Welcome to 2021! Because of you, our faithful donors, we are able to begin another year serving the LORD WE LOVE! The Lord provided the $100,000.00 we were praying that HE would provide. $45,000.00 came from you, our faithful and dedicated donors, and the balance came from a generous grant from the Greater Chicago Food Depository. We still ended up a little short of what we needed to end 2020 in the black, because some of the monies from the GCFD were earmarked for specific uses.
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THE CENTER of Englewood is owned and operated by Shepherd’s HOPE, Ltd. and houses our food pantry and family feeding center as well as By the Hand Club for Kids, 1st Defense Legal Aid, IMPACT Family Center, New Hope Medical Clinic, The Vision Clinic, Pass-It-On Academy, Basketball by Blue, God’s End Time Church and Xperience Church.
The Horizon of HOPE
The LORD always uses situations like the COVID pandemic to glorify HIMSELF . In this case, HE glorified HIMSELF by introducing us to a ministry (Something Good in Englewood) that is actually only 2 blocks east of The Center of Englewood on Marquette. We met just before the beginning of COVID-19. They had what they called a pop-up pantry one day a week serving items they could get donated from businesses and people they knew. We brainstormed together and started sharing food with them and they ended up creating a full-service pop-up pantry with 4 pop-up canopies rather than one.
Shepherd’s HOPE. About 3 weeks ago a ministry that is part of The Center of Englewood introduced me to Pastor Jerome Powell from Roseland whose church had just burned down. He was in need of food for his congregation. We were able to provide him with a 1000 pounds of food (meat and produce). Just days later another ministry from Roseland, Kids Off the Block, contacted me in need of food. Diane Latiker, the founder, and I met in 2012 when we were both recipients of the American Red Cross Heroes Award for citizenship. By God’s grace we were able to provide for their needs.
That same week Miss Frye called me. She runs an organization called M.A.S.S. (Mothers Against Street Shooters). She is from Englewood. The people in her community were also in need of food. We had met in the past and I was familiar with her work against gun violence. We were able to provide her with 200 sandwich meal kits and water. A few days later Rev. Charles R. Neal from Englewood contacted me in need of food for his congregation. We met that day and we were able to provide him with 300 pounds of meat and 10 cases of water.
Due to the increase in the numbers of people we are serving, our labor and ancillary material costs have increased accordingly. We certainly were not prepared financially for this pandemic and the aftermath. We totally trust GOD and know HE will provide for our needs through the people HE chooses. I want to thank all of you who have supported Shepherd’s HOPE for the past 11 years. If it were not for your steadfast support, we would not have been around to enjoy this special moment in the history of this ministry.
The pandemic we are facing today has already taken its toll on 6 other food pantries in Englewood. This has brought hundreds more families in need to our pantry every Tuesday and Thursday. The question that has been going through my mind the last few weeks, “Has the LORD created us for such a time as this?” One of the most important things the LORD told me to do when I began this journey with HIM was to give ownership of the ministry to the people in the community, and we were obedient. Over the years this is what has made our food pantry and feeding center like no other in the community. Most of our staff and volunteers live in the area; they are also clients. These committed people are a very important reason why we are still thriving.
We are struggling financially like everyone else. 
For the last 2 weeks the LORD has brought 1,000’s of pounds of fresh vegetables (from Get Fresh Produce) and 500 sandwiches and drinks from another source, brownies from a bakery and toiletry kits from Molina Healthcare. All this is in addition to our normal delivery of the 20-25,000 pounds of groceries from the GCFD. 
Englewood community of Chicago, which I consider “ground zero” where the real battle is being waged on a daily basis. The battle I am referring to is the spiritual battle that is taking place trying to break the spirit of our neighbors in Englewood and the rest of the American people. We are a resilient people but to remain resilient, we have to be active members of our community and our opposition knows that. That’s why we have been isolated to our own homes. We’ve been made slaves to isolation with the internet and television as our companions. 
