Filling The Void®, Inc.

Nearly 700 volunteers (including kiddos) have
distributed almost 27,000 sack lunches.

THE SURPRISE INSIDE

For a long time, the contents of our sack lunches have been – well – quite consistent. After all, why tinker with what works?

There’s only so much square footage in a standard issue brown paper sack, and didn’t someone once say, “If the food fits, you must not quit” (or something like that)?

To those we serve, they’ve known exactly what to expect for six straight years – an Arby’s sandwich, Pringles, cookies, an organic fruit strip, bottled water and a devotional.

And we thought that was a good thing – kinda like how Kentucky Fried Chicken maintained Colonel Sanders’ Original Recipe®.

But even the colonel is kicking his bucket around these days with grilled bird instead of fried, so we thought we’d give change a whirl, too.

For starters, our Denver team stuffed 35 sacks on Nov. 3 with submarine sandwiches from Arby’s instead of the “regulars” we normally serve that look like a burger.

In Tulsa, the change was more drastic, dramatic and jaw-dropping, where an estimated 80 people opened their bags to find Chick-Fil-A on Nov. 6.

The Chick-Fil-A sandwich was a pilot run that we’ll probably just do periodically (due to the increased cost). But there are some permanent changes in progress.

The Pringles are gone, replaced by good old-fashioned Fritos because their ingredients are simpler (corn, oil, salt – that’s all).

We’re also substituting the 0.5 oz organic fruit strips with a soft-baked, whole-grain, all-natural 1.2 oz Kashi snack bar. (The strawberry, apple and blackberry Kashi bars are simply more filling.)

Individual servings of carrots have also found their way inside our sacks, and we’re contemplating an Andes after-dinner mint to top things off.

Change is good. In this case, it’s about being health-conscious and making our bags a little better (and maybe more fun).

More than 200 people went through the serving line at our
Oct. 11, 2009, cookout in Tulsa.

KINDNESS AND COMPASSION: MORE ON TAP

We know, we know. Every calendar rolls over when December ends. Except for ours at Filling The Void, figuratively speaking of course.

You see, we got our big start in ministry back in October 2003. To be honest, it was way more modest than news-making.

Compelled by the love of Christ, we started out with 5 sack lunches, no "street cred" and no real sense of what to expect. Still, we went.

Now, as we officially (or unofficially if you prefer to wait 'til o-ten) start year seven, our hearts remain hungry to help others.

To date, with six years on the books, more than 600 volunteers have served roughly 26,000 sack lunches in our two cities.

In Tulsa, we serve lunch every Friday at 3rd & Detroit. In Denver, we comb the downtown streets on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday each month.

Tulsa’s Central Church helped us celebrate the launch of year seven with another "meat-n-greet" like they did with us last year.

In case you wonder what that means, "meat-n-greet" is another way of saying they did a cookout for our clients (aka our friends).

Together, we treated more than 200 people to hamburgers and hot dogs, along with live music and a couple of encouraging sermons.

As we've seen, it's a tried and true strategy of meeting both physical and spiritual needs. It's our calling, and Christ still compels us.

We're always looking for new faces to serve with Filling The Void. To volunteer, drop us a line at fillingthevoid@hotmail.com.

We also welcome financial support. You can send a tax-deductible gift to Filling The Void at P.O. Box 1134 in Broken Arrow, OK, 74013.

To our donors, our volunteers and to those we serve, we extend our heart-felt thanks for making it all possible.

Nancy received our 25,000th sack lunch (and other gifts)
at our Aug. 14 outreach.

HIGHS AND LOWS FROM HELPING

The emotional aspect of getting so close to so many certainly has its ups and downs. To be completely candid, our sixth summer of helping others was exciting and sobering all at the same time.

On the upside, we served our 25,000th sack lunch at our Friday outreach in Tulsa on Aug. 14. It’s a journey that began, of course, back in 2003.

The recipient was a lady named Nancy, who was accompanied by three of her grandchildren. Volunteer Brock King served up the special bag.

We’ve seen higher turnouts for lunches in Tulsa again, too, where we had typically served more than 160 people per week before we changed the day and location of our outreaches last Fall.

It’s great to see our crowds officially come back, with 104 on Aug. 21 and 115 on Aug. 28. Based on how we’ve grown before, we should be back to 150 per week sometime in 2010.

Denver remains a bright spot, too. We’ve had almost 25 outreaches there so far this year, and the volunteer base continues to expand and get more experience.

Sadly, we’ve also seen stories about homeless men we knew who passed away this summer. Their bodies were found near the OSU-Tulsa campus and on the 16th St. mall in Denver.

We’ve also wrestled with seeing our upstart mentoring program hit a snag. Both men we were working with quit cold turkey.

Another man we’ve served for years also told us he was finally ready to get off the streets and into housing. He made the appointments to proceed, then missed them.

Given our fondness for those we serve, we don’t take their struggles lightly. Despite their challenges, we know God can tackle tough situations. He can heal all the brokenness we see.

So we’ll keep praying. We’ll keep persevering. We’ll keep expecting miracles. Will you pray, too?

Denver volunteers Becki Dierenfield, Julie Willis, Jason Putnam and Vicky Dolven at our May 5 outreach. Roughly 50 people in Denver have volunteered with Filling The Void since April 2008.









MILE-HIGH MISSION MOVES FORWARD

It’s been a year since we first set out on a daring mission to do ministry in our second city – Denver, Colorado.

