December 2011 Newsletter - Buffalo

Vol 19 No 4
www.harvesthouse.ws
December 2011
What is Harvest House?
At the recent Trocaire College Reflections dinner, Gary and Linda were awarded the Presidents
Award for Community Service. They were asked to talk about Harvest House but had only two
minutes. The following is from Linda’s talk.

Harvest House is the four paid staff members who each day do the work of ten people to
keep the two locations operating and it is the board of the directors who help guide the organization and are paving the way for an exciting future.

Harvest House is the thousands of young people who by coming to Harvest House each year
for retreats or work camps bring Christ to Gary and I.

Harvest House is the young single mother who comes to the Baby and Children's Ministry for
free items to keep her children safe and warm. It is the 25 volunteers who keep the Baby and
Children's Ministry open and it is the members of the community who keep the building
stocked with their generous donations.

Harvest House is the woman who was resigned to live in a world of darkness until a caring
doctor at Good Neighbors Health Care made arrangements for her to receive free cataract
surgery. It is the gentleman who pulled three teeth with a pair of pliers before coming for
free dental care. It is the uninsured residents who come to Good Neighbors for their acute
and chronic health care needs and Harvest House is the 97 health care professionals who volunteer their precious time to help these deserving men and women.

Harvest House is the hundreds of adults who seek training at New Hope Education Center. It
is the 15 receptionists who volunteer their services to keep the school open and it is the tutors and education liaison who are there to provide that something extra that makes New
Hope special.

