STUFFED ANIMALS, BLANKETS, SOCKS & MORE!

One of our long-time partners is Jackie Stone from Wilkes County, North Carolina. 29 years ago, Jackie said “Yes!” to God, when he felt called to begin a ministry as a missionary here in the United States. 

 In the early days, Jackie took mission trips to West Virginia and Kentucky – relatively close to his home in North Carolina. Then one day, a few men invited Jackie to take a trip into New York City. 

 It’s really an interesting story. Jackie and his friends were there to paint a church located in a storefront in a troubled part of town. The church building had been repeatedly covered in graffiti. While Jackie and his team painted the front of the building, the church decided it was time for a name change: It would now be called “Graffiti Ministries.”

 As Jackie tells it, since the day the church received a fresh coat of paint and a new name, the building has not been graffitied again… in over 25 years! 

 Today, Jackie still works with Graffiti Church from his home in North Carolina. Each Thanksgiving and Christmas, Jackie makes the long trek to New York with a trailer filled with all kinds of things to give away. 

 You see, Graffiti Church and Jackie Stone Ministries partner together to provide a hot meal for each of the two holidays, which is held in a community park to reach the surrounding homeless community and those who are struggling to make ends meet.

 Along with the hot meal, lunch guests are given blankets, socks, scarves, toboggans, Bibles, and more, including stuffed animals for any child in the line. Many of the items distributed come from Gleaning For The World. 

 Hundreds of people are fed during these “FLIP” (Free Lunch In the Park) events and blessed with tangible items that remind them that God loves them, and people care. 

 Recently, we spoke with Jackie about our partnership with his ministry:

 “God’s worked everything out. You get to that certain point in your ministry where you’re looking for something to come along that’s really going to fit in. I mean, there are some things that come along – but they come and go. It’s not something that’s going to stay that will be there and support you. Being able to come on board with Gleaning has helped me a lot – knowing that I can call upon somebody and if you have the supplies, you’re going to supply me with those.” 

 That’s what Gleaning does: If we can help, …we help.

 Jackie and his small team will be making the trip to New York for this year’s Thanksgiving FLIP. We’ve loaded him up with masks, socks, sanitizers, blankets, and of course, stuffed animals for the children.

Will you join with us in prayer over the safety of Jackie’s trip, and that the Lord is known while they are in New York this year?

In service and partnership,