High Hopes and Lots of Prayer Print E-mail
Saturday, 13 June 2009 14:06
Chilliwack Ambassadors-By Judy denHertog

When Word & Deed put out the call for ambassadors, four women from the Chilliwack, BC area answered. We are Judy Baars, Nanette Greendyk, Judy denHertog, and Fran Westeringh. As ambassadors, we have organized three annual fundraising dinners. We started three years ago with small expectations, high hopes and lots of prayer. The first dinner and presentation was full to capacity, which was humbling. This encouraged us to look for a larger venue the following years, enabling us to cater to twice as many guests.
A lot of planning precedes the events. When Rick Postma notifies us of the date we can expect the speaker, we begin planning. It takes regular meetings and careful discussion from the outset as we explore our options. Each year again we have seen the Lord provide in every step of the preparation.
A critical component of each success is the many volunteers from several of our local churches. Our volunteers are involved with advertising, ticket sales, food preparation and serving, decorations, set-up and clean-up. A special feature at our last dinner was a group of youth recruits who assisted as ushers and servers.
With all of our dinners, we sought sponsors for each table, who were expected to invite enough guests to fill their table. We found this works well, as the guests also are encouraged to donate to the cause of Word & Deed. We have been blessed with dedicated sponsors who have supported us in many ways. We retain a waiting list for unfilled seats, and consequently have been able to serve a full house. We have witnessed a slow but steady progress of increased participation from various Fraser Valley churches. We pray that this will continue as we look forward to each upcoming event.

Word & Deed ambassadors: (from left) Fran Westeringh, Judy Baars, Judy den Hertog and Nanette Greendyk.

Five young men who served as dinner ushers: Wouter Koster, Matt Stam, Jesse and Allan van Oosterom and Damian van Woerden.
 
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