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This Sunday's WorshipJuly 26, 2026 Series: Relating with Jesus |
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2nd Quarter Community Partner Check PresentationWhat is Saving Grace Perishable Food Rescue? On Sunday, July 22, 2026 Lenli Corbett Kountze, CEO/President of Saving Grace Food Rescue was in worship to talk to us about this non-profit organization and how we might continue our partnership with Saving Grace. Saving Grace is a metro area nonprofit. They serve Pottawattamie, Douglas, and Sarpy County. And their mission is really focused on rescuing the excess food that already exists in our community and then delivering it out to a network of nonprofits who feed our neighbors. Linley told us, “In our country alone, about 30% of food goes to waste. And yet, just in our metro area, we have almost 120,000 neighbors who are considered food insecure. They're hungry. That means they don't consistently know where their next meal is coming from. We are really dedicated to this idea that excess food and hungry people should not coexist. If we have excess food, we should be feeding people with that. And so our mission is moving that food around our community.” Saving Grace operates a fleet of refrigerated trucks that operate five days a week, Monday through Friday. Pick up starts at 6:30 in the morning. They pick up produce, protein, dairy, and grains. Last year they had 163 food donor partner businesses - grocery stores, caterers, event centers who said, "Our food should not be going to waste. We want to make sure it gets out into the community." And then Saving Grace delivered that to 59 different nonprofit organizations around the three county area. Homeless shelters, pantries, transitional living, afterschool programs, senior centers, and many other places around our community where our neighbors are in need are being directly served. That's really what Saving Grace Perishable Food Rescue is, a matchmaker that makes sure that excess food helps to feed hungry people. Linley added, “Your generosity helps to create ripples throughout the entire community through your gift to Saving Grace, which we're so incredibly grateful about. It helps keep our trucks moving. It helps to make sure that we can get more of that good food out to partners.” Saving Grace's Community Impact Last year, Saving Grace rescued and redistributed 938,269 pounds of food, which is about 750,000 meals from food that already existed. In their lifetime, they have rescued over 10 million pounds of food. Food that already existed. That 10 million pounds is over 8.3 million meals that have fed community members around our three-county area. Last year, the value of what Saving Grace provided to the community was about $2.9 million in food. The director said, “Thank you. Thank you, pastor. And it's really through the generosity of community members like yourselves that help keep that mission going. We deliver all of that food free of charge to those nonprofits. Now, those dollars that they normally would have spent on that food can be redirected to services. That is significant when we think about how we might employ creative common sense solutions to be able to tackle hunger.” Community Fridge Project Saving Grace extends their work through the community fridge project. If you're familiar with the little free library idea where you can drop off items and pick them up, this is really a sort of an expansion of that mutual aid exchange idea. A shelter or shed is built on site. In that shelter lives a household fridge and pantry shelves. Saving Grace works to weekly deliver perishable items and then community members are encouraged to be collaborators in that. When you think about excess food from your own gardens or you're going on vacation and that bunch of bananas that will be overripe when you get back, pass it on to a neighbor. And when we think about who needs food, we all need food. So, it's not us or them. It's a community that we're serving. So, people are encouraged to take what they need and leave what they can. Saving Grace just launched their first Council Bluffs shelter at Timothy Lutheran on 31st and Broadway with more locations coming. There are three of them running in Omaha right now. In 2025 over 25,000 pounds of food went out through the fridges just from Saving Grace’s deliveries alone. Linley offered, “I speak for our whole staff and board for the generosity that you're showing and we really look forward to working with you on the community fridge. Presentation of Second Quarter Tithe Pastor Brian: Linley, we know that working with a nonprofit is really a labor of love. It's a calling. So what's your personal tie in with this? What made you want to be a part of this? Linley: You know, I'm really encouraged by the work of Saving Grace and how we think about hunger in our community. It's really hard to do anything if you're hungry. And so step one, how do we as a community feed people? The other piece that really motivates me about our mission is the environmental impact that we can have through our work. Unfortunately, landfills are filled with food and when that food decomposes, it releases methane gas that negatively impacts our climate and environment. One of the most significant ways that we can create a healthier environment for all is just to keep food out of landfills. So whether we think about food coming out of our own houses; whether we compost, buy less, freeze, or buy in bulk with your neighbors, we are creating cleaner air for us all. Iowa and America need farmers. The Midwest feeds people. We shouldn't have all of this food that we've spent time and money and resources on going to waste. So, the impact that we can make by feeding people and creating a healthier environment is something that motivates me every day. Pastor Brian: “Thank You. We've got a tithe of the gifts we received from April through June for our mission partner, Saving Grace. Ten percent of what we took in was not an even number. So, we had an anonymous donor donate about $300 to help round it out. It is our honor to present Saving Grace with a check for $10,000 to support the work they do. So, thank you for all the work you do and for allowing us to be a small part of it. And thank you for being here today. Yeah, we appreciate it.” |
