6 Year Anniversary...

By Lisa Muir

5 years ago this weekend , H.O.P.E. Ministries of Delmarva came to physical life. But God had a plan long before this actually came to fruition. He knew what the people of this community and county needed. Even when we didn’t know how or where , God knew. And so , God broke down every obstacle we had to making it happen and supplied every need it would take . This was God’s plan. We and every volunteer and contributor of time and monetary and food donation , were the hands and feet.

Since that initial weekend , we have served approximately 72,500 meals. Since Covid happened , we have had to adjust how we do things. We don’t get to be in close fellowship with our guests and we miss it tremendously. But we pray that soon....very soon , that changes.

What we have seen so much more of since Covid has happened , though, is that the need hasn’t changed. It has intensified. A couple of weekends ago we had served all who had come to get carryouts , it was time to close and so we locked up . Wayne had put away all the food and decided to mop the floor . We don’t have guests come inside the building since the pandemic , we just serve them from the street and so there wasn’t a big need to mop the floors. But Wayne decided to just go ahead and do it anyway because they could probably use them touched up. Well he was mopping when he noticed a man standing on the street outside our door. Wayne asked if he could help him and he only said two words .....“ I’m hungry “. Wayne told him to hang on and he proceeded to go pull the food back out and get him some food and take it back out to him. As he walked back out there was another man on the phone who was talking to his wife and Wayne heard him say, “ I guess I’m too late. I think they’re closed. “. With that , Wayne asked him, “ can I help you ?” The man said , “ I was hoping to get some food for my three girls .” Wayne asked , “ well how many do you need for your whole family ?” He said , “ well if you just gave me some for my three girls that would be great. “ But Wayne asked again , “ but how many do you have ?” The man said , “ well it’s me and my wife and the three girls .” Then the man said this , “ I’m sorry. We just don’t get any more food stamps until Monday and we have nothing in the house to eat .” Wayne told him there was no need to apologize . Wayne told him he’d go get him some dinners together and he also got him some food together from our pantry and freezer to take home to get them through the weekend too.

You know , if Wayne hadn’t been mopping , he would have long missed those two gentlemen. But God knew their need and met their need. That is why we exist. The phone calls we get weekly of people who have no food left in their pantries , and need help stretching through until they get their food stamps , people coming to get food who have totally different beliefs than we do and totally different dietary restrictions , yet come and say “

We don’t care what you have , we are just hungry and need food .” God is a provider. God cares for His people. God is good. God uses us to meet them at their need and we pray that during that encounter , they see Him and that they see that God hasn’t forsaken them and that they would know that He loves them.

We thank God for what He has allowed us to still do even in the midst of a pandemic. We thank Him for being so faithful to our community and for His Holy Spirit who tugs on the hearts of His people to keep us in the minds of you all who pray for us , and help us meet our bills , and who donate so that we can give our emergency food boxes to people like the man above. God we pray for your continued blessings and we pray that you would lead us to do what you would have us to do going forward in this ministry. If there’s more we need to do as we try to get “normal” again , Lord help us to hear your heart . Lead us wherever you would have us go. We love you Lord and we praise Your name. You are exalted on high and Your name is exalted forevermore! Thank you Lord ! Use us Lord! Use us for your kingdom. Thank you for the opportunity to be a light in the darkness. Thank you God!

5 year Anniversary. . .

By: Lisa Muir

5 years ago this weekend , H.O.P.E. Ministries of Delmarva came to physical life. But God had a plan long before this actually came to fruition. He knew what the people of this community and county needed. Even when we didn’t know how or where , God knew. And so , God broke down every obstacle we had to making it happen and supplied every need it would take . This was God’s plan. We and every volunteer and contributor of time and monetary and food donation , were the hands and feet.

Since that initial weekend , we have served approximately 72,500 meals. Since Covid happened , we have had to adjust how we do things. We don’t get to be in close fellowship with our guests and we miss it tremendously. But we pray that soon....very soon , that changes.

