Every May, the Administration for Community Living leads the nation’s observance of Older Americans Month (OAM). The 2024 theme is Powered by Connection, which recognizes the profound impact that meaningful relationships and social connections have on our health and well-being. Join us in promoting the benefits of connecting with others. Here are some ways you can participate:
Share facts about the mental, physical, and emotional health benefits of social connection and how it contributes to overall well-being.
Promote resources that help older adults engage, like community events, social clubs and volunteer opportunities.
Connect older adults with local services, such as transportation, which can help them overcome obstacles to achieving or maintaining meaningful relationships.
Encourage partners to host a connection-centric event or program focused on older adult mentors to youth, peer-to-peer support or similar efforts.
Challenge professional and personal networks to prioritize meaningful social connections and share the benefits.
Inspire older adults to share what connection means to them on social media using the hashtag #PoweredByConnection.
“Now is the time to step off the sidelines. Get involved and change the game.”
– Dr. Kenneth Manders, Bermuda Conference President
Despite the look of paradise in Bermuda, there are real needs lying just below the surface, as many struggle with issues such as the high cost of living and generational poverty. ACS volunteers have been walking alongside those affected since 1974 when the ACS Federation first formed and recently celebrated 50 years of service on the island.
The strong conference and pastoral support for serving the suffering shows with an active ACS team at each of the 11 Adventist churches on the island. Programs range from food and clothing distribution, GED classes and grief ministries.
The consistency of service bore fruit in 2020. Amid a strict COVID lockdown on the island, when residents could only travel within a 1-mile radius of their home, the Bermuda government reached out to ACS Director, Dora Baker to ask for her help. Sister Dora organized her teams to pick up and deliver food to many who would have gone hungry otherwise.
The quick and effective response of the ACS team continued to build trust with country leaders and truly “put them on the map.”
The ACS 50th Anniversary was celebrated with a 4-day event that included learning and serving together. Bermuda President, Elder Kenneth Manders kicked off the celebration on Wednesday evening with a devotional recognizing that Jesus was a game changer and ACS does the same for our communities. He encouraged us all to step out when we see a need, make people a priority, trust in God and follow Jesus relentlessly.
Thursday was filled with workshops, but not before an inspiring message by the Bermuda Treasurer, Robert Patterson who based a devotion on the story of the Good Samaritan. “Compassion is measured by the obstacles that must be overcome in order to exercise it,” Elder Patterson shared. Who is our neighbor?…”Our neighbor is every soul wounded and bruised by the adversary.”
The island celebrated as well as the ACS team took Friday to serve in various capacities across Bermuda. This included all churches coming together to offer food to over 250 households.
Two members of the original ACS Federation were present to celebrate and reminisced about the original movement, which included the team traveling to NAD ACS meetings in full uniform. This made such a statement that they were given first priority to board the airplane.
Please join us in the celebration of consistent and meaningful service. As Elder Manders
Shared, “now is the time to step off the sidelines. Get involved and change the game.”
Dr. Kenneth Manders, President Berumuda Conference
ACS teams in Bermuda have demonstrated Christian diligence in serving the vulnerable during the COVID-19 pandemic whose effects continue to be felt in the community. While there may be some individuals who have regained employment, their earning is not sufficient to cover all their financial needs, considering the debts they incurred while they were unemployed. There is also a rise in homelessness and the Bermuda Housing and Corporation is overwhelmed with requests for affordable housing for this vulnerable population.
ACS leaders and volunteers from the churches below have responded to various calls for assistance from food needs to financial aid through various ministries. Besides serving meals, they continue to provide food hampers or food vouchers during their scheduled ministry day or as needed. Free GED programs have also been made available to those who wished to complete their high school education.
FEEDING MINISTRIES
Hamilton and St. David’s churches – prepare and serve cooked meals every Wednesday
St. George’s Church – prepares and serves meals to the community every Thursday
Pembroke – provides cooked meals to the homeless
Southampton – serves cooked meals to the community once every month. From time to time, cooked meals are provided outside of this schedule.
Rockaway Church collaborates with Hamilton Church to provide cooked meals to the community.
Warwick Church – provides cooked meals to the community every Tuesday
Somerset Church – provides cooked meals to the community every Wednesday.
On a quarterly basis, Buzz provides 500 meals which are distributed to the community. Ten of their eleven churches participate in this program.
