hope that our larger events will re-establish themselves and we will be back to producing many millions of meals per year. Because we have three, perhaps four large events currently planned for March, we will be holding off on any SWH Impact Days after the already scheduled ones down in Waxhaw for the moment. But do keep an eye on our social media channels and your email inbox (if you’ve signed up for our email list). We will always post volunteer opportunities as they become available.

Thank you for supporting us!

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Suzanne Yoh
Hope

Today’s blog is written by our partners at Samaritans International in Nicaragua.

Can this small bag really change a life? It may seem hard to believe but the answer is YES! This bag includes lifesaving ingredients, and with just one cup a child receives all the vitamins and minerals he or she needs for the whole day. We have seen with our eyes the changes in the health of children who receive this food. But there is something else in this bag which is not visible to the naked eye: HOPE. In third-world countries like Nicaragua, hope is missing from the daily lives of many families. When any member of the family begins to receive this food, slowly hope begins to grow inside of the entire family. It is easy to lose hope when every day is the same as the one before it and they may feel like their prayers are not being answered and that no one in the world cares about them. Then one day this little bag of food is given, and as they hear about the love of God and how many people have come together to buy, pack, ship, unload, and distribute these meals just so they can have life-changing food, then there is hope. Hope that things are changing in their lives and the lives of their family. Hope cannot be bought, but it can be given. Thank you for giving hope!

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Suzanne Yoh
Pivoting

Today’s blog is written by SWH Co-Founder Jeffrey Yoh

Last spring, as the pandemic started to become widespread, Servants With a Heart was virtually shutdown. We have had almost three million meals canceled at schools, churches, and with other organizations because our packing events require so many people to work so closely together. Our partners at Furniture Factory Outlet World thankfully offered us space to set up a permanent packing facility (which will remain long after COVID-19 is a distant memory!).

Our family, along with two other SWH families and our Program Director, experimented in the space with a variety of ways for individuals and families to pack efficiently while safely following social distancing protocols, and we eventually came up with a social distancing packing model that uses between 23 and 40 volunteers on four modified packing lines.

We worked as a group (mostly members of our SWH Leadership Team, along with some professional help and guidance) to renovate the area in the store—took down walls (and rebuilt some), repaired drywall, tore out carpet and risers, sanded, painted, had the concrete floors polished, added doors, moved in our commercial sink, and added heat and A/C.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, down at Furniture Factory Outlet World and at two local churches, we have packed 824,962 meals, 134,352 of which stayed in the Charlotte area. We pack nearly every Saturday with a group of up to 40 volunteers who can make roughly 12,000 meals. Please consider joining us for our next SWH Impact Day, and if you are interested in using our socially distanced packing protocols with your group either in our space or yours, please contact us!

Jeff Yoh, SWH Co-Founder

SWH Leadership Team members Jeff, Jeff, and Jeff (the middle one is the author of this post) hanging crown molding in our new space!

SWH Leadership Team members Jeff, Jeff, and Jeff (the middle one is the author of this post) hanging crown molding in our new space!

Suzanne Yoh