The 21th Annual Home Run for the Homeless on Thanksgiving, 2012, was the most successful yet! We had over 4500 walkers and runners combined who registered for the events. Since this is our only fund raiser for the year,it significantly impacts our ability to fulfill our mission. Thanks to all who made this a tremendous success! See you at the 22th annual Home Run for the Homeless on Thanksgiving Day 2013.
Gennesaret Inc.
419 W. Exchange Street
Akron, Ohio
330-379-1057
For photos and video of the 2012 Gennesaret Home Run for the Homeless 4 Mile race click
Here.
For more updates, pictures, and results, follow us on Facebook
God’s Majestic Stove and Oven An extraordinary gift from
God was most recently and vividly experienced through the First
Congregational Church in Hudson. The Youth Group planned and
hosted a highly congregation-supported pancake breakfast. We have
had the privilege to meet a sampling of folks from this church and
have found true disciples of Christ in their Godly example of
living scripture. As with all of the wonderful volunteers who come
to Gennesaret to serve the Lord, they are full of joy and Godly
vigor. The youth raised $5,000, which was matched by an anonymous
donor from the church. The money was raised to purchase a stove
for our soup kitchen. Our old six-burner stove was estimated to be
65-years-old. It was dependable like an old tank, but its door
could not close completely, leaving much hot air to escape into an
atmosphere that oftentimes already resembles a sauna. On Saturdays
it was a challenge for our volunteer cooks to fit all the
restaurant-sized pots of fresh peeled and sliced potatoes on the
old stovetop. Our new shiny-steel 10-burner, two-oven stove plus
an additional convection oven have made the hectic conditions at
our humble soup kitchen a little more bearable. Perhaps all our
heads could swell a little with pride over these glamorous new
cooking appliances, and maybe we are a little overwhelmed as we
drive into our parking lot and witness the massive exhaust and
intake systems that would look quite at home on a jet engine. But,
by the grace of God, we remain in awe over the magnitude of God’s
blessings in our Family Nutritional Center (soup kitchen). God
brought together many holy people who were focused on making a
difference in whatever way possible. Spiro Goomas was instrumental
in convincing his friend and business associate into selling this
new stove and oven to Gennesaret at less than half the normal
price. We could have been forced to pay over $8,000 just for the
10-burner stove, but we purchased both the stove and convection
oven for a little over $4,000. God’s majesty is ever-present. Our
additional costs were for the purchase and installation of the
regulation-sized hood with its code-approved ventilation system.
Plus we needed to increase the gas-line size, and hook-up the new
appliances. Some of this was done at a discount by another friend
of the poor, Wilson Plumbing and Heating. The First Congregational
Church in Akron was also instrumental in covering these additional
costs of installing the stove and oven, as were numerous other
angels of God who made donations, gave advice and coordinated a
process that took a few weeks. What a beautiful example of God’s
people coming together from many walks of life for one purpose, to
serve God by serving one another. “...For each time you do this to
the least of My brothers, you do it to Me.” God Bless you all!
Thanks to all of the students from schools in the greater
Akron area who donated canned goods, toiletries, and money. The
strength of the youth in a society is an indication of our how our
future will unfold. We at Gennesaret are very optimistic of our
future in Akron, Ohio. We are very fortunate to have many youth
who are leading examples of character and compassion.
Our Family Nutritional Center continues to serve the poor and
hungry of the greater Akron area. We serve about 600 meals per
week with our 300 + volunteers. Our food is either donated from
many generous merchants in the community or obtained from the
Akron Food Bank. We are continually striving to improve our
facility to better serve our brethren. Some of the upgrades are
listed below.
A new tile floor in the entire eating area, valued at
$8,000.00. Thanks to Lisa Schmidtke of Schmidtke Interior Designs
for making this happen and a generous donor.
A sturdy stand for our new mixer for mashing 110 lbs. of
potatoes every Saturday morning. Thanks to Covenant Community
Church for their donation of this mixer and for making the stand!
A new facelift on the interior of four of our two-bedroom
apartments located on Cedar St., making them attractive living
accommodations.
Special Thanks to Joan Kunklier for all of her hard work in
researching, writing, submitting and most importantly "WINNING"
all of the grants which we have been blessed with. These funds
enable us to continue our work.
A continuous supply of very loving and caring volunteers, who
selflessly give of their time and talents. Welcome aboard!
Our Transitional Housing program is continuing to grow. Our
first family in our revised program which promotes home ownership,
has bought their own home. Thanks to St. Hillary's Parish for
their work with this family.
Our Job skills training center is partially completed. We have
the main training area ready for certain training opportunities.
The training curriculum will include PC skills as soon as the
wiring to support (20) pc's is finished. We have been fortunate to
receive 20 pentiums for use in this training.
Contact Us:
Gennesaret, Inc.
P.O. Box 1253
Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio 44223