THE CENTER of Englewood is owned and operated by Shepherd’s HOPE, Ltd. and houses our food pantry and family feeding center as well as By the Hand Club for Kids, IMPACT Family Center, New Hope Medical Clinic, Pass-It-On Academy, God’s End Time Church and Xperience Church.
Galatians 6:2 says “Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.” The LORD created Shepherd’s HOPE and the Center for that reason, to create a place where HE gathers like minded ministries that HE created to bear the burdens of their neighbors.
st the beginning of bearing the burdens of our neighbors. The LORD’s focus for this year will be keeping the youth and teenagers off the streets. This will be accomplished by events we call Friday Night Life. We will host events for youth and teens on Friday night in the auditorium and gymnasium. These programs will be designed to educate, stimulate and spiritually enlighten the participants in a safe and friendly environment (with refreshments, of course). The first event will be on March 20 (and the 3rd Friday of every month thereafter) and will be a movie night featuring “Overcomer.” The movie will be followed by a Q and A session with snacks in the cafeteria.
Every fourth Friday, beginning with March 27, will be an Open Mic Night. On this night we will interview former gang bangers, drug dealers, drug addicts, and inmates – as well as innocent victims of violence. From their stories, the young people will learn how the relationship of each of them with Christ changed their lives forever. The first interview will be with Tyrone Doxy who was born and raised in Englewood and still lives here today. His gang affiliations, drug dealing and drug use led him to 7 different stays in prison. But his relationship with Christ changed his life. 
sustain the pantry and the family feeding center and to maintain The CENTER itself. In addition, resources will be needed to present successful Friday Night Life programs each week, and as we partner to provide the computer and GED classes. Food and health care are basic needs, but Shepherd’s HOPE heart has always been to impact lives so that they can become passionate contributors to family, the community and society. All the programs at THE CENTER of Englewood are working in one way or another to achieve that end. We believe the Friday Night Life events will have the greatest effect on this community long term of anything being done at the COE.
a meal for a family of four at a cost of $2.30 per person times 3000 people equals $6,900.00. The food has already been ordered and will be delivered on November 23, 2019.
Hope everything is well with you and yours! We had a great Thanksgiving Week at THE CENTER. It started 1) Saturday November 23rd when the first load of food for the holiday festivities was delivered. 2) Monday, November 25th, THE CENTER was alive again after receiving the final two loads of food. Watching our staff and volunteers putting everything in its place was a sight to behold. AMEN! AMEN!
November 28th Thanksgiving at THE CENTER culminated with a hot Thanksgiving meal fit for a king! We shared these dinners with over 80 of our neighbors – along with seconds – and sweet potato pie for dessert. All this was prepared from scratch by our Feeding Center crew. They worked until 9 pm on Wednesday after serving our normal Wednesday lunch and were back at 6 am on Thursday to prepare for the 11 am start. Thank you, LORD, for the staff and volunteers at the Feeding Center!
Thanksgiving is always a great reminder of the things we should be grateful for, not just at this time of the year, but every moment of every day. It always takes me back to 11 years ago and the things I was taught by the LORD in my first year of doing missionary work in Englewood. Serving as a missionary is totally different than serving according to the world. Serving Christ means growing; growing spiritually by helping others in need every day. Through being part of your neighbor’s lives on a regular basis we find that the people we are serving are just like us, going through similar struggles just with fewer resources. What we find out next is astounding; that it is not our abundance of resources that makes it easier to walk through our problems. It is only JESUS . As we become transparent and share our struggles with the people we serve, they open their hearts and share with us what they are going through. Then before we know it, JESUS becomes the center of conversation because HE is the only one that can walk us through our struggles. Then by the grace of JESUS we realize that we are both just doing life; it’s then we find that the ground is level at the foot of the cross. That is why we love serving our LORD! The end products of serving CHRIST are relationships, trust and spiritual growth, unlike serving in the world where the end product is just another feel good.
To make this all happen takes a great deal of time and money. Please consider us when giving during the holiday season and your end of the year giving.