Projects

Faith Hope and Love Habitat House

May 20, 2009 Merlin Gonzales Projects

By Merlin Gonzales, Pres., Faith Hope and Love

Recently, Habitat for Humanity asked Faith Hope and Love to partner with them to build a house for a Hispanic family. FHL President, Merlin Gonzales thought it would be good that the house be built by different nationalities. Ralph Taylor, International Affairs Coordinator for Indianapolis Mayors office agreed to call a meeting at WFYI Ch 20 on Monday, May 11th.

The meeting resulted with several ethnic groups to partner in building the house in the Martindale-Brightwood area starting June 3- July 11. The immediate need is to staff the June 3th –June 5th house build days. Two shifts are offered, from 7:30am to 11:30am and from 12:30pm to 4:30pm. Please contact 317-578-3370 to get involved in this community house build.

Garden of Hope

May 19, 2009 Merlin Gonzales Projects

By Merlin Gonzales, President, Faith Hope and Love

There are many stagnant, vacant lands in our city. A question was asked, ‘What if we turn the vacant land into farming and gardening?’ GardenHope This question stirred many hearts in our city.

Last summer, many volunteers gathered in Fortville, IN and provided raised garden beds in the neighborhoods. Earlier this year, Faith Hope and Love (FHL) partnered with the refugees to cultivate the gardens in Fortville. On Monday, the 10th of May, the refugees farmers harvested their first crop.

Recently, FHL partnered with Midwest Food Bank in cultivating an acre of land next to the food bank. The idea was to turn the land into a small farming site. The Chin people (Burmese) agreed to provide labor in exchange of sharing the harvest of the land.

There were numerous people in attendance among them are Merlin Gonzales, President of Faith Hope and Love, Ralph Taylor, International Affairs Coordinator for the Indianapolis Mayor’s Office, John Whitaker, Executive Director of Midwest Food Bank and Pastor Bhawerain of the Chin people.

In the next few days, FHL will be offering opportunities to adopt hens at the Fortville farm. You can adopt a hen for $10 one time investment and $4 every month for feed. In return, the sponsors will benefit by receiving MenFarm fresh farm eggs on a monthly basis and can experience being a farmer.

If you are interested in being part of the FHL initiatives, please call 317-578-3370 for more information.

It is said that unemployment is about 10%. What if the 90% of the population who are blessed with a job provide incentive and encouragement for the 10% unemployed who want and need a loving and dignified assist? Our job framework has shrunk so it can’t support everyone with a job at this time. So being out of work is not always a choice these days.

A Great Week For FHL: ESL Classes, Lamb’s Farm Planting, City-Wide Prayer, Mobile Food Pantry and FHL Week 2009 Planning

March 22, 2009 Merlin Gonzales Projects

merlin

Hello everyone,

It’s been a great week.

We had the Fishers Area churches (FHL Week 2009) meeting at Christ the Savior Lutheran Church, NW area and Greenwood areas. They were attended by several churches and are now planning to meet again in the next few weeks. The week of 3/22, Nora-Castleton and Carmel areas will meet for FHL Week 2009 vision-casting.

The FHL Lamb’s Farm was cultivated and we planted seeds on several garde lambsfarm11 n plots. The Burmese Refugees adopted the gardens. Later the same day, the Lord provided almost 30 jobs for these refugees at Heartland Growers through FHL connections. It is possible that we may have a few more acres to raise vegetables in the near future.

FHL’s ESL (English as a Second Language) has expanded to a Chic-Fil-A restaurant located in the Clearwater area. We will be teaching basic English to the employees at 86th St restaurant starting the first week of April.

team1 On the 21st of March, FHL Mobile Food Pantry was held at Arlington High School. We had more than 100 volunteers including the Arlington High School Baseball Team. We served more than 150 families from several different nationalities including Iraquis, Burmese, and Hispanics. Food was abundantly shared with people but the main focus was the relationships we built with each other. To help these ones build a relationship with their heavenly Father, we also had a ‘Prayer Tent’ inside the building.

Next weekend, 3/28, we will have a ‘Prayer Tent’ at a vacant lot at 10th/Rural from 10a-2p. Through April 2 – 4 is FHL’s Kindness Weekend at Bread of Life in Avon, IN. We will be giving away clothes provided by the church. On 4/4, the 3rd FHL city-wide prayer meeting will be held at Bread of Life starting at 7:30pm.

I am so blessed to be part of this ministry. I have the privilege of witnessing what God is doing in our community. Thank you so much for coming alongside FHL in serving the least, the lost and last. If you have not been to any of the FHL events, try to come to the next few; you’ll witness what God is doing through FHL ministry.

Hope to see everyone at the Outback Luncheon on 3/25; it’s going to be awesome!