Harvest House is the foundations who believed in our vision by providing
the funds to help make Harvest House and the Ministry Center the warm
and welcoming facilities they are today and Harvest House is you, our supporters.
So as you can see Harvest House is a lot more than just Gary and Linda. God
bless everyone who makes Harvest House what it is, and what it will be in the
future.
Gary and Linda at the Trocaire
Gary’s Corner can be
College Reflections dinner.
found on page 2
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Gary’s
Corner In the beginning of 2010, the Harvest House board of directors voted to look into expanding our adult education
center (New Hope Education Center). About the same time, 2 foundations made applications available for 2 grants totaling
$500,000. We knew God wanted the expansion so we were absolutely certain we would get both grants. At the last minute we
didn’t get either one! Linda and I were devastated. If this is God’s will why didn’t He give us the money? I always tell people
that if they are thinking about doing something for the Lord, don’t let money be the deciding factor. If you’re willing to do the
work, it’s Gods job to get the money. Harvest House has proven that to us. Hey God – aren’t you paying attention?
Shortly thereafter, Linda and I had an opportunity for the trip of a lifetime. We took a trip all by ourselves from Portugal and
Spain to Venice, Italy and then spent 2 weeks traveling from Venice to Rome. On the way we visited at least a dozen huge basilicas,
dating all the way back to 67 AD. At every one we spent time in prayer asking for the wisdom to understand what God wants us to do
about the expansion. At every single church, I felt God saying “make the school Christian.”
The 97 volunteers at the free medical center, Good Neighbors Health Care, pray for and with the patients and have a spiritual
director available every time they are open. Even Muslims have prayed with the staff. New Hope is different. The teachers are provided by and paid by Buffalo Public Schools Adult Education Division, Erie Community College and Erie2 Chautauqua-Cattaraugus
Boces. I asked our director if we could have the teachers do a 2 minute prayer for prayer requests from the students before scheduled
class times for any student who arrived early if they want. The answer was absolutely not.
“OK God. You want it Christian but we can’t pray in school, so what’s Your plan?” Linda came up with the answer. There is
no reason we can’t at least have a chapel in the building! My mind went into overdrive. Put it where it will be readily seen - in the
reception and student lounge area. It should be small and intimate, maybe room for 3 or 4 people. Being Catholic, I would normally
put in a crucifix and maybe a statue of Jesus, Mary and Joseph but that wouldn’t embrace other denominations. I thought OK God we
are on the right track. Now show us what You want in the chapel. Almost immediately the money started coming in. Linda’s 17 years
of grant writing was really paying off. We still need approximately $400,000, but we are sure God will provide what we need.
The board voted to go ahead with the project so we hired the architect, bought a little more land for future parking, have the
floor plan designed and in the next couple of months will be submitting a site plan, filing for building permits and putting the project
out for bids.
.
Now it’s time to design the chapel. I love sunsets and have always wanted to go to Key West to see what everyone claims are
the best sunsets in the world. For the past 10 years we have taken our annual vacation in Ocean City, MD, but this year we decided to
finally go to Key West. As we rode our bicycles around the neighborhood, we came across a church and convent which had a small
adoration chapel. When we walked into the chapel, I was stunned!!! HERE IS OUR CHAPEL! The front wall was curved back and
on it was a stone archway with a curved top. Painted inside was a life size portrait of the Divine Mercy Jesus. It’s a specific picture of
Jesus in a robe standing with one hand raised toward heaven and the other on His heart. Spreading from His heart to His bare feet is a
fan of many colors. Across the bottom is printed “Jesus I trust in you.” We actually have the same picture in the small chapel at Harvest House, but of course it doesn’t have the stone archway. I don’t know if it was the intent of the designer of the chapel but I instantly saw it as a risen Christ stepping out of the tomb in all His glory, raising His hand to His Father and shining the multiple colored rays
of light on all of us. I just sat there in awe, praising and thanking God for designing our chapel. As I sat there gazing at the picture, my
eyes stayed focused on the words “Jesus I trust in you.” I had never seen this on the picture before and I’ve seen the picture several
times. When we got home I went to look at the picture in the chapel at Harvest House and for the first time I saw the phrase “Jesus I
trust in You.” All these years, I never saw that part of the picture. I had to go all the way to the southernmost tip of the U.S.A. OK
God. I got Your message. I trust in You.
In Christ’s Love,
Gary
P.S. Do you know a stone mason or an artist to help us make this a reality?
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1782 Seneca Street
Thank you to everyone who contributed donations to the Baby and Children's Ministry this quarter.
The children
we help are the best dressed kids in the area! Thanks to the residents of Westwood who lov.
ingly hand knitted and crocheted hats, gloves, scarves, mittens and blankets for the children. Thanks to First
Trinity Church in Tonawanda for having church wide drive specifically for children’s jeans! To date they collected more than 60 pairs. Thank you to SS Peter and Paul in Hamburg who has an ongoing clothing drive
and is doing a socks and underwear drive for the children. St. John’s in Alden is also doing a socks and underwear drive. Great job!
We need help hanging up all these wonderful donations and thank goodness for work parties!
Thank you to the young people of St. Stephens RC Church, Grand Island, and the teens of Clarence UM
Church for the excellent job they did of hanging up clothes and to the women of Clarence Contemporary
Club for lending a much needed hand in the Baby and Children's Ministry. Do you know any other organizations that might like to be involved?
OPERATION WARM
A great big thank you goes out to Jim and Jill Vavreck
who purchased 168 beautiful, brand new, winter
coats to keep the kids warm this winter. Besides
making the children feel warm in their snuggly new
A happy client models her new coat.
No man stands so tall as when
he stoops to help a child.
Jim and Jill Vavreck with some of the beautiful
