Summer and Karen

I was chatting with our President, Karen Gidderon, the other day. I wasn’t really chatting; I was venting.  I was upset with myself because I feel like I haven’t been able to communicate what Living Ministries is properly. Being one of the founders, and the main spokesperson until we figured out Karen would be the better front person and I am the better support person, a lot of my personality has bled into Living Ministries culture, expectations and aspirations. I have waited for a long time to know fully what we were supposed to be because, although I was the person with the vision to undertake birthing a new organization, I didn’t ever want to take that for granted.

I have waited for a long time to hear from our committee what we should be, and like always, when God is ready, He gives the next revelation.

There are many people in our area that don’t want to contribute to the big organizations, but will get together with their friends and handle a fundraiser or give a gift to a family. That is the heart of Living Ministries. We are that group of friends that learns as we go and tackles a new issue with the same abandon to be a blessing….we just have a business license.

As we finally have the full vision, I am confident that I am ready to take on the endeavor to become 501(c)(3). I am so excited that it is time! Soon we will have the capacity to play like a big organization, but I know we will always keep our heart. We will always be a group of friends that waits to support and be a blessing.

I feel like some people don’t give to big organizations because they want to do things the way they want to do them. They don’t want to have to follow rules; they want to follow their heart. They don’t trust the large organization to do what they said they would do because as we donate for a cause we are also paying administration costs like wages and insurance and that is not what we wanted to give to.

I asked Karen if she understood what happened to a donation to Living Ministries. I know she knew we were good stewards with it but the look on her face told me she didn’t know if she could explain the process.

If you look on our How to Help page you will see that if you choose to give a financial donation to Living Ministries you also may choose what program it goes to. At this time we have savings accounts set up for:

• Angel Wings Rescue
• Christmas Angel Telethon
• Diapers
• General Use
• Hearts For Homeless

If you give a donation to Living Ministries and specify that you want it to go to one of our Affiliate Ministries then automatically 90% is given to that ministry, to do with as they need, and 10% covers any processing fees. Whatever is left from that 10% goes into the savings account for that Affiliate Ministry to be used to further that ministry; it may be used to facilitate the annual fundraiser we have for the Affiliate Ministry or it may be used to help them get their own licensing and insurance.

If you choose a Living Ministries program to bless, like Christmas Angel Telethon or Diapers, then 90% of your donation will go in the savings account for that program and will be used as needed and 10% will go into our General Use money that is used to facilitate community events or buy things for people or organizations as we hear of a need and feel led to fill it.

There is no one that takes a paycheck at Living Ministries. In fact our Bylaws say that my position is the only position that can even take a paycheck, but I wont do it unless I finally am ready to tackle looking for a grant to spur a big project because I want to make sure that you know that your money is not spent on my coffee but on the project you are passionate about. All of our marketing is donated or facilitated by Exclaim Media Video & Marketing, most of our printing is donated by Copies Today Speedy Litho. We are so lucky that our Administration Costs are low. We meet at Life Works, our committee members use their own cars and gas to make deliveries and pickups.  In fact our Administration Costs are covered by donations that our Board of Directors make to Living Ministries.

If you ever wondered, I hope that your question has been answered. Living Ministries wants to build relationships and fill needs in our community. We want to be real, honest and remain as flat as possible. We are not a private club. We are always interested in hearing what you think. You are always invited to our meetings. You are always welcome to help with a project and we hope that when you need us that we can stand beside you and help.

Thanks for reading this. Please Contact Us if you have questions.

Sincerely,

Summer D Clemenson
Executive Director; Acting Treasurer