Two Stories: Four Grace Church Members Visit Fox Hollow Senior Living Community . . . and . . . Grace Riders Motorcycle Ministry Supports “Rollin’ to Robbins” Food Drive

Meg, Jenny, Paul, and Christy pose for a photo at the Fox Hollow Senior Living Community. (Click once to enlarge this photo.)  

Story by Christy Blanchard (pictured above on the right)

This morning (Saturday, August 3, 2013), we met bright and early at Grace Church in Southern Pines, N.C., for the church-wide “summer serve” project for the study we are doing, “Gospel in Life” by Timothy J. Keller.

Those participating in the study chose how they and/or their Bible study groups were going to serve their community. When we got to the church, we registered and received blue T-shirts that said, “Grace Church.” The week before I had signed up to serve with the group going to Fox Hollow Senior Living Community to spend time with people in the memory care unit of the retirement home.

I, along with three other volunteers, arrived at the retirement home, and we were not quite sure what to expect. We brought cookies to share in hopes of winning them over with treats. There were about fifteen elderly people in the main area of the memory care unit and we were instantly greeted and welcomed by a few of the residents. We walked around and introduced ourselves to everyone who was awake, passed around some cookies (although they much preferred graham crackers!), and talked to some about the retirement home. After a while we became more comfortable with the residents and started a game of Bingo. Some people fell asleep during the game and didn’t even know when they had won!

After Bingo one of the caregivers passed out hymnal books to sing out of. Most of the residents perked up at this and we could tell they really enjoyed singing old hymns. Most of them knew them by heart from childhood, despite their memory problems. The lady I was sitting next to started to cry when we were sang, “Send the Light.” She held my hand and told me the songs make her sad but she enjoys singing them anyway.

After singing we went outside and enjoyed the great outdoors. The residents went around and told stories about their pasts and their families, with the help of a caregiver to remind them of their pasts. They were all very proud of their children, talked about husbands and wives, and loved to tell about their past professions in life.

I am so blessed to have had the chance to meet some of the residents of Fox Hollow, and I hope that our presence, handholding, prayers, and hugs made their day a little brighter. The experience reminded me, as I so easily forget, that there is a population in the world that often gets overlooked but desperately needs our prayers. Elderly people who have lost parts of their memory or are unable to communicate need our interceding prayers for health, restoration, salvation, and the peace of Jesus Christ.                                     ###

   

Grace Riders Motorcycle Ministry Rolls to Help    

  Robbins Area Christian Ministries Food Bank

Some members of Grace Riders MM (click on photo to enlarge)

“This is our first event,” says Phil Bivins, of Southern Pines, as he and about a dozen members of Grace Riders Motorcycle Ministry (GRMM) fill boxes for a “Rollin’ to Robbins” food drive organized by the group. 

Phil Bivins, leader of Grace Riders MM

 

Working at tables set up in the lobby of Grace Church in Southern Pines on a recent Sunday (August 4, 2013) morning, the riders box an estimated 7,000 pounds of non-perishable foodstuffs brought or procured from businesses by the church’s attendees.

The food is destined for afternoon delivery to the Robbins Area Christian Ministries food bank in Robbins.

“You don’t have to be a member of Grace Church or own a motorcycle to be a member of our group,” says Bivins, who leads the church’s GRMM “life group.” “You just need to be interested in spreading the Good News. We have 32 members.”

The group meets at 6:30 p.m. on Thursdays at Grace Church.

“We have excursions planned,” says Bivins, who served as a Navy corpsman and retired as a Navy CWO-3 (warrant officer, nurse).

“Many of us in the group are former military,” says Eddie Nobles, of Whispering Pines, the group’s assistant leader.

Eddie Nobles

Chuck Laudenslager

 “I’ve been riding motorcycles since I was 16; I turn 61 right away,” says Chuck Laudenslager, a group member and former warrant officer who served 23 years with the U.S. Army. He works at Ft. Bragg and also rides with the Patriot Guard Riders (PGR), Sandhills District. PGR members attend funerals of members of the armed forces, firefighters and police when invited by deceased persons’ families.

Ethan with his father, Michael Fury 

 

Michael Fury, of Carthage, a group member who teaches math at North Moore High School in Robbins, says, “My 7-year-old son, Ethan, rides with me. He’s been riding since he was two years old.”

After Sunday lunch, two motorcyclists ride in front of a large loaded-with-food truck driven by Jerry Troyer. The rest of the riders fall in behind as they “roll” to the Robbins Area Christian Ministries (RACM) food bank, located in the backroom of Heavenly Thrift Store in Robbins.

Tony and Donna Haywood of Helping Hands Ministry, Inc. of Moore County and about 15 volunteers from the Robbins area help sort and stock food onto shelves after riders deliver their cache.  

Mary Farrell, owner of West Moore Pottery of Seagrove, works unpaid as RACM’s “food coordinator.”

“Grace Church brought an amazing amount of food – maybe the largest single contribution in the 10 years I’ve been working with this food bank,” Farrell said. “A lot of churches – nine or ten – in the Robbins area work with the Robbins Area Christian Ministries. We have the thrift store, too. Our president is Michael Parenti, pastor of Brown’s Chapel Christian Church.”

The food bank is open from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, she says.

“We have no paid staff,” Farrell notes. “Needy families may visit the food bank once a month. We give a bag to each family member, who may select ten items for each bag. If we do more than that, we run out. We feed about 200 people a month. That amounts to 2,000 items.”

Donated perishable items such as produce, meat and bread are given “as available” in addition to the 10 items per bag.

Grace Riders get ready to roll. 

The truck loaded with food rolls to Robbins, N.C.