Tuesday, July 25, 2023

Busy Berean Volunteers

 We were really busy this morning at the Berean office. Skip is finding it hard to keep up with the requests from chaplains and the work here. We are really missing Bill. We had one set of studies come in with just a name and number, no street address, no city, no state. Instead of throwing it away Marvin was put on the case and he found the person.  

We also got a nice card from a prisoner telling us how much he appreciated the study. 
When  Sharon arrived Skip put her to work collecting 3 of each study both basic and intermediate for the Tazewell county jail.
Below she is making sure she has what he needs.
Kathy and Leila had quite a lot of letters to read and Skip was kept busy entering studies.
Bruce opened mail until we needed him to put postage on envelopes and print out the stamps for the studies.
There was plenty to do in the other room so as each person got done with the jobs in the one room they would move to the front room.

My keyboard wasn't working well but thankfully one of our volunteers was back on his knees installing one of our other keyboards. Last week he had to find a new monitor screen for this same computer.
At one point everyone was working in the front room except Kathy who was still hard at work answering letters.
The last job was to print off more studies.
This printer is kept running for all the hours we are there. We need thousands of copies and the printer is well used. Below is a short video of some of our work done today.
I was the last one to leave and took a minute to admire the flowers Lukie planted around the building. They really are beautiful.




















Tuesday, July 18, 2023

Few Hours

 I was the last volunteer to arrive today and I was not late as it was only 8:53 am.  Everyone was already hard at work. 

Notice Marvin crouching down under my computer. Mine wouldn't work this morning.
Marvin pulled out some spare parts and soon had the computer up and running. I stayed busy at that machine. The others finished the studies then went to work on wrapping Bibles or folding studies for the next sets.
Below is a short video of just a little bit of our work today.
Vonnie brought in the treat today.
We were all more than ready to try her amazing creation.
That first bite shocked the taste buds which exploded in delight. These were the best I've ever had. The caramel was mouthwatering delicious and the rolls were soft and flavorful. A big thanks to Vonnie for baking these and then sharing them with us. We all sure enjoy working together and are thrilled by how much gets accomplished in a few hours. Marvin and I stayed after as the jail needed copies of the studies. By working together we were able to finish getting 50 of each study done by 12:15 pm. 









Tuesday, July 11, 2023

Well Oiled

 I was the first to arrive at the Berean office but Skip pulled in right after me with the mail. We had a good amount of mail today which kept us all busy. One discouraging note is postage went up again. The Bible stamp went up 33 cents a HUGE increase. It is now $3.67 to mail out a Bible to an inmate. The first class stamp also went up.  Marvin, Leila and Kathy were kept busy with the letters.


Shirley and Shirley were kept busy opening the Bible studies.
Bruce was kept busy on the postage machine.
Skip worked on the computer entering the studies first then adding all the Bible requests on the computer. Once those were all entered and printed out he took the labels out to the other room to get the Bibles ready for mailing.
I'm so thankful for willing volunteers.
It really is amazing how much work gets done at this office each Tuesday morning. We all work together like a well oiled machine.