LOCAL OUTREACH
Mobile Food Pantry Cornerstone hosts a mobile food truck from Second Harvest Gleaners Food Bank each month, and distributes perishable goods to people who need them. Items may include fresh fruit, vegetables, bread, milk, etc. Volunteers from Cornerstone distribute the food in a "farmer's market" format. The mobile food pantry is a wonderful opportunity for groups to serve. It takes 10-15 volunteers for each distribution. Sign Up to help!
The truck will be at Cornerstone the second Wednesday of each month starting January 14.
County Wide Food Drive
The Kent County-wide Food Drive was October 11 & 12 and was a huge success. ACCESS of West Michigan had a county-wide goal of collecting 100 tons of food, with Cornerstone contributing four tons. All-in-all, ACCESS collected 116 tons!
Thanks to all for your help in feeding the hungry of Kent County.
The 2nd Saturday of the month, volunteers from Cornerstone feed breakfast to the homeless and hungry at De'gage' Ministries in Downtown Grand Rapids. Sign up HERE to contact coordinator Kristi Pazik about serving.
IHN (Interfaith Hospitality Network) 
Up to four times a year, Cornerstone opens its doors to provide "home like" overnight accomodations, furnish meals, provide kids' activities and talk to homeless families that stay at the church for one week at a time. We partner with Greater Grand Rapids Interfaith Hospitality Network as a host church. Contact the church office on how to contact Becky Heath, our coordinator, with questions or other ways to get involved.
- Our next week to host families is November 23-30 , 2008.
Christmas Eve Doughnut Outreach - Each Christmas Eve we reach out to those working at area hospitals, fire stations, police stations, etc., by delivering boxes of doughnuts. It's one planned act of kindness where you can share the love of Jesus with someone who's working. If you're interested in helping with this outreach, please email Tracy Bowers.
Bag Hunger: Throughout the year, Cornerstone collects food for the area through our Bag Hunger ministry. Bags are placed in the foyer of the church for people to take home, fill with food items, then bring back. We then deliver the collected food to the area food pantries in the SECOM network.
Contact Tracy Bowers, Director of Outeach, to get involved in any of these local outreach opportunities or to share ideas of new ways to reach out.
Habitat for Humanity: This summer Cornerstone Church participated in the conference Habitat Build. The project included building a home for the Blakely Family at 510 Fuller in Grand Rapids. It also included funding a home to be built in Haiti.
Total project costs: - $77,000 Cash Donations, $22,000 In-Kind Materials and Skilled Labor Donations and over 2,200 hours of general labor!
Cornerstone donated $13,000 to the project and claimed Tuesday, July 15, 2008 as our day to dig in and be hands on! We took teams of Cornerstoners to paint and help with trim & carpentry work. We also installed cabinets, built retaining walls and installed window wells. About 40 volunteers from Cornerstone donated their time and talents to the build day.