GED PROGRAMS
They have three well-functioning centers offering free GED classes. The students are receiving both academic and financial support until graduation.
The churches participating in the GED programs are Southampton, Hamilton, and St. David’s.
FREE CLOTHING
Most of the local churches now offer free clothing to the community from their community center.
GRIEF MINISTRIES
More recently ACS Bermuda joined forces with the Grief Ministry of Midland Heights Church. Under the leadership of Sis Muriel Williams, this ministry is very active in visiting and providing emotional support to those who have experienced loss in any form.
In December 2021, eighty grieving families received fruit baskets delivered to them by the Grief Ministry team members who also prayed with them. The team continues to follow up with the bereaved through the year to provide much needed emotional support.
ACS Warehouse manager, Natalie Word, and NAD ACS Director, Derrick Lea, speak with the Lee County official about assistance.
ACS Disaster Response teams from the Southeastern and Florida conferences are currently operating two State Warehouses in Florida in response to Hurricane Ian. One is located in Fort Myers, and the other in Coral Springs, the larger of the two with 250,000 square feet of usable space. In addition, Distribution Sites have been set up at multiple churches that give ACS volunteers an opportunity to have direct contact with those affected in the community, portraying Christ’s love in action through service. Last Thursday, a delivery of goods was sent to two sites in Naples and Fort Myers. Volunteers helped unload the water and food items that are being distributed throughout this week to residents.
The South Central Conference ACS team is also rendering support on the ground in Coral Springs as a portion of their territory includes certain areas of Florida State. “It’s this collaborative spirit that strengthens ACS around the NAD, and enables us to continue to be one of the most respected organizations operating in Donations Management,” stated W. Derrick Lea, Executive Director of NAD ACS.
FEMA is providing aid to homeowners and renters in certain counties who had uninsured losses from Hurricane Ian that may be eligible for federal disaster assistance. FEMA may provide financial help with temporary housing expenses, basic home repairs, and other essential disaster-related needs. Eligible counties include Brevard, Charlotte, Collier, DeSoto, Flagler, Glades, Hardee, Hendry, Highlands, Hillsborough, Lake, Lee, Manatee, Monroe, Okeechobee, Orange, Osceola, Palm Beach, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Putnam, Sarasota, Seminole, St. Johns, and Volusia.
Adventist Community Services is working in cooperation with FEMA, VOAD, and state officials to open a 250,000 square foot Multi-agency Warehouse in Coral Springs, Florida. ACS leadership from the Florida and Southeastern conferences will form the management team at the warehouse to manage the flow of donated goods and ensure they get to the people who need them most.
Lynell LaMountain, ACS Director for the Southern Union, was onsite this week making sure that the process is moving smoothly. Established partnerships and experienced ACS leaders were able to speed the process along to make this one of the quickest openings of an ACS Donated Goods Warehouse in years. In addition to this effort, ACS will be providing other resources such as flood buckets and gift cards, and will possibly be involved in minor repairs to some of the damaged homes.
If you wish to support our efforts, cash donations are always the preferred method of donation.
The Alaska Conference ACS and Arctic Mission Adventure have been actively involved in the Typhoon Merbok relief in western Alaska. They have formed a team that assessed needs in the hardest-hit villages and mobilized tier-one support to those in need. Individuals, churches, and schools stepped up to support the relief efforts by hosting donation collection sites, food drives in their neighborhoods, and school fundraisers. Donations of canned food, diapers, water, flashlights, generators, batteries, and other essential items continue to pour in. Over 2,000 pounds of resources were collected just in the first week after the disaster struck. With the help of the Alaska National Guard and Mass Care Task Force, the resources are transported to the designated villages. Read full report here.
Thank you for your continued support and being a part of the miracle of giving.
Alaska Conference Adventist Community Services and Arctic Mission Adventure are joining hands to provide relief to Alaskan villages devastated by Typhoon Merbok. Remnants of the typhoon produced widespread damage to communities in Western Alaska on September 16, 2022. The storm reported to be the region’s strongest one in the last 50 years, has flooded homes and businesses, damaged infrastructure, including the power grid and water supply system, and washed away roads and bridges.
The ministries are focusing on providing tier-one support to villages outside of hub areas that need immediate basic survival resources. Items needed are cases of drinking water and canned foods, baby formula and diapers, flashlights and batteries, toothpaste and toothbrushes, deodorant and body wipes, and feminine hygiene products. Click here for more information!