Our volunteer base has climbed from 9 to more than 50. We even had 24 volunteers show up for an outreach in April.

Two churches – Parker Christian Center and Calvary Chapel of Castle Rock – have joined our effort. A third – Centennial’s Shepherd of the Hills – is interested.

The frequency of our outreaches there has tripled. We started with one per month. Now we go out on the first and third Tuesdays of every month, plus one Saturday.

We served 16 sack lunches on our first day in Denver. Some 25 outreaches later, you can add another 600 to that number.

Each of those bags represents a life that has been touched and encouraged with the good news of God’s love.

People like Patrick, who was going in for gall bladder surgery the next day. Or Roger, who was out of work and in tears after we prayed with him.

People like Reggie, who is homeless at the age of 62. Or an older woman named Vi, who had just lost her 22-year-old daughter.

And Jerome, who was fresh out of jail. And Daniel, who needed to know that he could be delivered from alcohol.

God wants to lift up their lives. He can turn their scars into stars. That’s the motivation for this street ministry – to see lives saved in every city where we serve.

As we look ahead in Denver, our biggest need is local leadership. To date, we’ve been organizing it from Tulsa. But we know others in Denver can take it so much further. God will provide.

This particular bucket has seen a lot of "bread."

PASSING THE “PLATE,” SO TO SPEAK

Back in January, we added a new feature to our Friday outreaches in Tulsa when we share the gospel and serve sack lunches.

We decided to bring a bucket for offerings and see what happened. After all, the Bible says, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

The idea was bold enough to take one or two of our volunteers aback. The thought being: “We’re supposed to help people. Why are we taking from them?”

Three months later, the results will tell you everything you need to know about the lives we feed and pray with every week.

Over 15 Fridays, they’ve given $206.39 – proving just how much they welcomed and wanted a formal way to give back.

The bucket has seen twenties, tens, fives, three one-dollar gold coins and two Tulsa Transit bus tokens.

When we saw the tokens, we thought of the story Jesus told about the widow who gave “two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny.”

Jesus said she put more into the temple treasury than all the others because “out of her poverty, she put in everything – all she had to live on.”

We’ve told our crowds that what we collect in Tulsa will go toward helping others in our second city, Denver. At this rate, they may fund 20 percent of the 2009 budget there.

God must be smiling mighty big!

Vicky Dolven, Kortnie Wertzbaugher, Gary Nilson and
Craig Hurst were 4 of 24 volunteers at our April 1
outreach in Denver.

RECORD TURNOUT IN THE ROCKIES

As we poured over the list of volunteer RSVPs for our April 1 outreach in Denver, something in particular stood out: the number 24.

Twenty-four volunteers for one outreach is a new record for us in the Rockies. That's a lot of progress for our first year in Denver. We're so grateful for all these hearts who want to help.

The forecast called for a high of 38 and a couple inches of snow. Instead, the clouds stayed closed and the temperature climbed to 46. We set out with 35 sack lunches, ready to serve.

“The people we’ve encountered are so appreciative,” Paula Lentowich said. “Having the opportunity to reach out and make a difference in their lives is truly rewarding.”

Those rewards, of course, are coupled with seeing the stark realities of just how badly people are hurting – battling cancer, heroin, a prison record, job loss and the loss of a spouse.

The “hunger” we’re seeing is so intense that people are approaching our volunteers...and specifically asking them for prayer after watching them pray for someone else.

These precious lives long to be delivered from the devastation of depression, abuse, addiction, and abandonment. We hear the cry. We see the cry. And we’re moved with Christ’s compassion.

Our next two outreaches in Denver take place on May 5 and May 19. To learn more about Filling The Void, please visit www.denveroutreach.com.

Members of a Tulsa youth
group presented a special
gift to Filling The Void
in February. That's youth
pastor Justin Hedges on
the left, Ashley from
the youth group, and Filling
The Void's Kelly Swan.










A 'SOUPER' DUPER DEED

Faith. Football. And Filling the Void. The combination will all make sense after we tell you about a terrific teen at Tulsa’s Central Church.

Ashley H. recently told her youth pastor that she wanted to “do more” for the Lord. It’s the kind of conversation youth pastors dream of.

So Justin Hedges pointed Ashley to a project called the Souper Bowl of Caring. That’s right – souper, as in, soup. You can check it out at www.souperbowl.org.

A church in South Carolina hatched the idea years ago to turn Super Bowl Sunday into a youth-led weekend of giving and serving.

According to project officials, teens across the country have raised $50 million for charities of their choice since 1990.

Ashley chose us. She and her youth group routinely rally to assemble our lunch sacks. In fact, a member of their youth group (Zach) holds the record for most sacks stuffed in a single hour.

For Ashley’s Filling The Void fundraiser, she organized an all-church fellowship following the Sunday morning service on Feb. 1 – hours before the NFL’s biggest game of the year.

At Ashley’s prompting, roughly 15 families brought crock pots steaming with chili and soups. As people filled their bowls, they also pitched in dollar after dollar into a donation bucket.

In the end, Ashley collected $610.35 – easily enough to help Filling The Void feed hundreds of people in Tulsa and Denver.

Ashley’s selfless and generous spirit is what we see all the time, even from those we serve. Wait ‘til you hear about the offerings we’re getting at our outreaches. You’ll be blown away.