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Blessings are bountiful! Harvest House received a shipment of 300+ winter coats from the Coats 4 Kids program.
Thank you to Robert Marlinski and Colvin Cleaners. On November 18, Robert delivered 300 winter coats as part
of the Coats for Kids donations. In addition, he brought a huge bag of warm hats and gloves for the dear children
who are in need as the temperatures are dropping. What a blessing .
Welcome Julie
Hi all! It’s Julie Phelan, the Catholic Charities Service
Corps Volunteer (CCSC) and the Education Liaison at the
New Hope Education Center. I have settled into my position at New Hope and wanted to give all you readers a
little more details about myself and my journey thus far.
I am from a suburb of Philadelphia, PA called Drexel Hill.
I live with my parents, Sue and Joe, my older sister, Kelly
and my two younger brothers, Joseph and Daniel. Family
is a huge part of my life and since I have started at the
Harvest House Ministry Center I have been blessed that
Linda, Gary, Tony, Robert and all of the volunteers have
become a family away from home to me. To get to know
me a little better, I am an avid Philadelphia sports fan,
and love playing as well as watching all types of sports. I
am a graduate of Penn State University where I studied
International Politics with a focus in National Security as
well as Sociology. Buffalo has welcomed me with open
arms and I have embraced this experience. Thank you all
for being so welcoming as I start this journey.
wish list
socks All sizes
Underwear Sizes 2-14
winter coats
Christmas is the time when we all think
about helping others. Santa might not
be able to stop at some of the homes
of the children that come to the Baby
and Children's Ministry for help. To
these kids, a pair of brand new underwear or soft warm socks are just as appreciated. They are delighted with a
gently used coat that fits and keeps
them snug in the cold or a pair of boots
winter boots-our #1 need
gently used jeans sizes 5-14
gently used tops sizes 5-14
bottles
bibs
newborn clothing
Cribs for Kids®
The East Hill Foundation has blessed Harvest House
and the babies by providing a grant to purchase 100 safe
sleep kits. The kits include a Graco Pack n Play, a sheet
with the safe sleep message, a sleep sack and a respironic
pacifier.
We feel doubly blessed when after requesting
funds to purchase 50 safe sleep kits the foundation gave
Harvest House funds to purchase 100!
Blessings are bountiful! The Telecom Pioneers
gave Harvest House $500 to purchase 10 pack n plays for
the babies. Rumor has it that two more foundations will
be sending money to purchase even more pack n plays!
The season of Advent was beginning, and the pastor wanted to inform the children
that, according to the Bible, Jesus is coming twice - once as the baby in the manger, and
then as King. He asked the children, “How did Jesus come the first time?” Little Ryan
replied, “Down the chimney.”
Bottles for Babies ™
The Bottles for Babies™ campaign continues to be a blessing for the Baby and Children's Ministry. A former
retreatant visited Harvest House recently and asked for a bottle to take home because he wanted to help the children.
When he returned the bottle, it contained a $100 bill!
This quarter, bottles were returned to Harvest House by Clarence United Methodist Church, St. Joseph RC
Church, Holland, Marilla United Methodist Church, Our Lady of Peace Clarence Pro-Life Committee, St Christopher's,
Tonawanda, Most Precious Blood, Angola and D’Youville College Focus Class.
Thank you to our ongoing supporters, our guardian angels, that bring bottles back on a regular basis - St. Benedicts, Eggertsville, SS. Peter and Paul, Hamburg, and the John Newman Mission Community, Williamsville. Thank you
also to our individual donors who gave for the first time or who continue to give year after year.
Because of your generosity Harvest House is able to “change a life”.
Did you know????
Harvest House offers two sizes of bottles. We have the regular
size bottle that we give out to the churches and organizations and we
have a super size bottle for businesses to display. Thank you to Wiseguys Pizza (716-826-8406) Seneca Street and the South Side Social &
Athletic Club (716-825-9264) Elk Street for placing a large bottle on
their counters for patrons to throw that pesky change into.
Other businesses that have large bottles in them are banks, gas stations
and a construction company. Do you know someplace that might be
willing to place a bottle on their counter to help the kids?
Thank you for helping
us by supporting the
Bottles for Babies™
Blessed are those who can give
without remembering, and take
without forgetting.
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Volunteer
Emailings
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Harvest House is grateful to the 34 members of our
mailing list who switched to the electronic version of
the newsletter. These 34 supporters will save Harvest House $95.20 annually.
You can still sign up to have your newsletter delivered to your inbox. We promise that email addresses will never be given out or sold and will be used
exclusively by Harvest House for correspondence between you and us.
To sign up for this service, please send your email
address to HarvestHousePiatek@gmail.com.
V
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Whitehaven Road Baptist Church (WHRB),
Grand Island, volunteer journey with Good
Neighbor's Health Care began with several
trips to Haiti (starting in 2004) with Dr. Felstadt, and Andy Harbison, sponsored by their
church. After working with the poorest of
the poor in Haiti, God definitely gave them
all a heart for the needy, no matter where
they would find them. When they heard
about Good Neighbors Health Care, practically in their backyard, they were eager to
minister to the poor at home doing many of
the same things they did in Haiti: listening,
assessing, diagnosing basic medical problems, teaching, handing out free medicines
and sharing the Gospel in word and in deed.
Partnering with Good Neighbors has allowed
WHRB Church to serve the Lord close to
home and more frequently than they can
through their trips to Haiti.
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Motivation is when your dreams
R
put on work clothes.
C
Benjamin Franklin
H
mailing Committee
Harvest House would not exist without our wonderful volunteers. One of the jobs volunteers do is preparing
the newsletter for mailing. With 2,000 newsletters, a card
insert, labels and three tabs to close it, it is a time consuming job. A priest visiting Harvest House witnessed a
group working on the mailing. He asked if we had a mailing committee. I said no and he told us how his church
has a committee that he calls whenever there is a mailing
of any kind. He suggested we try it.
I suggest a group of 6 people minimum. The
more people, the faster the job will go. The newsletter is