What we have seen so much more of since Covid has happened , though, is that the need hasn’t changed. It has intensified. A couple of weekends ago we had served all who had come to get carryouts , it was time to close and so we locked up . Wayne had put away all the food and decided to mop the floor . We don’t have guests come inside the building since the pandemic , we just serve them from the street and so there wasn’t a big need to mop the floors. But Wayne decided to just go ahead and do it anyway because they could probably use them touched up. Well he was mopping when he noticed a man standing on the street outside our door. Wayne asked if he could help him and he only said two words .....“ I’m hungry “. Wayne told him to hang on and he proceeded to go pull the food back out and get him some food and take it back out to him. As he walked back out there was another man on the phone who was talking to his wife and Wayne heard him say, “ I guess I’m too late. I think they’re closed. “. With that , Wayne asked him, “ can I help you ?” The man said , “ I was hoping to get some food for my three girls .” Wayne asked , “ well how many do you need for your whole family ?” He said , “ well if you just gave me some for my three girls that would be great. “ But Wayne asked again , “ but how many do you have ?” The man said , “ well it’s me and my wife and the three girls .” Then the man said this , “ I’m sorry. We just don’t get any more food stamps until Monday and we have nothing in the house to eat .” Wayne told him there was no need to apologize . Wayne told him he’d go get him some dinners together and he also got him some food together from our pantry and freezer to take home to get them through the weekend too.

You know , if Wayne hadn’t been mopping , he would have long missed those two gentlemen. But God knew their need and met their need. That is why we exist. The phone calls we get weekly of people who have no food left in their pantries , and need help stretching through until they get their food stamps , people coming to get food who have totally different beliefs than we do and totally different dietary restrictions , yet come and say “

We don’t care what you have , we are just hungry and need food .” God is a provider. God cares for His people. God is good. God uses us to meet them at their need and we pray that during that encounter , they see Him and that they see that God hasn’t forsaken them and that they would know that He loves them.

We thank God for what He has allowed us to still do even in the midst of a pandemic. We thank Him for being so faithful to our community and for His Holy Spirit who tugs on the hearts of His people to keep us in the minds of you all who pray for us , and help us meet our bills , and who donate so that we can give our emergency food boxes to people like the man above. God we pray for your continued blessings and we pray that you would lead us to do what you would have us to do going forward in this ministry. If there’s more we need to do as we try to get “normal” again , Lord help us to hear your heart . Lead us wherever you would have us go. We love you Lord and we praise Your name. You are exalted on high and Your name is exalted forevermore! Thank you Lord ! Use us Lord! Use us for your kingdom. Thank you for the opportunity to be a light in the darkness. Thank you God!

We need your help. . .

By: Lisa Muir 11-5-2017

Hi everyone !! I wanted to ask your help with two different things if you don't mind !

1. We are planning our Christmas meal box for each of our families who come into Hope AND gift giveaway to the kids. We are giving out 75 complete oven stuffer meal boxes with everything each family would need to fix a meal. For a family of five there should be enough for even 2 meals out of it. Last year we gave away approximately 55-60 gift bags with several gifts inside each bag . This year the number of kids we have coming in regularly has increased. We are hoping to give away even more kids bags than that because of the increase in the number we have seen. We are asking , as we did last year , for sponsors for our children's gift bags. We asked for a $20 donation for each child. If you would be interested in donating to help us provide for the kids we would so much appreciate it! You can call 443-880-7871 to let Wayne Muir know or contact Steven Milligan ( 410-726-7913 ) , Matt Riggin ( 410-713-2795 ) , Justin Humphreys ( 410-603-2348 ) or myself ( Lisa Muir 443-880-7872 ) , or leave a message here , on this Facebook page , and we will put you on the list of donors. That would be such a blessing to the children and to us as well !!

2. We are in need of several pantry items . We looked in our pantry and a lot of our canned goods are dwindling fast. Our most used staples fly off the shelves every weekend and we critically need more of those if you could help with those items. Here is a list of those items :

Baked beans
Ketchup
Instant Mashed potatoes ( I think these are depleted ) 
Pasta sauce
Canned string beans
Canned corn
Water bottles
Instant iced tea mix

Thank you again for your willingness to help! We can't do this without each and every one of you !! Food donations can be dropped off at Ace Hardware next to Hope as they have a donation bucket for drop offs for us !! Thank you all !!

Update. . .

