Happy New Year!
I want to THANK YOU and every member of Trinity UMC. Your food donations, financial help, the building, volunteers, and your incredible staff members. Christian Assistance Bridge literally would not exist without Trinity. Thank you for being a fantastic church partner.
Because of our partner churches, we have accomplished a lot this year. I want to highlight a few things: CAB helped 678 households, 370 of whom were first-time clients. The number one cause for new clients coming in the door was the rising cost of their rent, groceries, and gas meant they couldn’t meet their ordinary household expenses.
Our three top issues CAB dealt with this past year are 1) The drastic rent hike, making it extremely hard to find affordable housing in a timely manner. 2) The rise in rents led to family shelters staying full, and it often took a week to get a spot for our families. 3) The rise in groceries meant our community members donated less to food drives than in the past.
The constant thing that has amazed and excited us this year. We have been able to be a bystander as God provided for our families in incredible ways. For example, a lady is sobbing because she lost her job months ago and needed help with food and utilities. While in our office, she received a call offering her a job. I also cannot tell you how many random requests we have had from our clients, like a bed or dressers, and by the end of the day, a donor would call saying they had dressers or beds they wanted to give us. Or the time this year that a lady asked if we had a birthday cake mix, and we just so happened to have a fully decorated birthday cake donation from Publix that morning. So many times, I have just been silent and in awe of God’s provision for our clients.
Thank you for allowing us to help our community members on their lowest days. It’s been an honor and blessing.
Our 2022 Numbers!
You have helped give out 123,635 lbs. of food this year.
You have given temporary shelter to 22 families.
You have helped 64 families with rent assistance.
You have helped 160 families keep their water and lights on.
You have helped 112 families with other needs.
You helped over 678 households with 1,840 members.
You helped 370 first-time households.