If you wish to donate some items, they can be brought to the Alaska Conference or to Amazing Grace Academy.
Alaska Conference Office
6100 O’Malley Road
Anchorage, AK 99507
Amazing Grace Academy
2238 Inner Springer Loop
Palmer, AK 99645
Financial support can be provided through this link here.
Hurricane Ian has now emerged into the Gulf of Mexico after striking western Cuba, where it is expected to intensify with the warmer waters. As this takes place, it will cause water surge in cities on the western side of the state in the Gulf, posing a serious danger to the Florida Peninsula. Storm surge, hurricane, and tropical storm alerts have been issued in Florida, as well as extended to Georgia and South Carolina. Tens of thousands of residents have been ordered to evacuate.
Each of the three local conferences in Florida state have ACS Disaster Response teams on stand-by awaiting the storm, which will most likely affect the Florida Keys first. Providing food and shelter are the two primary needs early in the event. In addition, there will be a need for clean-up buckets as homes of several residents will be affected by the flooding. These items are currently prepositioned throughout the area and will be used as appropriate.
Please keep those in prayer who are in the path of this storm, as well as communities in Cuba who have been affected by it.
Photo uploaded by: The Weather Channel, Sept. 27, 2022
The Florida, Gulf States, and Southeastern conferences are getting their ACS Disaster Response teams ready to respond to the need surrounding Hurricane Ian, which is headed to the Gulf coast of Florida. Currently, Ian is forecast to be a Category 3 storm and is expected to continue to intensify. Tropical Storm watches have been issued in various parts of Florida. On Saturday, President Biden issued an emergency declaration for the state of Florida. The storm surge is a major concern at this point which could create great amounts of floodwaters.
ACS leadership from the three respective conferences have been engaged in conference calls with the Florida VOAD to prepare for the potential damage Hurricane Ian will cause to communities. “I am confident that our teams are ready, and the NAD ACS will support their efforts throughout this event,” stated W. Derrick Lea, NAD ACS Executive Director.
This satellite image provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows Tropical Storm Ian over the central Caribbean on Saturday, Sept. 24, 2022. Photo Credit: ABC News.
By: Judy Klein, Office of Communication at Michigan Conference
Berrien Springs, MI—Neighbor 2 Neighbor is a self-supporting ACS center, sustained by its own thrift store, run, and operated by four employees, and over 100 volunteers. Some volunteers are non-Adventist. This is significant, because according to Laura Meyer, director of Neighbor 2 Neighbor (N2N), volunteering is a ministry for the volunteers, and the volunteers are a ministry themselves.
Many of the volunteers who work at the center are dedicated to the work. They come in on weekends and holidays. Meyer reports that when she stopped by on 4th of July, there were at least ten volunteers hard at work. Many volunteers are widows, or are grieving, others are from the court system, serving mandatory community service. N2N finds a place for all of them, and mentors them. Often, we brush aside the opportunity to work with non-Adventist volunteers, but we need to refocus our mindset. Not only can you be a blessing to them, but non-Adventist volunteers can bless you as well!
Andrews University is just around the corner from N2N’s facility, and up to five social work students volunteer to handle client case files. Without all of the work of the volunteers and students, N2N’s work would be impossible.
There’s lots of work to do. Food must be bought for the clients, and grants for food and supplies must be written, and there’s the thrift store too! Thousands of pounds of donations are received, sorted, tagged, priced, put out to sell, and then taken back if unsold after two months. Each month’s merchandise is tagged with a different color so staff and volunteers can keep track of inventory. Meyer and her volunteers have a recycling system for clothes that cannot be used.
The thrift store is open Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 10:00 am – 6:00 pm. Client services are open on the same days from 10:00 am – 4:00 pm.
When clients arrive at N2N, they are greeted by a smiling receptionist, and then whisked into an assessment room, where their needs are discussed with a volunteer or social worker. They are then given according to their needs. Meyer allows them to choose food that they need, so that they will use it. Meyers uses the example of rice and beans, an ethnic food that some people do not know how to cook without, but a food that others do not know how to cook in the least! Each client also gets two vouchers for the thrift store, which is good for two pieces of furniture, and fifteen dollars’ worth of towels and linens. The client is also given a gift certificate worth thirty dollars for each member of their family. This can be used on clothing, shoes, belts, and purses, and can be received every three months.
