COVID-19 Outreach

Earlier this year, we shared about our ”Stuff–a–Truck” campaign that occurred in January and February. We were praising God for the success of this event – and rightly so. This event raised 105 tubs of donations – donations that we sorted and stored in the basement at LifePlan Niles for use with our clients over the course of the year. 

Little did we know that God had a bigger plan for those donations. 

On March 16, we made the difficult decision to temporarily close our buildings due to the concerns of COVID-19. However, we knew we could not stop our ministry. When the LifePlan Leadership Team met to discuss how we could best meet the needs of the community during COVID-19, it soon became evident that God had put us in a position to have a greater impact than we could ever have imagined. All around us, families were in crisis – many unable to find or afford basic baby supplies – while we had a basement full of these much-needed supplies thanks to the Stuff-a-Truck Campaign. God had gone ahead of us and prepared us for such a time as this. 

Our COVID-19 ministry began on March 17. Since that time, over 500 bags of emergency baby supplies have been given to families in Michiana. These bags contain items such as diapers, wipes, formula, baby food, and clothes, and each bag also includes a Gospel-centered tract using COVID-19 to point people to Jesus. 

“I am a stay-at-home mom, and my husband lost his job due to COVID-19, so neither of us are working right now and we have a child. THANK YOU SO MUCH for your generous donation to help families in need in this uncertain and difficult time”

                                                — COVID-19 Client

A couple weeks into our pick-up service, we started discussing how to adapt our Life Matters Program in order to continue offering emotional and spiritual support to clients. Once again, it became evident that God had prepared us for this moment as we had recently begun using a subscription-based video-streaming service called Bright Course with our Life Matters Program.  Because of this switch in our curriculum, we are now able to provide our Life Matters Program “virtually” by texting links to our clients that allow them to view the classes from the safety of their own home. Combining this with phone calls from our consultants led to the beginning of the Virtual Life Matters Program. There have been over 100 virtual appointments since the first week of April when this program began!  

We are continually grateful to God for the way He has allowed us to serve our community at this time and for the many people He has used to prepare us for this moment and to keep us supplied so we can continue to serve. As we look ahead to the rest of 2020, we do not know what new challenges we will face but we are certain that God will provide for whatever may come. We will trust Him to help us fulfill our mission to spread the Gospel by helping people choose life and live a Hope-filled life! 

Thank you for partnering with us in ministry!