Dear <<First Name>>,
 Greetings in the new year. “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning…” (Lamentations 3:22) And, how thankful we are that His love and mercies are new every year as well. We pray God’s love and mercies you in this new year.
We have two favorite stories from fourth quarter last year. We always love how God provides  for our clients. A single mom moved here from a warmer climate. She came in to get warm clothes for her children. We didn’t have much in the right sizes. The next day we got a donation of gift certificates to Walmart, so we were able to pass on a couple to this mom for warm clothes for her children. It’s such a joy to be a vessel in this ministry!
 The second demonstrates how Helping Hands Healing Hearts is a joint ministry of Sandpoint area churches and works together with other organizations. The father of one of our families has serious health problems, so much so that the mother lost her job due to his need for care. So HHHH, Cedar Hills Church and Idahope Families together provided a much-needed set of tires for their car for safe travels to doctor appointments in CDA. Then Christ Our Redeemer Lutheran Church adopted this family for Christmas and provided a carload of great gifts for them. This is a wonderful example of Jesus’ last prayer, “I pray also for those who will believe in me…that all of them may be one…so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” (John 17:20-21)
 With sadness we report that we have lost two board members. Our  chairman, Toby Walrath, moved to Montana, and member, Barry Johnson, moved to Washington. We are so thankful for all the work Toby did as our first chairman, especially the amazing work he did in getting our City of Ponderay approval for The Good Samaritan Inn (GSI) project. He really did give it his all. Barry has given much wise input in our board meetings and led the building committee for GSI. We have so appreciated both these men and will greatly miss them. We have been making contacts for their replacements. Vice chairman, Kyle Bostock had stepped up to chairman, and Chad Wilks has become vice chairman. These are two really great guys. We are thankful that Sue Byers continues as secretary, and Anita Byers continues as treasurer. We have been and continue to be so blessed with our first-rate board of directors.
   
We are deeply grateful to those of you who responded to our November letter. $13,628 was  donated plus $500 worth of Co-Op gas cards! That was totally amazing!! Our yearly budget for benevolence is $15,000, so we are now able to begin helping clients with rent, utilities, gas, phone cards, etc. again. It touches our hearts to see people respond and partner in the mission of this ministry. One interesting gift was exactly $530. The person didn’t know that our address is 530 Pine St. (Jon said we should change our address to 4M Pine St since we need $4M for The Good Samaritan Inn. 😁)
 The Good Samaritan Inn (GSI) is moving forward step by step. Having our project manager, design team, architect, and construction team, we are in fundraising mode. We SO APPRECIATE North Summit Church designating The Good Samaritan Inn as their Christmas giving project. They raised $45,026! What a tremendous blessing!! They really out did themselves. We are overflowing with great gratitude! Again, our hearts are so touched by the Christian community getting behind this vision. This money will go towards phase one of our GSI project which includes adding sewer, water, power, paving and a new building for Helping Hands Healing Hearts.
We submitted a Letter of Intent to a well-known charitable trust that was accepted, which means  we can apply for a grant. We are also seeking four other grants and checking out USDA options, but we still have a way to go for $4M. Please keep this process in your prayers for this vision. We so hope to break ground in the late summer. By the way, the day after our day of prayer for GSI, we received our UEI# which we had been struggling to get since Sept. 2. It is a necessary number for considering USDA funding. Thank you for all your prayers!
 We will again conduct our Samaritan’s Pouch fundraiser this year. The board has decided to apply those funds to Helping Hands Healing Hearts. Jesus taught the parable of the Good Samaritan to teach us to love and help those in need. Helping Hands Healing Hearts is definitely a “Good Samaritan” type of ministry and is the backbone of both HHHH and GSI ministries. We need to ensure it continues. We are so thankful for the gifts for our benevolence program which is our priority, yet with the increased costs of our new location, our operating costs have increased. We received a wonderful donation for rent, but that will run out in the spring. We need to get through 2023, and it is our hope that in 2024 we will be in our own rent-free building on our own property. We will so appreciate all who give to the Samaritan’s Pouch fundraiser so that we may continue to be good Samaritans and serve and love the needy in our community.
Thank you again for your prayers and support of this ministry. We couldn’t do this without our wonderful board, volunteers, and supporters. It is a privilege to direct this ministry. May God bless you all in this new year.
Sincerely in Christ,
Jon and Cathy Pomeroy, Co-Directors Helping Hands Healing Hearts
530 Pine St, Sandpoint, ID 83864
phone: 208-263-6378 text only: 208-813-1266 fax: 206-350-2499
hours: T 1:30 - 6:00; W & TH 1:30 - 4:30 pm
email: connect@helping7b.org website: www.helping7b.org
email: connect@gsi7b.org website www.gsi7b.org
to give online: www.donorbox.org/hhhhgeneral or www.donorbox.org/gsi
2022 Annual Stats - Helping Hands Healing Hearts
(Closed 6 weeks – 2 for vacation, 4 for move)
333 Client Accounts that includes
120 families w/ 304 dep, 36 couples, and 177 singles
for a total of 729 adults and children served
165 New Clients, 168 Repeat Clients, 734 Client Visits
Open 129 Days (T,W, and TH) 3-4.5 Hours Per Day
26 Volunteers served 1,350 Hours
Resources Provided: Clothes 393, Food 178, Furniture 29, Kitchen/Housewares 174, Linens 160, Shoes 123, Toiletries 113, Laundry Vouchers 7, Shower Vouchers 7, Other 23
Financial Help Provided: Gas Vouchers 51, Lodging 65, Phone Cards 25, Utility Bill 34, Rent 23, Other 23
Spiritual Help Provided: Gospel Brochure 53, Gospel Presented 15, Accepted Christ 4, Not Yet/Not Now 5, Reaffirmed Faith 8, Not Interested 5, Spiritual Conversation 11, Mentoring Classes 10, Pastoral Counseling in Center 20, Bibles Given 26, Church List Given 58, Our Daily Bread Given 222, Guides (Based on Prov 3:5-6) 96, Prayer Received 139
Referrals Provided: Housing 23, Specific Church 42, Priest River Ministries 3, Counseling 4, Wood 6, Other 11
Information Provided: Our Classes Info 40, Medical Care Clinic 35, Community Meals 86, Community Resources brochure 91, GED 15, IP/DOL 29
Homeless: 7 Couples, 12 Families with 30 Dependents, 33 Singles = 65 adults and 30 children
Note: Because this newsletter goes out with donor statements, you may get both an email and regular mail version of this newsletter.
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