The Gift Shop Thank You!

To all who were involved with The Gift Shop (TGS): Donors, Volunteers, Intercessors, Helpers,

First, please forgive me for taking so long to communicate. As most of you know, I lost my voice through the process, and believe it or not, it has only just returned in the last few days. Hopefully much needed rest and balance is coming in 2010.

We want to shout out a warm Thank You! TGS was a Great Success! We were blessed to supply gifts for parents and children alike.

Per our Loving Hut we fed over 2000 throughout the day. Thank you to the Loving Hut for providing our guests with free food and love throughout the event.

Thanks to Luisa Applegate, for feeding the volunteers with delicious home cooked meals during the event. Plus, Panera Bread, Dominos Pizza, and Subway were kind to provide food for the meetings preceding the event.

We also had, free face painting for all, thanks to Cody Duncan and Abby Pritchard. We still hear about how much the children loved their new look, not to mention their fun in the bouncy houses (provided by two companies - Party Inflatables 4 Less and Bounce and Fun). Thanks again for the donation of the houses. The children had a blast!

It was exciting, to watch as the people stood in line to receive their free gifts. Many received the greatest gift of all, Jesus. We had our stage set across the street from the line, so while they waited they could not help but hear the Praise and Worship not only ministered to by Resound's prayer set, but also entertained and ministered to by artists such as CarolynPankalla, Steffanato, Wade Williams, Josh & Maria, D-Bry, Faith, Nina Cummings, Bille Graham, and C 1. Thank you all, you brought us into His presence.

As Resound team sang, and lead their prayer sets, Pastor Leah felt a boldness come over her and began sharing the Gospel. She then asked those listening to raise their hand for salvation and prayer. The response was incredible. Hands went up all through the crowd and the Resound students and our intercessors prayed with them one by one. Numerous souls were saved on this day. Praise God!

Thank you Pastor Leah, Larry and the Resound Church for your boldness and sacrifice. Also Marcia Thorsell, "You are a blessing thanks for the donation of your sound equipment." You have all given so much of your time, prayers, and encouragement and endless volunteer hours for all of our events. Your love and support mean so much. You Rock!

Kenworth Reeves with World Hope, who ran the stage and entertainment, had the brilliant idea to strategically place the stage by the line. Thank You for all your hard work and loan of the stage. Your friendship and support means so much. You did an Awesome job with the One God Movement and TGS. Thank you for all those little phone messages that keep me laughing MMOG!

We truly appreciate Pastor Enric Richards and King's Way Baptist Church for being so gracious, the second year in a row, opening their doors to not only offer their church facility for our event, but also volunteers, supplies, and prayer. Through you, we found Lynn Latham, what a blessing. Thank you Lynn for your leadership and for connecting us with Downtown Baptist to store all our donations, not too mention the storehouse of gifts you gave to TGS. Thanks to all of you for your commitment, hard work and sacrifice.

TGF also had a drawing for those in need of a turkey's or children’s bicycles for Christmas. Over the past month, thanks to Church In The Son, we gave away over 80 turkeys. We were able to help Stephanie Richards, of Mending Hearts Ministries, give families under her ministry turkeys. She, in turn, found extra bicycles and was kind enough to give us some additional bikes for families in need through our drawings for TGS. We were able to deliver over 18 bicycles to those in need. There were tears and thank you's galore for all the gifts, food, and toys. Many of the testimonies will be up on our HYN website hopefully before the end of January. This is how a body works in unity.

We had 50 toys on Monday, and by Saturday it was like the bread and the fish. Increase came and as the Gift Shop closed, we had enough to bless some of our loyal ministries like Resound, House of Praise, Rockin The Nations, and New Destiny, King's Way Baptist Church, with toys, books, turkeys and more...

We love it when God shows up in such a miraculous way. You know TGS was not a success because man, but by the favor of God!

Families were blessed with many gifts for everyone. Not only did people go home with new gifts, but also with other useful things (like clothing, shoes, and household items) from our Secondhand Christmas Shop.

Pamela Brady and Florida Hospital Centra Care gave free health Care; and Carol Burkett with the Orange County Drug Free Coalition, gave tips for drug awareness, offering up Magic tickets for the best listeners.

Thanks to Pastor Alex and Church In The Son for your help in getting the word out for donations, volunteers, and the source of all those turkeys.

Thank you to Jay and staff at Onsite Safety for their contribution and toys. Thank you.

Pastor Dave and Dawn Taylor, You are always there when we need you. Your love, support, encouragement, faithfulness and prayers have meant so much to me over the past 28 years. Both of you are dear to my heart.

My new Assistant Publisher Ashley Gay, who helped diligently weeks in advance, and the day of with TGS while in training for Cornerstone Connection. You are sent from heaven. I appreciate you, and all your hard work, support, encouragement and prayer. You are a blessing in my life, along with Jan Morales, you never got a break as you diligently stayed busy day and night with all the preparations. In fact Jan, Ashley, Dennis and Amy Parker, Liz Shayestehpour, Linda Trimble, Regina Applegate, Glen Chastain, (who also led our intercessor room, and supplied truck to transport all supplies) all stayed till 2 AM setting up TGS the night before. Thank you so much for your sacrifice and persevering to the end.

Also, thanks to Bunny and Joe Ciaramitaro for decorating the rooms; as well as Liz Mendoza-Simpson, James & Renee Miranda, from House of Praise and Andrea Webb. Your help made the event special.

What a team of workers! All the volunteers, there are so many I can't name them all. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! Without your sacrifice, we could have never pulled this off.

Thanks to whoever brought the truck full of oranges (There is nothing like fresh OJ in the morning). If anyone knows who they are, please let us know.

Not to mention those who sacrificed their time to take charge of our security: Chaplain Wade, Chaplain Myers with OPD and Bishop Cal.

Thank You to: Michael Scott Clay for being our photographer. The pictures help us relive the experience. They are Awesome!!Zach Firestone for keeping up our website, Monica Alberta for our new logo/branding TGS, and Lamaro Smith for creating our flyers. You are a Blessing! We look forward to sharing your work on the website.

We also want to recognize those who gave donations, gifts, as well as volunteered their time at the event: Linda, Mark and family with Bob Heinmiller Air Conditioning, Onsite Safety, Brian Mitnik, Nature's Market, Wet & Wild, Publix, Walgreens, Get Organized, Miss Trendy Clothing Boutique, Joyce McEvoy, Virginia Biggs with New Biginnings ministries. Because of your selfless giving, we were able to have new toys for our families.

We have heard so many testimonials of unforgettable moments and special highlights from many of you, if you could take a moment, (it doesn't have to be perfect) and share your special memories with us. We would appreciate it, so we may put it on our website, and Facebook.

Thank you so much for the sacrifices you made to make this an unforgettable event, and for having faith in the vision. You are a blessing!

Please forgive us if we have left anyone out. There were so many to thank.

May this 2010 give you an over flowing return for all that you have sown and given of yourself to build the kingdom.

Sincerely,

LuAnne Anderson

Founder & Publisher
Cornerstone Connection Magazine
Please visit :
www.cornerstone-connection.com
www.oneGodmovement.com
www.hynorlando.com