June Newsletter
Thank you God for your blessings
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, a most wonderful thing is happening at Loaves and Fishes. With the closing of the Beaufort Walgreen’s at 1710 Live Oak Street, the landlord came to Pastor David Bruce with an offer to lease the Walgreen’s space for highly attractive financial terms and provide fixtures for the store. In the past this man has shown he loves the ministry of Loaves and Fishes and has been extremely good to the Thrift Store ministry.
In Pastor Bruce’s words, “The Lord has always taken care of us and guided our decisions. It will be no different with this decision. This landlord will keep his word and make it possible to greatly increase sales. God has given us the way to expand the Thrift store”.
There is a lot of work to taking over space with Walgreen’s leaving and Loaves and Fishes moving. Additionally, Pastor Bruce went to Walgreen’s corporate and they have donated all the displays and fixtures in the store! Nothing has to be disassembled and moved out!
As good stewards of our finances, we discerned what this could mean to the ministry. The additional space (8,600 sq. ft.) should be able to allow Loaves and Fishes to double sales once the store is open for its initial year. Anyone that has been in the DC/Thrift store knows it is crowded and has limited space for merchandise. That store will close. What a wonderful future!
Unfortunately, for many families and businesses, the economy’s disruption is causing financial hardships. For sure, Beaufort will miss Walgreen’s. We pray for people’s businesses and livelihoods. We see the Thrift Store ministry, with its really low prices, helping families in our community.
The Thrift stores’ sales provide more than 50% of Loaves and Fishes’ revenue. The men’s addiction recovery ministry is funded by your donations and Thrift store sales. As a ministry of Jesus Christ, we provide long term, residential addiction recovery program at very low costs. For men that do not have the means to pay, we give scholarships. Thank you for your support during the past two months in these uncertain times.
Do you have time to help us make this move? Please call Gabbie in the Loaves and Fishes office at 252-838-9035. Leave a message and phone number that you can help with the move.
Can you donate so we can put up attractive signs on the building and in store windows?
Our Grand Opening is July 11!
Pray for us to bring this expansion to reality. May this all be to the Glory of God. Amen.
Derrick Lewis’ Testimony
The Loaves and Fishes addiction recovery program changes lives. We miss every man as they graduate from the program – what a celebration! Derrick is one such person who recently graduated. Here is his testimony:
“I just want to take a minute to thank everyone who has been praying for me during my recovery from alcohol addiction while I’ve been in rehab at Loaves and Fishes. It’s hard to believe it will be three months since I came to Loaves and Fishes. I thank God – He has delivered me from alcohol but I don’t feel He’s done with me yet. Now I am working to strengthen my discipleship to Him and reestablish my relationship with my best friend, Jesus Christ. Please pray, not for freedom from addiction, but a deeper love for my Savior. Thanks to everyone who didn’t give up on me”. Amen.
Carteret County sees rise in overdoses and deaths
Every day in North Carolina 4.8 people die from unintentional opioid overdoses – more than deaths from traffic accidents. Over 445,000,000 opioid pills (yes million) were dispensed to NC residents in 2018. Source: NC Health Department.
At the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, health experts warned that social distancing, quarantining after contact and loss of jobs could lead to higher rates of drug and alcohol abuse to cope.
In addition, illicit drugs such as heroin and cocaine are being mixed with synthetic drugs such as fentanyl. Fentanyl is 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times than morphine. Source: Centers For Disease Control.
Here are excerpts from a WITN TV story on April 28, 2020. “Carteret County has recently seen a spike in the number of people rushed to the emergency room for overdoses. Mental Health experts say the coronavirus could be part of the reason the area is seeing an increase in some overdoses.
More than 80 overdoses and 8 deaths occurred in Carteret County so far this year (through March). Carteret County Sheriff Asa Buck said, “For my office in 2019 (for total year), we took reports of 52 overdoses, 41 of those individuals survived and 11 died.”
During February and March, the county recorded the biggest spike in trips to the emergency department because of overdoses.
Mental health experts say the trend is alarming, but unfortunately not surprising to them.
The story went on to say the further we get into the quarantine, pandemic and social distancing, the more people are feeling the stress and strain of it and people are trying all different types of things to deal with that stress and in some cases that may be turning to substances.
Sheriff Buck said his office is available to those in the community, and that his job isn’t just enforcement. “We can’t enforce our way out of these problems. We can go out and arrest 100 drug dealers and that doesn’t help that person’s addiction,” said Buck.
Loaves and Fishes is a long term, residential addiction recovery program. If you or a friend are seeking help after detox, please consider us. To make donations and learn more, call 252-838-9035; or visit our website at www. https://loavesandfishesnc.org.