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Hydrant PartyBroadway will be the host site for the July 30th hydrant party. Sponsored by the City of Council Bluffs and the CB Fire Department, Hydrant Parties are all about old-fashioned fun. For one hour, kids (and kids at heart) can run through the spray of an open hydrant, enjoy frozen treats, and connect with neighbors. The events are free and open to the public, and no registration is required. |
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Church Clean Out Week |
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United Women in Faith Hold Mission U 2026by Amanda Smith On Friday the 16th three of Broadway's United Women of Faith (UWF) left for Ankeny, Iowa to attend a banquet celebration of 125 years of Missions Education. We were treated to a lovely string trio ensemble and many shared conversations about the accomplishments and success of our beloved history. On Saturday the 17th we attended the annual Mission u conference. It's difficult to sum up Mission u in words. On Sunday Pastor Brian quoted scripture from John1:39. "Come and you will see!". That turned out to be the exact scripture I needed. Come to Mission u and you WILL see. If you don't go you won't know. The love of the Lord & so many fellow prayer warrior sisters allow each of us to be surrounded by a powerfull group of women seeking to grow their calling of God's love. It wraps around you like a warm blanket. We share ideas for how we can grow our faith, network ideas for our community outreach, give/receive supportive feedback for BUMC 's UWF to continue to grow and thrive. The shared laughter, the occasional tear of compassion for our sisters, and the bonds forged between all of UWF ladies from every corner of the state is beautiful. This year's study focused on the book "A Deep Knowing" by . A wonderful way of discussing how to be closer to God in every aspect of your life. This awareness is highly personal and invites you to embrace your whole self—body, mind, and spirit. But most importantly was the bonding of the 3 ladies in attendance. Sharing of stories, laughter & honest feedback between us is priceless. Mission u's retreat for UWF amps up our spiritual batteries & our bonds of sisterhood. With all this in mind I got to thinking. How can we grow our UWF? After sharing this with my sisters at BUMC I learned of a long forgotten group called Ladies of the Night, a second chapter of UWF that meets at night to better accommodate the ladies that cannot attend the daytime meetings. A younger generation of ladies. So I have decided to explore this opportunity further. If you might be one of those ladies please reach out to me and we'll explore the next steps further together! |
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AnnouncementsCommunications Changes The Spire By now I am working into my new schedule and want you to know that even with reduced hours there is still more I can do for you. However, I cannot do it all on Thursday. When Broadway moved to our new website host the newsletter became hosted at the site. That means I create the Spire from the website builder and send it from there. That allows for an archive of newsletters available to be read online or re-sent to individuals as needed. I do notice that not all subscribers open their newletter. There can be several reasons for that. Carriers may be delivering to junk mail or just blocking it. You may have changed your email address without updating us or resubscribing to the newsletter. Since the newsletter is created at the website it is displayed as a webpage that does not print effeciently. To make Broadway news, stories, and events more available and more appealing in print I will be converting it into a print friendly document. That will take some time to copy and paste and place things on pages for a better layout. Because of that I need to move the deadline for the Spire to Tuesday morning. Anything received later than that will be held until a later publication and placed depending on space and time. This change will begin next week, July 30th. This deadline also applies to bulletin announcements and Sunday announcement slides. I also ask that if you have an event or story you would like the general congregation and community to know about, please come to me. The new schedule will not give me time to look for content, especially if I do not know where to look. Print documents of The Spire will be available at the Welcome Center desk on Sunday mornings and the metal bulletin board will hold a copy for a week. Copies can also be made for you to deliver to the friends you are missing. Ministry Booklets It is our tradition to make available ministry booklets to share with the commnity. We will produce a book featuring all resuming and new ministries and groups that resume after the block party. If you are a leader of a group, planning a church event, or setting up a service opportunity, don't assume I know your plans. Please get your content to me by August 15, 2026. Even if this is a regular ministry, it is good to give your content an occasional refresh. Plan ahead for the fall holidays and for special Advent and Christmas events and service. Think about creating an invitation that feels welcoming to those who are not already inside the group or the church. Or, share good news and the impact of your ministry to those who attend. Send photos along that show community. My goal is to have booklets available to the congregation by the end of August for your preview before they are distributed at the Block Party on September 9. Bulletin Board You may have noticed changes to the boards as you come into the church. At the bottom of the stairs, the two boards on the north are dedicated to community partners. The first will hold special short term events and opportunities. For events to be placed there, we do ask that they be free or free-will. The next board is our ongoing community assistance partners. The bulletin board in the Welcome Center can now be dedicated for Broadway news and special announcements. Please talk with me before placing anything on the boards. That way I can help amplify what your are promoting through the congregation in additional ways. Thank you for your help and please be patient with me as I adapt to this new schedule. Peace, Teresa
Ways to Connect Want to know more about Broadway? Looking for information or news? We offer several ways to stay connects with us. 1. App. Select the appropriate app store for your device and download. Ways to Give 1. Website Ways to Serve 1. Scripture Readers - Sign ups are available in the Sanctuary for July-August Scripture reading |
