The Uplift Mid-Mo booth saw wonderful things happening this year at the annual Soybean Festival, in Mexico, Missouri. Most importantly, was for us to see the blending of Christians in unity, from different denominational backgrounds, helping people in our community. Uplift Mid-MO is an interdenominational group made up from Christians from many churches in our community, working together to meet real needs for real people. There is no better way to enjoy a bright sunny day, than doing something for people that need it. This was accomplished by handing out free toiletries, cleaning supplies, hygiene items, toilet paper, and praying for people who requested it. At our booth, people were provided with five items each for free, demographic information was taken, water was provided, and visitors were prayed for as requested.
Uplift takes donations of money, or items that people can’t afford to purchase, and gives these items to the people in need of them. Many don’t know that food stamps won’t pay for toilet paper, cleaning supplies or hygiene objects like toothbrushes, shampoo, soap, or conditioner. These are the items most often taken for granted, yet not available to many in our community because some cannot afford them. Unilever, our biggest donor for the Festival this year, donated two pallets of shampoo, women’s, men’s and children’s; lotion, body wash and other things. Other objects like toilet paper, cleaning supplies toothbrushes, toothpaste, and soap were collected from local churches. We are so grateful to our donors without whom we wouldn’t have been able to bless those people who really needed these supplies.
As mentioned, we also asked people to fill out our form with questions pin-pointing demographics for people most in need in our own community and asking if anyone was searching for a church home. More than a hundred people filled out demographic forms. We know now that the information from our form matches statistics found in the 2010 Census for this area and tells us where the actual hardships are situated. We found, not only a great need for the items offered, but also, many additional needs, such as window air conditioner units for persons with lung ailments and wheelchair ramps for people who are immobilized by accident or disease, or people searching for a church home.
If people were looking for a church home, we had literature to send with people seeking that information. If any church has information for us to hand out, we will be very happy to add it to the supply already existing. It’s also helpful to know if the church has a bus ministry or something of that type as many do not nave transportation to get to church.
We also gave “free prayer” to those requesting it. “Free prayer” is offered to anyone and is their choice. We prayed for many who stopped by our booth for donated items or just a free bottle of water. People were grateful for the prayer and personal attention offered by the wonderful Uplift volunteers from several different churches across the community. Uplift wants most of all to establish unity within the body of Christ as a whole, and if we all work together, more can be accomplished in our community. The mountain of need in Audrain County and the surrounding areas can be handled by many workers from many churches one shovelful at a time with the help of Uplift Mid-MO and our volunteers.
Made possible by the following sponsors:
Clampitt Law Firm • Unilever • Robinett Construction • MFA Agri Services • Genesis Church • Victory Christian Fellowship • Hollywood Banners
We thank our many volunteers from multiple Mexico churches for working the event, donating items, and keeping Uplift Mid-MO in prayer.
Uplift Mid-MO 