God bless,
Merlin

Meeting Minutes: FHL Launching Meeting for FHL Week 2009

January 19, 2009 Merlin Gonzales Ministry, Prayer Groups, Projects

FHL Week 2009

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Thank you for coming to the (FHL Week 2009 Launching) meeting. We had many new potential Area Coordinators! Here are the meeting minutes for the January 15th meeting on Thursday:

The Vision of FHL International, Inc. and the FHL Week (It’s about Relationships)
Identification of NEEDS and RESOURCES in our neighborhoods and MOBILIZE our community to serve
Projects, services and events are tools to reach out to the community
We plan for all our events and projects but we are flexible to the leading of the Holy Spirit-He runs this ministry
We are planning to have at least 10 Area Coordinators from the following areas:

o Nora/Castleton
o Urban-North
o Urban South
o Noblesville
o Fishers
o Carmel
o Westfield
o Zionsville
o Greenwood
o West
o Avon/Brownsburg/Plainfield
o Fortville/McCordsville
o East

The Area Coordinators’ (AC) Training meeting is on Thursday, Feb 5th, 8a-10a at the FHL office. Please RSVP by Thursday, Jan 22nd by calling 317-578-3370 or by responding to [email protected] . Bring your potential ‘Apprentice’ and leaders
Please see your email for the ‘Invitation Letter’ to your area churches. You can fill in the blanks for your first area meeting. If you let me know in advance, I could come and assist you in casting the vision. Here is the One-Page ‘Save-the-Date’ brochure
Together with www.fhlinternational.org these Links will provide you and your prospective area church partner with multi-media marketing and presentation:

FHL International,Inc.’s Splashcast Video Channel

FHL International,Inc.’s YouTube Channel

FHL International,Inc.’s Facebook Page

FHL International,Inc.’s Wiki Page

Pastor Paul Backer of Central Christian Church in Carmel will be our AC Consultant. He had been an Area Coordinator for Carmel/Westfield area from 2006-2008 averaging 500+ volunteers every FHL Week
Paul Bechtold is the Metro Indy AC Coordinator and will assist you for the FHL Week
FHL Int’l., Inc. has several ongoing ministries such as the Mobile Food Pantry, Kindness Days, Prayer Teams, English as a Second Language, etc.
The FHL e-newsletter will give you updates on a monthly basis. I will send you another email with the e-news
You are invited to come to the FHL Prayer Team launching on January 24 7p-9p at: Providence Ministries, Indianapolis, Indiana 46218. I will send you another email regarding this event. Hope to see you there.

During these tough economic times, our churches need to work closer together in serving those in need. I would like to encourage you to continue to talk to other churches regarding this ministry that was birth in our own city.

God bless,
Merlin Gonzales
President, FHL International, Inc.

FHL Call Out: Volunteers Needed To Shelter the Homeless + Update

November 9, 2008 Merlin Gonzales Projects

*The following is an Update to the original message below:

God bless y’all!
Last Monday, I went to meet Mr. Ed Figueroa at Lowe’s in Franklin, IN. We purchased several building materials, paint and an electrical box for his house. This is the same house that housed more 500+ homeless in the past few years. Attached is the picture of the bare kitchen floor that needed attention.

It is not too late to bless the homeless through fixing the things that need attention in the house. Ed said that he already fixed the gutters, insulation and I believe some of the roofing issues. We still need an Electrician, handyman and a carpenter and any volunteer to help in the house. My assessment is that we still need ceiling materials, flooring for the kitchen, carpet for the basement, tiles for the bathroom and paint for the rest of the house.

The weather is still nice and we would like to finish this in 2 weeks before it gets cold.

If you are looking for an opportunity to have an immediate impact in the homeless population, please consider donating your time, materials and/finances through:
Faith, Hope and Love International, Inc. (FHL)
Rivers of Living Water
8383 Craig St. Ste 335
Indianapolis, IN 46250
317-372-0371 [email protected]

Please pray for the Figueroa’s who are in the frontline and are continually pouring out themselves in helping those in need. FHL is posting $500 donation towards helping the homeless through the Rivers of Living Water. 100% of your donations will go to this effort. FHL is a non-profit organization and your donation is tax-deductible. Please feel free to forward this email to those who might be able to help the Rivers of Living Water.

God bless,

Merlin Gonzales
President/CEO
FHL

*The following is the original request:

Hello,

I pray that this message finds you well.

A couple of weeks ago, I had an opportunity to visit one of the organizations in Metro Indy whose main purpose is to help and/or house the homeless. The Rivers of Living Water in Franklin, IN had house 500+ homeless people in the last 5 years. They use their own resources including their house to help those in need.

Because of their radical generosity (Ed & Jena Figueroa), their house is now in need of upgrade and some minor repairs. The rain in the Spring caused flooding and some water damage on the ceiling of the basement (see attached). The kitchen needs floor and the inside of the house needs painting. The house was built in the 60’s and I found out that the electrical box is still the original box which had caused a few problems in the past.

There are a few more maintenance that need attention but below is the immediate needs:

· Fuse Box (Needs licensed Electrician)

· 200 sq ft. flooring (preferably tiles)

· 200 sq ft ceiling

· Paint and paint supplies

· Handyman to help in flooring, painting and minor repairs

If you are looking for an opportunity to have an immediate impact in the homeless population, please consider donating your time, materials and/finances through:

Faith, Hope and Love International, Inc. (FHL) Rivers of Living Water 8383 Craig St. Ste 335 Indianapolis, IN 46250 317-372-0371 [email protected]

When I visited Ed & Jena and heard from them the stories of hope, I was humbled and speechless to actually be in a place that housed 500+ homeless people. Please pray for the Figueroa’s who are in the frontline and are continually pouring out themselves in helping those in need. FHL is posting $500 donation towards helping the homeless through the Rivers of Living Water. 100% of your donations will go to this effort. FHL is a non-profit organization and your donation is tax-deductible. If you are available to volunteer, please respond to this email how you could help. We need painters, carpenters, handyman, plumber and electrician. Please feel free to forward this email to those who might be able to help the Rivers of Living Water.

Sincerely,

Merlin Gonzales
President/CEO
FHL