Newsletter

June 2005

Matt 25:35 For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you took me in; I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you visited me; I was in prison and you came to me.

I was sitting in my office when the phone rang and I answered. To my surprise it was the secretary from my church calling, she said someone I knew was trying to get in touch with me and gave me the phone number. Instantly, I was excited and thought it could be an old high school friend, or better yet, someone wanting to donate property for Heaven Skates. It just took a few seconds for me to dial the number and it was a family I had meet about a year ago with two boys, one 12 and the other 16. The youngest is a skateboarder. The sixteen year old boy answered the phone and asked all the regular questions, like ”How have you been?” “Does Heaven Skates have any property yet?”. I could hear his mother crying in the background and the boy told me she was too upset to talk and was trying to get her self together. We talked a few minutes and she came to the phone. She told me they had fallen on real hard times and needed some help. They had lost everything, the car, furniture, and even their twelve-year-olds shoes. They were staying in a hotel room with some friends and had six in one room. They didn’t know how much longer they could stay there and had no place to go and no food. I told my friends Ken and Mary Jane Cox about the twelve year old with no shoes and immediately Ken said “I want to help”. Then I called my friend and board member Jim Pietrowski and we all went to work to help this family. Ken met me in Cartersville. He just happened to have a job over this way other wise he would have been in Woodstock. He gave me some money and told me to get the boy some shoes. Within a few hours we had shoes on the twelve-year-old and they had several days worth of food. The family found a place to rent for just $50.00 a week and Jim found two beds, a chair, and bought them all kinds of cleaning and hygiene supplies. Jim also arranged for free tickets into Stone Mountain’s Cross Roads where I was able to take the two boys for a day away from their troubles. A lot of people came together to help this family. The best part of this whole thing was my being able to see the smile on a little boys face as he put on his new shoes, and to bring a little happiness and relief to a family that had fallen upon hard times. Thank God for each and every one of you for praying and giving your time, talents and treasures.

It’s amazing what God can do with our little office. We have just a little over 700 square feet and kids come and hang out to do a little skating and to attend our Bible studies. We are also getting very close to being able to screen-print our own skateboard decks. This will help out greatly by bringing in extra funds. The most important thing is that families and children like in the story above know whom to call when they fall upon hard times.

Please pray for our direction. Are space is extremely small and we may have the chance at a space with 1,500 square feet inside and more outside space. It’s only about a block away and would be easy for the kids to get to. I don’t want to move unless it’s where God wants us to go. We also need many more monthly givers. I work home repairs from 8am to about 2pm then I come to the office where many times a crowd of skaters are waiting for me. I don’t get back home till 11pm at the earliest. I have cut monthly expenses down to the bare minimum and can cut no more. We need to get the word out and gain the support of many more. I would like to speak to groups of people two or three times a week, giving them lots of useful information about the evils in the skateboard industry and giving them alternatives. Over the eight years of this ministry I have learned a lot and I would love to share my knowledge with others. I will go any place any time I could even come speak to your Sunday school class. I could even bring a skater with me. I just need a little help from you guys to get the word out and get our funding up.

We now have just acquired a “Heaven Skates” t- shirt design. A sample is on display in the office and the cost is $12.00 and you can get your name on it for only $2.00 more. Because we have no way to keep a stock of these shirts we will take pre-paid orders and will be ready in about a week from the time you order them.

Chris Tarnow has bought our first ABC deck and his review of this deck after skating on it recently is as follows:

“After purchasing the board from Bill, I looked up the ABC board’s web page (www.abcboards.com) and saw that they really take their time curing the boards. They let the boards dry naturally instead of microwaving like some of the other companies. This board has plenty of concave and tremendous pop. After purchasing this deck I have been able to master my front side smiths, frontside lipslides and noseslides. This board is as good as other boards I have purchased at almost twice the price.”

Well, that’s all for this month. Remember, tell someone about Jesus and share the Good News!

God bless

Bill