by Todd Holdridge

Remember what Jesus once did with five loaves and two fish (John 6:1-14)? It has happened again in the form of a financial gift given to the Wednesday Night Dinner (WND) ministry designated for housing support.

In an unusual break from typical protocol, our WND leadership team has had the incredible opportunity to financially bless 38 individuals or families with either partial rent, or full rent payments (up to $400). All recipients have had an ongoing relationship with the WND community or leadership. Let me share a few of their stories.

One recipient is a grandmother who is housing (and attempting to support) 13 of her grandchildren in her home. Another is dealing with unexpected bills this December. “The timing was perfect. Our family was going to go without any Christmas gifts this year,” she replied.

The staff is also in relationship to a few people who are living in their car. They were very appreciative to receive gift certificates to Fred Meyer. Still another responded to Janet through tears after being given $120. “You don’t understand. I live on $320 a month. This increased my income by a third. This is huge for me.”

Janet has been in conversation with many agencies (ie: Seattle Housing Authority, Plymouth Housing Group) in order to route the money to its recipients. The response from agency workers has been univocal: “The church is doing this?!! This is brilliant!”

“I realized that it would be helpful [to these people],” claimed Janet, “but I had no idea how huge it would be.”

Here’s the clincher: soon after the final check was written and funds were depleted (so we thought), WND received $10k in donations. Looks like we have “baskets” left over, too.