sent out quarterly and should be in the mail by the first of
March, June, September and December. You can do the
work here (preferred) or we will bring it to you. If you
think this would interest you, please call Tony or Linda at
716-825-0929.
9
175 Jefferson Avenue
Buffalo, NY 14210
Bits and Pieces
A middle age woman returned to the health center saying that at her last visit she had a mass on
her head that was bothering her. She enthusiastically explained that she received prayer at the
heath center and the next day, when she woke
up, the mass was completely gone!
Good Neighbors Health Care has cared for many students
from a conservative Muslim girls boarding school in Buffalo. A few conservative Muslims attended the 1 year anniversary Celebration where
they heard God’s Word preached and left with a balloon
with stated “With God all things are possible.”
One day a woman picked up her new eye glasses.
She went to the middle of the waiting room, started
turning around and around. laughing joyfully. One of the other patients said to her “you can see.” She replied, “I can see, I can see
everything, the pictures on the walls and all you beautiful people!”
I have grown up in a comfortable, faith-filled family and have a successful career as an optician and business owner.
Volunteering at Good Neighbors has allowed me to give back to our
community and those less fortunate. The feeling of accomplishment
when a customer receives a pair of glasses and realizes they can see
again is wonderful. A few customers have cried with delight, but many
just repeatedly bless us for our work and dedication.
We Treat. Jesus Heals.
An elderly woman said she was
about to give up watching television for a year because of the
expenses associated with it and
also because of poor program
choices. She said she wanted to
watch one more thing before
she let it go. She turned to TCT
Christian broadcasting and saw a
public report program about
Good Neighbors. She was so
moved that she called to pledge
support for Good Neighbors with
money she would normally
spend on cable. She said she has
never seen anything like the
work we do, and she wants to do
her part to keep it available for
others.
10
175 Jefferson Avenue
Buffalo, NY 14210
Personal Care Aide
ted
Highligh
Class
Life is better because you
know more, not because
you have more.
Students who enroll in the PCA (Personal Care Aide) class at
New Hope have a distinct advantage. A job! Job applications are
filled out at New Hope, and then prospective employers interview
the students. If they pass the interview they are hired, paid to
attend the PCA class, and their job is waiting for them when they
pass the course and receive their certificate. After completing the
course at New Hope one of the employers conducts their 2 day job
orientation at Harvest House on Seneca Street.
PCAs provide patient assistance with nutritional and environmental support and personal hygiene, feeding, or dressing and
may provide select health related tasks as an extension to selfdirected patients. Personal Care Aides must possess a current certificate from a training program recognized by the New York State
Department of Health. PCAs will provide services under the supervision of a Registered Nurse.
We asked students attending class
what makes New Hope special?
and they answered…
….everyone there seems to care.
….I get a quality education.
….someone is available to help me when I find something difficult.
Graduates of the latest Licensed Practical Nursing
Class recite the Nurses Creed. The students take
courses at New Hope Education Center and hold their
graduation ceremony in the sanctuary of Harvest
House where they can walk up on the stage to the
cheering of their friends and family.
….they help me find solutions to problems that may
prevent me from coming to school like transportation or day care.
….the school is so neat and clean and pretty.
….I feel respected.
….I feel comfortable.
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On a cold day in December, some years ago, a little boy, about 10-years old, was standing before a shoe store on
the roadway, barefooted, peering through the window, and shivering with cold. A lady approached the young boy and said
“My, but you’re in such deep thought staring in that window.” “I was asking God to give me a pair of shoes,” was the boys
reply.
The lady took him by the hand, went into the store, and asked the clerk to get half a dozen pairs of socks for the
boy. She then asked if he could give her a basin of water and a towel which he quickly brought to her. She took the little
fellow to the back part of the store and, removing her gloves, knelt down, washed his little feet, and dried them with the
towel. By this time, the clerk had returned with the socks. Placing a pair upon the boy’s feet, she purchased him a pair of
shoes. She tied up the remaining pairs of socks and gave them to him. She patted him on the head and said, “no doubt,
you will be more comfortable now.”
As she turned to go, the astonished kid caught her by the hand, and looking up into her face, with tears in
his eyes, asked her. “Are you God’s wife?”
More ways to help
Did you know that you can designate Harvest House to receive your United Way, SEFA
or CFC contributions. If you are already designating Harvest House to receive your
funds thank you. Could you please go one step further by asking your co-workers to
also choose Harvest House to receive their donations?
If you are a state or federal employee you can designate Harvest House via
CFC (Federal Campaign) or SEFA (State Campaign). Please suggest to your office,
coworkers, and friends that they do the same. If you have a gathering spot or hold
periodic meetings at work and would like a Harvest House representative to come and
explain all we do that to can be arranged.
Download www.goodsearch.com/toolbar/mode/ to your
toolbar. Every time you use GoodSearch as your search engine
tool Harvest House will receive one cent.
How to contact us:
Cash for Cans
Don't you just hate those sticky can and bottle
recycling machines! Good news. You can take
your cans and bottles to Cash for Cans and they
will count them for you, AND you can ask them
to donate the money to Harvest House! Cash for
Cans has two locations - 2990 Seneca Street (by
Center), West Seneca (939-3840) and 1785 Abbott Road (at Martin), Lackawanna (939-2076).
Please pass the word!
Harvest House
1782 Seneca Street
Buffalo, NY 14210-1895
Retreat Center 716-825-0929
Baby & Children's Ministry 716-824-7818
Harvest House Ministry Center
175 Jefferson Avenue
Buffalo, NY 14210-1038
Good Neighbors Health Care 716-856-2400
New Hope Education Center 716-855-0654
Harvest House
1782 Seneca Street
Buffalo, NY 14210-1895
Non Profit Org.
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Christmas Blessings from Harvest House