Hands and Feet

If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?

So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

James 2:14-18

I feel sure by now that most of you have heard from every place you’ve ever done business with and probably are a bit sick of it. We have all been in “survival mode” just trying to figure out how to care for our families, homeschool our kids, project out how much food our families will need, make huge decisions about how long we can safely and wisely keep our businesses open. To say it’s not easy is a vast understatement and if I’m really being honest here, which is my goal, I wish I wasn’t a small business owner at this present time.

So what do you do when you get self-centered and self-focused and lost in your anxiety? I’m going to try to “practice what I preach” and look for someone who is more desperate that I am. We want to be “need-fillers” in our family and through our business. From a young age, we have tried to teach our children to “look for a need and fill it.” It starts out with something simple at home…Mommy coming in with the groceries and needing help carrying them. Picking up something that dropped, opening the door for strangers. You get the idea.

Please allow me to introduce you to my friend Jada “Turtle” Vanderlip who has taken this concept to another level and we want to partner with her during this uncertain time!

Turtle is an active member of our church and the best player on our softball team She is wife to Jamie  who plays the djembe drums for our praise team and is mama to the most adorable little girl, Riley.

Turtle is the Athletic Trainer at Carvers Bay High School in Georgetown County. Back in September of 2019, she started an after school nutrition program for her athletes after seeing them struggle during practices with headaches, dizziness, nausea, etc… WHY were they struggling? Due to not eating or having enough to eat. The kids are simply hungry and don't always have the means to do something about it. She saw the need and was inspired to do something about it! She has been providing bottles of water and healthy snacks such as PB&J sandwiches, granola bars, crackers, and trail mix for the kids FREE OF CHARGE before they head to practices.

As a testament to how needed this pantry is, Turtle has been making over 50 PB&J's every day without having leftovers. She is going through 5 loaves of bread, a jar of jelly, and a jar of peanut butter EVERY DAY. Additionally, she is going through roughly 50-60 individual snacks and 40-50 bottles of water per day!

HOW can we help? We can donate jars of peanut butter and jelly, bottled water, imperishable snack such as packs of crackers and trail mix. We can buy gift cards to Costco or Walmart for her to use when she runs out of supplies and needs to purchase more snacks and water for “her kids”. 

Right now, school is out and because she is an employee of the hospital system, not the school, she is out of that specific work until everything calms down. She is praying that her students are taking advantage of the school district handing out bag lunches at certain times of day at the school. Without the school, she doesn’t have a way to get anything to the kids as of right now but she is still MAKING SANDWICHES and FREEZING THEM! These kids have her heart and we want to come alongside of her as she works to love them even when she can’t see them.

When I reached out to Turtle about partnering with her in this endeavor, I thanked her for being the “visible hands and feet of Jesus.” She responded with, “I pray often that they see Jesus in me! I pray that they know that I make the sandwiches and provide the snacks not just because I'm nice but because I love them. And that I can only love them like I do because Jesus first loved me. I pray that they see Him in my actions and that it translates that He loves them too.”

While we are still open… and we sure don’t know how long that will be, we ask you and encourage you to grab some PB&J, packs of crackers, trail mix, or bottled water when you’re picking up groceries for your family.  We will also accept Walmart, Costco gift cards or monetary donations at HB.

Everyone who donates will get 20% off any item for each donation received.

Everything you donate will go directly to Turtle for her students! If you are not comfortable coming in but want to donate, Turtle has venmo. Turtle-Vanderlip.

We would love for you to screenshot and send via email or DM if you donate so that we can reach out to you with a personal thank you and discount for 20% off an item from HB.

Turtle welcomes any questions and you can reach her directly at jadavanderlip@gmail.com

In HIS love,
Hannah