UPDATE - From the SPCC Monthly
Newsletter, Feb. 2008
Our pillow
ministry which started in 2004 has delivered over 6,900
pillows. The ministry now serves Covenant Children’s Hospital,
Children’s Home of Lubbock, Buckner Children’s Home, Child
Protective Services, Women’s Protective Services, Brownfield
Medical Center, Hospice of Lubbock and Vista Care Hospice.
Pillows are taken to each of these facilities and dispensed by
the caregivers. Many women in our congregation have been
involved in this labor of love. Many times, recipients have
written to tell us how much they appreciated this show of our
love and concern.
Last September, we began to expand our
outreach to nursing homes with the difference that we are able
to make one-on-one contact and visit with those receiving the
pillows. They are proud of the pillows but more impressed that
someone would take the time to personally present them and stay
for a visit. Our goal is to go back regularly and visit these
people, but we need much more help. We need women to sew at
home, to meet on Tuesday mornings or Thursday afternoons to work
together stuffing pillows, or to visit and deliver pillows and
make follow up visits.
This ministry serves others, spreading God’s
love to people who are ill, sad or lonely, just waiting for a
smile, a kind word, or a hug for comfort. If you can help,
contact Dwayne or Bobbie Barker at 698-8974 for more
information.
 The
Pillow Ministry was started in January, 2004. Kyla Smith, one of
our members and a RN at Covenant Children's Hospital, approached me
asking if our Sunday School Class (Friendship) would be interested
in making pillows for the Children's Hospital. She said the Cardiac
Unit had pillows and the Cancer Center had pillows but the children
had nothing! Sandra Witt introduced me to her sister, Kathy Massey,
who heads up the Pillow Ministry at Lakeridge United Methodist
Church. She showed me the 'ins' and 'outs', so we could get started
without all the trial and error! We started by taking collections
in these South Plains Church of Christ Sunday adult Bible classes: Cornerstone, Friendship, and Family Builders.
How generous they all were! When some of the Elders' wives
heard about it they decided it would be a good project for the
Women's Ministry to take on and from there is has developed into
what it is today.
 In
2004 we made 1,550 pillows. It started with a bang in regards to
participation. Since then, it has fallen off tremendously. We have
only a few 'regulars now. Things get pretty slow during the summer
and around Christmas so we don't make as many each week during that
time. The Widows' Group that meets on Thursday afternoons started
helping us stuff and blind-stitch the pillows closed. If it weren't
for them, we would only get about 20 per week done. Those ladies
are Norma Gilbert, Johnnie O'Guinn, Mable Lee, Sibyl Coffee, Flora
Johnson, Faye Hanes, and Mary Baggett. There are also many
ladies who work on pillows from their homes!
We greatly appreciate everyone
that works in the Pillow Ministry!!!
 We
are meeting from 10:00 AM to 12:00 noon on every Tuesday in
"Joseph's Workshop", one of the Journeyland classrooms upstairs in
the church building. The Pillow Ministry fills a great void the children
face while in the hospital - something warm and soft and fuzzy to
cuddle. In the words of one of the children, "the pillows are the
only soft thing in a hospital." They are all made of fleece, 9 x
11 inches (small enough to cuddle but firm enough to use as 'cough'
pillows). We have had many thank you notes -- most of them have been
printed
in the South Plains Church of Christ Sunday Bulletin. They seem to
come at a time when I need the
encouragement the most. I know they are beneficial to all the
ladies who work so diligently on the pillows.
Here are some of the notes we have received (condensed version):
"My 2 year old little girl went into the ER with difficulty
breathing. They had to try 8 times to start an IV. She was hurting
and frustrated. They admitted us and the nurses brought her a
'special pillow'. She calmed down and hugged it tight all night.
It was a source of comfort to her and I was so grateful for the
people that put them together for the Children's Hospital. Your
thoughtful gift was just perfect for my little baby on such a hard
night."
 "I
would like to thank you for the small pillow that you provide to the
children at Covenant. My 7 year old son has cancer and was in ICU
after having a kidney and part of a lung removed. He received one
of these pillows and absolutely clung to it for comfort and to ease
the pain. We are truly thankful for the "pillow ministry' you
provide and want you to know that the pillows are a true blessing."
"Thank you so much for the sweet pillow. My son received this
pillow while staying in Covenant Children's Hospital. He is 20
months old and is now home. He feels much better and he sleeps with
the pillow every night. Thank you and God bless your church."
"Thanks so much for the visit and the little red pillow. What a
great way to share God's love. It's great to know we have brothers
and sisters all over Lubbock." A sister in Christ from Green
Lawn Church of Christ in Lubbock
|
"Dear
South Plains Church of Christ:
Thank you so much for the pillow. It's so soft!
It helped me get
better. Thanks again."
Female patient, age 11
|
We
received a Thank You note from Kyla Smith,
from all
the nurses at Covenant Children's Hospital:
"As a nurse working with children of all walks of life, who may
never recover from an illness, we had a special need for pillows,
small pillows to help with surgeries, injuries, and illnesses, to
recover or just to help get out of the bed with a little support. I
asked, sought out angels, and you opened the door at South Plains
Church of Christ. Through God's help you have answered our prayer
of need at the Covenant Children's Hospital. Not only will you
comfort their bodies, but you are reaching out to those who may
never know Jesus.
Thank you so much,
Kyla Smith and friends at Covenant Children's Hospital
"So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you,
Seek and you will find, Knock and the door
will be opened to you."
Luke 11:9 |
