The Helping Hands Family Ministry was organized in April 1997, one year after a 37 year old mother of three children from Westerly, RI survived the devastating medical diagnosis, and subsequent treatment, for Hodgkin's Disease. The crisis began in January 1996 and continued for five months, during which time she had to undergo surgery to remove her spleen and eight weeks of daily radiation treatments, not to mention the countless check-ups, blood work and CT Scans. During this time there was an overwhelming outpouring of prayer and support from family members, neighbors, friends, clergy and church parishioners, all of whom helped the family through the crisis that had so unexpectedly hit them. This support came in the form of personal notes, telephone calls, prayers, prepared meals, babysitting and daily rides or accompaniment to Providence to get the radiation treatments. It is this experience that is the foundation of this growing ministry.
Today ( June 1998) this ministry boasts 37 members. Their efforts are coordinated by Lora Brodeur and Robin Blier, mostly on a monthly basis or as needs arise. Their goal is simply to provide support to individuals or families who may be dealing with some form of temporary crisis in their lives. The first step for the group is to identify and evaluate the need. The next step is to contact the members of the group and inform them of the need. Although the group is open to providing whatever help is needed, the most frequent benefit of the ministry has been to provide gift certificates to grocery and/or department stores. The members are typically contacted via E-mail, telephone or written correspondence. Helping Hands Family Ministry is always eager to accept the names of new volunteers who would like to join our cause, as well as to be informed of situations where we can be of service. For further information on this group, please contact Lora Brodeur at (401)596-3443 or Robin Blier at (401)596-9582. We feel blessed to be able to extend our "Helping Hands".
Drop us a line at Christ's Faithful People if you need further assistance!
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