By: Lisa Muir  11-4-2017

Good morning !! We would like to give you all an update with what's going on with Hope! Last weekend we went over 26,500 meals served since we opened in January of 2016 ( about a year and nine months ago ). While this number may not seem like a milestone number, we looked at the 2010 census of Somerset County and that number stood at 26,470 people. Now, we haven't served every single person in the county , but we have fed a number equivalent to every man, woman , and child in Somerset County. Praise the Lord !! Who would have thought that He would plop Hope in downtown Princess Anne to do what He has done ? I , for one , will continually be amazed at how it all started .....the burden for the people of this area that He put on people's hearts. I will continue to be amazed at how he orchestrated every single detail. In coming posts I will go into more detail about how He worked everything out ! Glory for everything goes to God ! He loves us. He loves every single one of us. Not one person should ever feel forgotten, overlooked , down or unloved. I truly feel that's the purpose beyond the actual physical hunger need that is being met right off the top. I feel like He wants people to know He is there. He is for them. He loves them . And He hasn't forgotten them💙. We would like to thank each of you for what you have helped accomplish through this ministry. Whether you donated your time or food or financial help or skill set or were in prayer for Hope........it all helped accomplish this milestone. We pray that God's hand of provision will continue to be over this ministry as every week we see more and more new faces and we continue to serve our regular guests whom we love dearly. Thank you all ! Thank you Jesus for your mercy and your grace .

Amazing thoughts shared by a staff member. . .

Just wanted to share this message from one of our group leaders. Hope it blesses your heart as much as it did ours💜. 

Was at Hope awhile this morning in the pantry. After a brief repentance for slacking in keeping it tidy lately and a brief prayer I begin unpacking the donations (thank you Lord) and notice most of them are in a Foodlion or Walmart bag tied in a tight knot. Each bag containing 4 or 5 items more or less. 
My over tired, super stressed mind begins to wander (at least that's what I thought at the time. Little didn't know I was attending a church sermon for one). 
Who tied this knot I thought, as I unknotted each one and Why did they give? 
Was it a young couple just starting out? Where they on a tight budget to cover this months bills? Did they purchase the items in this bag trusting in Gods faithfulness to provide as they help the less fortunate? 

Was this bag tied by the bent, wrinkled and lonely hands of a widow or widower? Did they choose to donate a family size can, like the one they used many years ago as their family gathered together? Did it remind them their all alone now? Did they follow their heart and make their donation choices without hesitation, despite their limited funds, because they Know first hand that God has no limit as to how He cares for His children. 

My thoughts continued with each bag I opened.
Did this person smile with the satisfaction of pleasing the Lord as they knotted their bag? 
How about this bag ? Was it tied by someone who had watched Chanel 287 the night before and figured they'd give this seed planting business a try? 😆

Maybe the majority of these bags where given by people just like us. People that know how good God has been to them, and want to do whatever they can to help others come to know Jesus for themselves. 
As I once again began to wonder who tied the next bag, my thoughts stopped dead in their tracks. I was reminded of the 5 loaves and the 2 fish. I was reminded that over 5 thousand people were helped with that tiny bit. Then plopped right into my mind was, these knotted bags, tied in obedience to That Very Same God Will also help hundreds if not thousands.
If I had been holding a mic 🎤 I'm certain it would have dropped at that thought. 

Needless to say I've found new enthusiasm dating and putting cans away. 
It's pretty cool with all the hate and evil going on that people, whoever they are, are still willing to buy a couple extra cans for someone they'll never know. 

The same principle is true for our volunteers. Who are they and why do they give of their time? 

Really felt I needed to share my personal sermon from Hopes pantry with you guys. Idk Perhaps someone needed a bit encouragement." 

Amen💜.

One Year of God's Blessings. . .

By: Lisa Muir

I want to publicly thank God for H.O.P.E.'s one year anniversary which fell on this past Sunday , January 29. Months before He opened the doors of H.O.P.E., He created a burden in our hearts for the people in our community and surrounding communities who were hungry and having a hard time making ends meet. We prayed for what He wanted us to do. That burden kept burning ever so strongly in our hearts so we prayed for the right location to open up. We looked and looked through properties. None seemed right. But , as always , God's timing is everything and He opened up the opportunity for us to be smack dab in downtown Princess Anne. We truly feel like H.O.P.E. is a beacon of light in the downtown area. God placed this burden on so many people's hearts, also, and these people and churches have come along side us to serve and support the many, many people who grace our doors every single weekend. This is all God's doing and He gets all the praise and glory for it. He supplies our needs each and every time. There have been times we had less than a hundred dollars in the bank and looking at bills before us knowing and trusting that He would provide and God sends someone through the doors with a check or cash or a donation shows up in the mail or one of us will be out and about in town and someone stops us and gives us money right then and there. It is so amazing!!! God can be trusted to make a way for His people. He proves Himself time and time again. We truly feel blessed to be able to do His work and to be a witness to His love for His people. Thank you to you all for heeding the call to help feed those amongst us who need a helping hand up. With your help we have served 17, 129 total meals in this one year. Whether you are a guest or a volunteer or a donor in some capacity , never forget that you are loved by us , but more importantly , you are loved by our Creator . Thank you 💜<# 

