Dear Supporters and Donors,
Cup of Grace Ministries has served the Spirit Lake and surrounding communities for five years now! We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for helping us with your support, let you know what we’ve been up to this year and highlight how much we have grown in the past five years. Without you, we would not be able to provide services and support to those in need in our community.
Amy Privitt began her adventure with Cup on Grace in January of 2017, when she felt led to feed people as well as to find a means to bring community members together. She invited some friends to cook food in crockpots and rented the Spirit Lake Community Center. That first night, 15 volunteers came to help and 23 meals were served to the community. The Tuesday night meal quickly gained popularity amongst those needing food and those looking for ways to connect. In 2021 we served 5,598 meals at our Free Tuesday Night Community Meal. That makes a total of 21,566 meals served since the inception of Cup of Grace!
Shortly thereafter, Amy was asked to help build a clothing closet at the local elementary school. A clothing closet was established to provide seasonal appropriate clothing, including winter coats, snow pants, jackets, shoes, socks and underwear. Additional closets were requested, and eventually we were able to provide every school in the Lakeland School District with a clothing closet including the Lakeland Headstart, for a total of 12 schools. We also provide toiletry items and school supplies in each school closet. A volunteer is assigned to each school to maintain the closet and re-stock when items are needed. We were excited to host a prom dress give-a-way event this year, and hope to continue to in the future. Prom dresses are donated, cleaned and provided to those who cannot otherwise afford to purchase one. We have been chosen as the charity for the Just Between Friends bi-annual clothing consignment event. In exchange for providing volunteers, we receive a donation of unsold items. We utilize as many of the items as possible for our clothing and family assistance closets, and either donate or sell the remaining items.
Over the years we also established other programs. The Children’s Lunch program provides lunches to children in the park during the summer months, and to the Spirit Lake Library children’s reading program year-round. This year we added additional activities to the lunch program such as a visit from the Tooth Fairy, as well as crafting and book distribution events. Buddy Bags are provided to first responders to deliver to children they encounter in crisis situations. Due to increased requests from families for additional assistance, we have established a food pantry, diaper bank and provide gas or grocery cards or other assistance to families in crisis situations. We strive to partner with other organizations and assist families with navigating the resources available to them.
The Community Events and Outreach programs are also dear to our heart, as they help facilitate bringing the community together. This year, we participated in the Spirit Lake Boat Regatta, Labor Day Event, Running Shoe4Kids Event, Spirit Lake Elementary Carnival, Senior Meals on Wheels Rummage Sale, an emergency cooling center and sponsored a youth sports team.
To support the programs and requests for assistance we received, we held two food drives, and networked with others to hold a shoe drive and coat drive. We were blessed with a grant from First Interstate Bank for our Community Meals and were able to purchase food and a much-needed freezer.
We have worked out of volunteer’s homes, garages and several storage units and have made it work. But as we have grown it became more and more difficult. A dream has been to find a location to have a home of our own. A location to maintain our inventory, office space and a place to hold our community meals, as well as provide a venue for community-based classes or other events. We were extremely blessed by a very large donation, which enabled us to purchase a building in Spirit Lake! We are renting out portions of the building and parking lot to help cover our mortgage payments and bring in needed resources to the community. We are currently working on having necessary repairs done and hope to have the building ready to host our weekly meals as soon as possible. We are especially grateful to the generous donors, and to the professional contractors who are helping to work on the needed repairs to make this dream come true!
When Amy and her family and friends established Cup of Grace there were 15 volunteers. This year, over 100 volunteers worked at total of 6,700 hours to make our slice of the world a better place. We could not accomplish all that we have without the help from each and every one of our volunteers.
Cup of Grace was founded on James, Chapter 2, which encourages us to not only wish for people to have food, shelter and clothing, but to provide it to them. With your help, we were able to bless people in our community with food, clothing and social services so they didn’t have to solely rely on government assistance. As we walk with God, we will go where He leads us. If it is in His plan, we will continue serving our neighbors, offering more services and supporting our community. Over the last five years, we have been blessed with people and businesses that have not only provided financial assistance, but also encouragement and friendship. We cannot thank you enough.
Cup of Grace, Inc. is a 501(c)3 non-profit charity, and all donations are tax deductible. We hope to partner with you again in 2022. Until then,
“The Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.”
Numbers 6:24-26
Sincerely,
Amy Privitt, Executive Director
Cup of Grace Ministries
(817) 228-5018 Email: amy@cupofgrace.life
Facebook/cupofgrace.life Website: cupofgrace.life