Spa Day for Single Moms

On Saturday, May 10, we hosted over 25 women at Christ's Place for the first ever Single Moms' Spa Day. Professionals and volunteers from CP spent the morning cutting and styling hair, massaging feet, necks and hands, giving manicures and facials, putting on make-up and babysitting kids. Others baked treats and donated food to complete a morning of pampering for moms.

Here's what a few of the moms had to say:

"This is awesome! It's the best Mother's Day gift ever and I want to thank everyone for offering their services to pamper us single moms because we don't get it very much. I feel very blessed today."

"I appreciate you watching my kids - I never get away and I feel relaxed and beautiful. Thank you so much."

Thank you so much to those who served

All of the women who did hair cuts and styles, as well as several others, are professionals who moved their schedules around to serve. Others just volunteered to do something they knew could pamper moms. You don't have to be a pro to show love in a tangible way. Ginger Colton served by washing and massaging feet. "It's an opportunity to be a blessing to somebody else and I was blessed to do it. This is something I love to do and it's a way I can share, be with other women and just have fun. This is a great way to share in the experience of being a mom."

Terri Roth was just one of the women who volunteered at the Spa Day by being a hostess - talking to ladies when they arrived, showing them around and helping them find a place to start in the pampering process. "I got to thinking about what life would be life trying to raise kids on my own and I think it would be really difficult to do. And so, what a cool way to try and help moms, just to give them a time of relaxation, away from their kids and just pamper them. They really deserve it and I think they loved their time here this morning."

All Church Dodgeball

The 2nd Annual All Church Dodgeball Tournament was Friday, April 4. It was a fun time together as a church, as well as a great way to collect food for the Christ's Place Food Pantry. Thanks to all the teams who played and the people who came to watch, we will be able to provide to families and individuals who need it!

Lots of teams played hard, but only one team collected the prize for winning the tournament. Congratulations to Aaron Cornwell and his team, The Clock Cleaners. Not only did they win the tournament, but they beat the pastoral staff in the final round and won the chance to pie them in the face. Thanks to our pastors for being such great sports.

Enjoy the photos...

SERVE Saturday in January

30 people from Christ's Place showed up to SERVE on January 12. We were able to help Nebraska Family Council finish interior work. Their house located at 11th & E will be a House of Prayer and they are praying that their presence in the neighborhood would really make an impact. For February's SERVE Saturday, we will be partnering with them to host a brunch for the neighborhood. This is possible because we have helped them get the house ready. So, thank you to the many volunteers who have cleaned, painted, stained, laid tile and so much more! You can still volunteer for SERVE Saturday on February 9 and be a part of the neighborhood brunch.

During January's SERVE Saturday, we also painted two rooms for a woman referred to us by the F Street Community Center. Florene was a delight and really appreciated the help members of Christ's Place offered to her free of charge.

Monthly, we are serving single moms and widows because a little love goes a long way. In January, people served women by doing some small fix it projects in their homes. In February, we're offering a morning of free babysitting at Christ's Place. To sign up to serve or nominate a mom, click here.

Can donuts change the world?

At Christ's Place during December we've been talking about how Christmas is supposed to change the world and we've been doing some things that we hoped would have an impact on people's lives. On Christmas Eve, we challenged everyone who attended the services to take a box of donuts to someone working that evening. The donuts were provided, it was just a matter of stopping by and giving them away.

We've heard some great feedback. All the donuts we had were taken and given away. Seven boxes made their way to the fire department. One family gave their box to a cop who had pulled someone over:

"As soon as we pulled out of CP we were jacked up. "Who will we give our donuts to!!? Soon after crossing over 27th and Old Cheney, we spotted a patrol car that had a car pulled into an apartment complex. We pulled in behind and waited until they were done with their business. As soon as the officer headed to his car and tried to pull away, we tooted our horn and the kids started hanging out the windows. Mom jumped out with the donut box in hand and explained to the nice man that we were from Christ's Place and would like to bless him with a box of donuts because he was working on Christmas Eve. He was very appreciative and my kids were ecstatic! "We got a police man!!!" My kids are starting to understand how GOOD it feels to bless people. Thanks!"

We even received this thank you note in the mail today from Crestview Care Center in Milford:

Dear People,
Just a short note of thanks for thinking of us. Your kindness of bringing donuts brightened the day and night. This small gesture made a huge impact. My staff found it hard to believe that people who didn't know them would be so kind. You have shown them a bit of Christ's love.

Thank you!

A pillowcase for every child...

Last year, Nancy Gerdes had a dream to give every child living at the People's City Mission a personalized pillow case - something that would make them feel special.

Just before Christmas, Nancy, mentor moms and other women from MOPS made that dream a reality. They purchased fabric in all kinds of designs, patterns and colors and sewed together funky pillow cases for 39 children. Then they had each case embroidered with the child's first name. Over 90 books were donated, so MOPS moms stuffed the pillow cases with age appropriate books and tied them together with rafia.

Nancy got together a group of families who took the gifts down to the PCM for delivery the week before Christmas. Kids lined up to receive their personalized pillow case gift. Some moms were there to pick up their child's case and commented that this was so nice..."to think someone took the time to put each child's name on this. That was very sweet. Thank you!"

Nancy was thrilled to see her dream unfold. "I prayed over each pillow case that each child would know they were special when they saw their name on it. And somehow, they'd find out there were precious to God."

There are so many ways each of us can use our skills and talents to bless others in Jesus' name. Nancy used her passion to ignite other women to join with with her in this great ministry. A little love goes a long way...

Thank you from F Street...

Nathan & all of the members of Christ's Place,
Thank you for the two times you helped us at F St. The neighborhood looked great and the center on the outside was amazing. The inside of the center looks wonderful now. It's awesome what can be accomplished in about 2 hours! I had a lot of fun and hope you all did too. The kids loved the cookies as well as our senior citizens. Thanks again and Merry Christmas!

Dorothy & The F Street Staff

SERVE Saturday in December

December 8 was another successful SERVE Saturday. The snow made it a little difficult to do yard work for single moms and widows, but the rest of the projects went on as planned.

A crew of people worked at Nebraska Family Council's House of Prayer. They cleaned, washed windows, painted, laid tile, installed a sink, scraped old paint and much more. Thanks to everyone who worked so hard.

NFC was blessed by the people of Christ's Place. We look forward to working with them more in the future to bless the whole neighborhood.

Another group of people went to the F Street Community Center. Some ladies and teenagers baked cookies that kids decorated and took home to their families. Some of the kids had never decorated cookies before - they had a GREAT time.

Some other ladies decorated the inside of the center for Christmas. It looked great.