 

By: Lisa Mears Muir

Just wanted to share that the final numbers at the end of 2016 are : 16,185 total meals served, including lunches, since January 29, 2016 ! What an amazing thing to think on and realize what that number even requires in terms of food supplies and people to cook and serve the food. Our county is indeed in need of this ministry and I am thankful, so thankful , that God has born this ministry. Thank you to all who give of your time or financially , those who bake cakes , cook, clean, donate pantry items, fix things, and to our faithful prayer warriors. Nothing done of ourselves will be anything, but being transfixed on Jesus......and desiring to do His will , will accomplish much in His name and that's what we believe has happened at H.O. P. E . Here's to another year of being light to the hurting....and to being all that God has designated H.O.P.E. to be!! Our prayers are that they will know that you love them Lord!

6 month Update

By: Lisa Muir

Good morning everyone!! We just wanted to touch base with you all and thank you, first and foremost, for what you are doing...whether it is volunteering or donating food or financial resources or skills. We are so thankful for you and want to make sure you realize that! This past weekend alone we served 606 meals. That is just Friday and Saturday evening! There is such a need for this ministry and we are witnessing before our very eyes so many incredible things that God is bringing about. It's so exciting ! We just reached our six month mark after this past Saturday evening's service and total meals served since our opening night on January 29 of this year totals 9,461 meals served! That is six short months ! It is unbelievable !! The Lord has blessed this community indeed! HOPE is such a beacon of light to all who enter the doors. Our volunteers are all very compassionate and their hearts go out to each guest who crosses those doors. I see it each and every time I am there. With all that being said we have reached a point where resources are a precious valuable to us as would be expected. The resources we, of course , mean are manpower, food and monetary donations. We know people are busy with it being summer but we have been getting less and less calls for volunteers or people signing up to volunteer. If you know of anyone who would like to volunteer please have them call 443-880-7871. Wayne is the one who schedules volunteers and would love to hear from you! Right now we are short on volunteers for August 13, 20, 26, and 27. If you can volunteer please do not hesitate to call him. He has a schedule and coordinates all of that. Or if you are part of a church and could pass the word to your churches that we could use volunteers , not just for this month, but to regularly schedule in once or twice a month that would be awesome!! We, also, are thankful for all the food donations and welcome them anytime! As you can see, it takes a lot to put out 606 meals in one weekend ! Thank you ahead of time! And last but not least, we have financial needs and that is the one thing we never talk about. The Lord has blessed us and we know He will continue to do so. We know He works and moves in ways we can't even comprehend and does so by laying on people's hearts burdens . We have seen that by people just driving through town and pulling over and stopping in and handing a check to us. As they have done so, they said they just felt that tugging on their hearts. That is God ! Thank you Lord! This summer has been a doozy with our electric bill and we just got one for 700.00. We have rent and gas to pay , also, and we do have to buy some supplies that don't get donated. The point in telling you all this is simply to tell you that every cent we get goes towards this ministry.....keeping the doors open by paying rent and electricity and gas, buying supplies to clean the floors....paper products that you need, etc. If you all could pass the word around we would appreciate it so, so much. The Lord has always provided and we trust He will continue to do so . Thank you for putting up with such a long post ! We love you all and thank you ahead of time for what you are already doing in any capacity. And as always we covet your prayers immensely. Nothing done under our power alone will prosper. It has to be the Lord's will and by His power and might that His purposes are accomplished. So pray for us please. Thank you

God can use anyone to bless H.O.P.E; even children.

By Lisa Muir:

Hope Ministries would like to thank this young lady for all she is doing to feed people who are hungry !  Her name is Autumn Arndt and her grandparents are Buck and Marilyn Laird, who frequently help us out at HOPE.  Back when we were about to open HOPE, Autumn found out what we were doing and what it would mean to people and she took it as her personal little mission to raise money so that people didn't have to be hungry anymore. She has raised money twice for us with both times being over $100.00!!!  Actually, this time it was $120.00!  Thesepictures are of her bringing her bank in and sitting down with us so we could count what she had collected from all around her community💜. And let me tell you.....there were no coins in there whatsoever!! Lol. She told people she needed dollars!!  This is such an awesome thing for her to do and we love the heart she has and the burden she feels already,  at such a young age, for other people. The Lord has used her mightily and this is the result of God putting a burden on this child's heart 💜.   We love you Autumn and we love what you are doing for all the people who need meals and need to see Jesus through the doors of this building being open!  Thank you so much!! God is amazing how he's using and working through even children 💜.