2022
November 2022
Dear Family and Friends,
We hope this letter finds you well. This time of year marks the preparations for our annual Thanksgiving meal and outreach in the 9th Ward community of New Orleans. This will be our 16th year serving the meal in this community and many of you have served with us and supported us for years. In many ways serving in New Orleans was the catalyst to us forming Family Serve, a 501(c) (3) nonprofit religious corporation. The mission of Family Serve is simple: Share with God's people who are in need; practice hospitality. Romans 12:13.
Here is an update of Family Serve 2022.
San Diego Food Share: Family Serve shares fresh food at least once a week with friends and neighbors near downtown San Diego, reaching over 80 people. In 2022, we were blessed to find a new, free food source (SD Rescue Mission) closer to home. This allows us to use our own car to pick up the food, saving the cost of renting a truck. With food prices soaring and food insecurity rising, we decided to distribute food at least once per week to the neighboring community and anyone else who has a need. Word has spread and when able, we distribute food twice per week. For the past few months, food which used to take 2-3 hours to distribute, is gone within the first 15 minutes. If you or someone you know would like to participate, please contact us.
San Diego King’s Daughters: King’s Daughters is a club for girls of all ages. We have fun together and learn from the Bible and serve the community. Jennifer and Cami Stout have been leading King’s Daughters for over 11 years. Marilyn also helped out until she moved to college in September. In 2022, we were thankful to return to in-person meetings 2-4 times per month. This summer, we hosted the second King’s Daughter weeklong summer art camp, called “Brave”. The curriculum and supplies were provided by an amazing ministry partner, Thou Art Exalted, lead by Annie Pajcic. We had over twenty girls attend. Each girl received a “Brave” t-shirt, made beautiful works of art, learned from the Bible, and also learned how to prepare and eat healthy meals. You can see how much fun was had here. We just started our meetings for the 2022-2023 school year and we have over twenty girls signed up to attend in-person at City Tree Christian School. We are branching out to other school communities and we continue to pray to reach Liberia, Mexico and South Africa in the future.
Tecate, Baja California, Mexico: We continue outreach to local families by providing food, clothing, and other needed items. As reported last year, the Gonzalez-Herrera Family who we have known since 2003 lost two of their homes in a fire. In 2022, Family Serve raised the funds to replace their two smaller homes with one double size home. Family Serve donated the money to Amor Ministries and their staff in Mexico built the double wide home in just a few days. We continue to visit the family often, bringing food and other needed items. Since three generations live together on a rural piece of property, we are working on securing funds to build another house for one of the daughters and her two children who currently live in a structure that is not sound or weather proofed. With winter upon us, time is of the essence.
Valle de Guadalupe: After spending many years in this region of Baja California known for producing the majority of Mexico’s wine, the Lord connected us with a local church in need of a more permanent structure. Family Serve donated funds to purchase materials to begin work on the roof. We continue to raise funds to complete the project. Through this effort, we learned of a village where many families who work in the vineyards live. Many families migrate from Chiapas to work. The local church shares the gospel with these families and provides affordable rent for small trailers. Many have been baptized. Earlier this month, we brought volunteers to explore the vineyards and also serve these families through the local church. We call these excursions “Sip and Serve.” So far, everyone who has joined us has left with a new appreciation for the region and the people who work hard to support the region. With guidance from the local pastor, we brought bags of nonperishable food, blankets, diapers, water and toiletries to these local families. We are working with the church to continually stock a food bank for these families as well as planning two Christmas outreach events in the community. A local craft brewery has also volunteered to host a fundraising event in 2023.
South Africa: In July, Jennifer and Marilyn joined Amor Ministries “Women of Strength” for a 10-day mission trip to South Africa. Some of you supported Marilyn’s trip through Family Serve. This was their third trip together with this group. It has been almost four years since they had returned due to Covid. Much was accomplished even though there were only 15 volunteers, many of whom could not participate everyday due to a Covid outbreak. But, Covid could not curtail the Lord’s work. Along with youth from Amor Europe, the women helped build a house for two sisters and their children, dedicated a mobile library at a senior secondary school in Tambisa, and spent much of their time working on a very special seed project at Mafa Max Motloung secondary school in Delmas. The group brought many suitcases of supplies and taught the young girls and women to sew reusable sanitary pads. They learned that many girls stop attending school due to lack of funds to buy sanitary pads. Jennifer, Marilyn and others sewed many pads during the evenings after working and distributed the pads to the young girls. The local women have since started their own nonprofit to continue the microbusiness and Amor is seeking grant funds to reach other areas. The women were blessed to plant the seeds for this important project. Since returning home and sharing the trip details with others, Family Serve has secured funds to buy additional sewing machines. We plan to return next summer to support Amor’s ongoing efforts in this community and will continue to raise funds for this purpose.
New Orleans Outreach: Last year we traveled to New Orleans in our RV and participated in several community events. We served in memory of Wasim Merchant, our daughter Sara’s fiancé, and father to our grandchild, Josephine who passed away in August of 2021. Sara and Josephine served the entire week and endured the long trip there and back in the RV. We distributed truckloads of food to the community and held outreaches where we distributed donated “For Girls Like You” magazines to the local youth. We hosted the 15th Thanksgiving meal that served many families with homecooked Thanksgiving goodness. We also gave out t-shirts to everyone in need. One highlight was finding our longest standing volunteer who had to relocate to Texas. We found him living in his car and we were able to bring him a Thanksgiving meal on our way back to California. It was a blessed reunion. It was a full week, and the multitudes were fed, both physically and spiritually. We are currently planning another full week in the 9th Ward Community this upcoming Thanksgiving week. We plan to distribute food, hold an art Bible camp for the local youth at our partner church, sponsor two outreach events and shop, cook and serve a home cooked Thanksgiving meal to the community. We leave November 18, 2022.
Partners: Since we are stronger together, Family Serve likes to support other ministries. In 2022, we donated funds and in-kind services/goods to ministries that serve in Baja California, the Yucatan, South Africa, Palestine, Liberia, Poland and San Diego. Thank you for praying and supporting us in 2022 as we continue to add more “serve” to Family Serve. If you would like to donate to our upcoming New Orleans trip or other service area, you can send a tax-deductible donation to Family Serve, 2766 A Street, San Diego, CA 92102, or Venmo your donation to Jennifer McCain-2. Feel free to designate your giving for a specific purpose. Since our time, travel and administrative efforts are always donated, 100% of your your donation will be used for the outreach you request. You can also add Family Serve as a charity under your Amazon account by logging into Smile Amazon each time you order items.
We also accept donations of food, clothing and other items that can be provided to those in need. As the Lord calls us to different places, we go with the intention of meeting spiritual and practical needs one person at a time. With your prayers and support we have been able to make a lasting impact in the communities we serve. We are thankful for your prayers and your desire to help out however you can. If you would like to join us in upcoming adventures, we would love to have you come along as we serve as family in Christ.
With Joy and Gratitude,
Doug and Jennifer McCain for
Family Serve
Share with God's people who are in need; practice hospitality. Romans
12:13.