December 2022 Year End Update Act Justly | Love Mercy | Walk Humbly with your God |
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Hello Just Partners and Community! The last couple weeks of the year are here and I definitely wanted to stop, share and celebrate together the happenings around Just Initiative since our last update. We have continued our overarching focus of stable housing for families with young children - working towards stable housing with families that are unsheltered or prevention of homelessness with families at risk. This work is especially challenging in the current housing market, but we are seeing success. In the last 5 months have assisted 4 families to get into their own stable housing. And we are currently working with 6 additional families in need of housing. In addition to our work in housing, we are a relational based ministry focused on building community and caring for each other in a wholistic way. Below we will give you a snippet of somethings that happened in each of the last six months at Just Initiative with pictures and invite you to check out our website and social media on Facebook and Instagram for more. |
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In July, we started a new program of The Zone called GenUP. This is a fun program focused on kindergarten readiness in creative ways for 4 & 5 year olds. |
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In August, we had another successful year of our Back-to-School-Ready initiative and assisted 43 students to be fully ready for school with uniforms and the specific supplies their school and teachers requested. Thank you to South Tampa Fellowship (STF) for assisting us with a huge school supply drive! |
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The end of August, STF’s GoTeam’s completed an expansion on our Free Boutique. They really created a beautiful space for us to continue to serve our neighbors with clothes, shoes, hygiene items and accessories. Since that time, it has been a great space for many moms in the Just Community to come work and volunteer and take ownership over the space while they are serving our neighbors. |
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In September, a mom in our community published a book of poetry about her life’s journey and we celebrated together at Petra House with a launch party! |
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BIG ANNOUNCEMENT - October brought a major new development at Just - We launched the W.E. Program (Woven Empowerment). This is a new case management program that is primarily funded by the Children’s Board of Hillsborough County. The program is already in full swing and we will have the complete team in place in the middle of January. This is a large expansion for us that will enable us to more than triple the number of families that will be positively impacted by Just Initiative through the year. They will receive tangible support as we actively reflect the love of God. |
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In November, we wrapped up celebrating our 7 year anniversary! We had a donor offer to match all donations that came in celebration of our anniversary up to $7777.77. Thanks to many of you we met and exceeded that match! This was critical to finishing our year in a healthy financial place. We are deeply grateful. In this month of gratitude, some of us celebrated Thanksgiving together at our regular Tuesday night gathering at Petra House and then several of us gathered on Thanksgiving day our Director's home. |
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December is wrapping up one year of us continuing providing Essential Life Skills classes for our clients and the Tampa Housing Authority’s Village Link Up program (and our community as well!). We have been offering classes on things like Overcoming Self-Sabotage, Saving Money on Groceries and Creating Family Legacy and we look forward to January’s classes where we will be creating Vision Boards and then witnessing people moving forward together. |
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As we end 2022, we are in the season of Advent. A season of waiting and watching and hope. We remember what it was like when the faithful of long ago were on the look out for the messiah, our savior to be born. As we remember, we anticipate celebrating his birth once again on Christmas day. He came and is coming again. And we wait with hope and expectation for our savior to come and save the world. In the meantime, while we are waiting, we will be about the business of the Kingdom of God – showing love to every person. Treating those that are “overlooked or ignored” the way we would treat Jesus (Matt 25 MSG). And praying that we “may have power…to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ” (Eph 3). God is love and we are expectantly waiting for the celebration of the birth of love on Christmas morning! When we allow God’s love to flow through us, it keeps pouring in more and more. It is experiencing Christ. So while you wait for Christmas this week, go about his business of love – sharing your heart, you time, your ear and your resources because love looks like something. I am learning more and more about how love and justice are intertwined. Love is not love without Justice. Justice isn't just without love. So, lets do this together, Join In! In doing so we will usher in a more Just World. Praise to God! In the hope of Christ, |
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Julie Wood Executive Director |
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P.S. Earlier this month I had the opportunity to preach at Watermark Church about Just Initiative's primary verse - Micah 6:8. Act Justly, Love Mercy and Walk Humbly. If you would like to take a listen, here is the link: | | |
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Thank you for your support in the past and we ask once again if you would consider continuing (or starting) to partner with us either financially, in prayer, or serving in person with us. Creating Pathways out of Poverty in 2023 | | |
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Venmo - @TampaJust CashApp - $TampaJust Paypal - @justfightingpoverty Zelle - julie@justinitiative.com |
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Check: Just Initiative P.O. Box 75291 Tampa, FL 33675 |
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