Let’s begin as we ended!

GraceWorks ended the calendar year in a blessed flurry of serving our Neighbors. All while we were distributing toys, hope and joy to children and families through the Manger, almost 800 Christmas Food Boxes were being delivered to these same families. In addition, we were still operating the food pantry at full speed ahead along with offering our shelter and support programs. 

And I loved every minute of it!! 

For me this intensity of service is a right, good and exciting way to end the year, reminding us of why GraceWorks exists and allowing us to fully step into our Neighbor serving Neighbor mission. It took many caring hands of staff, donors, partner churches and volunteers to make the Manger, the Christmas Food boxes and simultaneously offering our normal programs to those in need happen. The privilege of serving so intensely during the holiday sent me home with a deep satisfaction and an anticipation of serving even more in the new year.  

But, as CEO, I rarely get a chance to serve Neighbors directly.  However, every once in a while, God gives me a divine appointment to enhance my leadership by reminding my heart of why we are here and of the impact of our work. It is one thing to talk about the impact GraceWorks has in the lives of Neighbors, but a whole different thing to actually experience it! 

The day before we left for Christmas break, an employee and I were working after hours. Two young men came to the door of the Administration building, saying that they needed help and had been told to come to GraceWorks. Technically, it was after hours, and we were closed.  And the Neighbor Services staff had gone home. So, it was clear to me that God was giving me the opportunity to personally represent your generosity and care. In His efficient economy, He also invited the one administrative staff that was here and our Truck Services Manager who just happened to be dropping off one of our trucks before heading home.  

After verifying with the prison ministry who had referred them to GraceWorks, the three of us then were able to tangibly wrap our love around them, by providing an Uber ride to the downtown Nashville bus station, bus tickets back to their Houston home, coats, a backpack filled with food drinks and even books to read on that long bus ride home. We all prayed with them before we sent them on their way.  

When they arrived home in Houston the next evening, they called me with their mom and grandmother on the phone to express their amazement at the hospitality they received as strangers (Hebrews 13.2) and to express their gratitude for that help. I wish you could have been on the call. You would have been teary-eyed and grateful for the hope and the personal testimony of God’s goodness that GraceWorks truly does give to Neighbors we help. With my own eyes I saw that that hope is real! 

I look forward to the start of this new year and to finishing this fiscal year and new opportunities to bring more of that same hope to other Neighbors. Your generosity, your service, your prayers and your care are what makes this all possible! 

Happy New Year!  Let’s begin 2024 the same way we ended 2023…in a blessed flurry of service!  

Gratefully Yours,  

Valencia A. Breckenridge, CEO