This means that children can be outfitted for school, and for the seasonal changes. In addition, in the winter, they may allot a little more money to each client, as coats are more expensive.
Some university students struggle to make ends meet, and Neighbor 2 Neighbor helps students too! If students need a desk, lamp, and a desk chair, they can receive these items for free. A lot of seminary students and international students are very poor, and they are also eligible for food and clothes.
Due to N2N’s well-known location, Feeding America has partnered with Neighbor 2 Neighbor to have food drives in the parking lot. There have been three since the pandemic in 2020, and Meyer reports that there will be more.
N2N has been blessed with a wonderful facility, and Meyer is making good use of it. “We have space,” she says, and Meyer and her team will let anyone from the community use that space for anything that is appropriate. It takes time and work to plan, which makes it difficult for the team to utilize the space as they could: “Planning is a lot of work,” says Meyer, “but we can use the space!” Planning takes more time than they have, but partnering with local groups means that the space can be used as a blessing to the community.
The space is often utilized for classes such as drug recovery programs, financial literacy, or counseling. A quilting group even uses the space. Another benefit is that some community members are intimidated to go onto campus for counseling, but because N2N is such a well-known community help, it is less intimidating, and community members are more willing to come into facility for programs. Chelli Ringstaff, ACS director, comments that N2N has “cultivated a safe place” for the community.
At the moment, the facility is under construction. There will be a second room for community meetings, which will be soundproof, for confidential counseling.
The construction began in 2020, with the new thrift store. N2N was in a rough place. They had used all of their income, and depleted their reserves, but they still needed a new parking lot, as well as the rest of the facility being renovated.
Meyer and her team were convicted to step out in faith and go ahead with renovations. “It was a big step of faith,” says Meyer, “but if we didn’t step out ahead, it wouldn’t be faith. If we had it all worked out, it wouldn’t be faith.”
They stepped out in faith, and the Lord blessed. The parking lot was provided by a large donation from a member, and money poured in from the surrounding churches. The Lord showed Meyers and her team that He was in control, and that they had nothing to fear for the future.
Neighbor 2 Neighbor ACS Center. Photo Credit – Judy Klein
A volunteer sorting through the books at the store. Photo Credit – Judy Klein
Director Laura Meyer (left) showing Colette Newer (right) the homeless care packets. Photo Credit – Judy Klein
Rebecca Billingsley and her dedicated volunteers at the Maranatha SDA Church’s “I-Care Food Pantry” in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, participated in a food distribution on July 8, 2022, for the community. Seven pallets of food were delivered from the West Alabama Food Bank to the church’s parking lot where lines of people and cars assembled to pick up fresh and frozen meats, fresh vegetables, bread, and non-perishable food items. Many people called back later after the event to express their gratitude for being able to obtain extra food that month which supplemented their food supply.
The Rocky Mountain Conference ACS Disaster Response team was engaged in the Marshall Fire Recovery efforts from January through May of this year. The fire which started on December 30, 2021 at the intersection of Colorado 93 and Marshall Road around 11:00 am had reached the town of Superior by noon, and later spread to the cities of Louisville, Broomfield, and unincorporated Boulder County, forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate. Two people were killed, over 1,000 homes destroyed, and more than 6,000 acres burned in Colorado’s most destructive wildfire.
The ACS team, under the leadership of Cathy Kissner, Rocky Mountain ACS Director, managed the Collection/Distribution Center which was set up at the Flatiron Mall in Broomfield. It was open seven days a week during these five months, except for two days when they closed due to a winter storm. Donations of various items such as food, clothing, backpacks, shoes, water bottles, bicycles, personal hygiene kits, and kitchen kits poured in to assist the affected community. Our team partnered with Spark the Change to establish a volunteer base through which we were able to recruit the volunteers needed.
During this five-month period, 3,000 family units were served and 750,000 items were distributed. Kissner declared she’d never been so proud of her team and hopes this opportunity to serve will encourage individuals to join ACS in these type of efforts. “I commend those involved and am ever so thankful for Cathy Kissner and her strong team of Volunteers,” stated W. Derrick Lea, NAD ACS Executive Director. “Many new lessons were learned during this event, but the greatest lesson showed us what could be accomplished by pooling our efforts with others in the community for the greater good of those served,” added Lea.
