We are sincerely blessed by the many individuals, churches, and other groups who invest their time, money, and talents in serving the homeless individuals we minister to at GODTEL. The meals prepared and served by our guest cooks offer a variety of delicious foods to warm our tummies. The smiling faces of those volunteers warm our spirits and we are extremely grateful for the encouragement. Again this year the Kroger Company sponsored a Super Bowl Sales Campaign (as part of their Zero Hunger/Zero Waste initiative) leading up to the Super Bowl football spectacular. This was another “bonanza” year as GODTEL was the recipient of 383 food boxes (containing spaghetti and spaghetti sauce, four cans of green beans and pinto beans, and a jar of peanut butter) purchased by shoppers at the North Street Kroger store in Nacogdoches. The employees of Davita Medical Group (dialysis centers) in Livingston and Lufkin collected funds over several months and last month presented generous donations to our Lufkin and Livingston missions to help house and feed the homeless. In Nacogdoches, Pilgrim’s Pride has generously donated frozen chicken to help feed the many homeless and hungry individuals who eat with us. One of the things we do to “recycle” food is keep goats and chickens. They eat our scraps and we eat eggs from the chickens until they quit laying and then we eat the chickens. Benita has kept a count of the egg production in Livingston: In 2016 we collected 32 dozen, in 2017 we got 162 dozen, and last year we collected 91.5 dozen. (Looks like we will be eating more chicken soon and buying more chicks.) The goats are very entertaining, especially the babies, and they make wonderful fajitas. November 27, 2008 People come to GODTEL from many different sources. One young lady was recently brought to us by a woman known as Alligator Annie. Annie had taken this woman in when she found her sleeping on a porch and had been helping her for several months and it came time for her to try something else. When they came in, Annie made sure we had space available and filled us in on the woman’s history as she knew it. In further conversations with Annie, she shared a poem with us that she had written back in 2008 right around Thanksgiving after meeting another young lady who was sleeping under a bridge in Nacogdoches. Annie told her about GODTEL but, for whatever reason, she did not want to come. That meeting had a profound effect on Annie and she wrote the following poem: Thanks Given to Elizabeth: We appreciate Annie’s desire and willingness to help those she finds in need and pray that God will touch others with His compassion and love. At the very least, people can be pointed in our direction to receive shelter, food, clothing, and the message of God’s offer of salvation from eternal misery and torment and His promise of an abundant life here on planet earth and the joy of Heaven for all eternity. ~Nancy Gentry
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