October 16, 2023 Local Partner Update

At Veritas, working with and through our Local Partners are the primary way we minister to people in need within Fayetteville. These organizations have proven to have a heart for our City and its needs, and they show the love of Christ in how they run their ministries. Here are a few recent happenings with our Local Partners:

Operation Inasmuch

Saturday, September 16 was the culminating art show in this series for the Imago Dei Art Project. It was a beautiful event at The Lodge, where these men live. There was a healthy turn out, and many Veritas people stopped in and purchased art to support the men. This show was the fruit of a lot of labor from the men in the Lodge, the OIAM staff and board, and Veritas Partners who make up the Imago Dei Leadership Team.

This art show felt like a bit of a mountain-top moment for all of us, but the work is far from over! We would like to keep this project going so it can be a means of creative expression and supplemental income for more men. We are also looking for volunteers who can come teach life skills and interest based classes during the day for The Living Hope program, which is where we began the Imago Dei Art Project.

Also recently, Operation Inasmuch hosted the 3rd Annual Ray’s Run. This 5K and 10K was a way to honor the memory of Ray Helton, a previous Executive Director who passed away from cancer, as well as raise money for The Lodge. A number of Veritas Covenant Partners came out to support the organization and run!

If you’re interested in helping, click this link to sign up for our Local Partner group.

Hand of Hope

Sunday, September 24 we did a Baby Item Drive or Hand of Hope. Ken and Chrissy Hughes also used this as an opportunity to collect items from FCA, all of that combined filled my caravan to the brim! Michele Dove, the HOH Fayetteville Site Director, was moved by how much was offered to their organization. Watch a brief thank you video from her here. These items will be given to expecting and new mothers who are taking parenting and life-skills classes through Hand of Hope.

Hand of Hope is always looking for people, particularly women, who would like to get involved and support through being a life coach, appointment driver or baby-boutique organizer. With Michele Dove as their new Site Director, they’ve made great strides in organization; if you previously tried to be a volunteer and that stalled out, this would be a great time to reconnect! If you’re new and looking for ways to serve, Hand of Hope is a wonderful place to care for women and children in need!

If you’re interested in helping, click this link to sign up for our Local Partner group.

Habitat for Humanity

One of our Covenant Partners, Maggie Kettler, was able to receive funding for much needed home renovations through Habitat for Humanity. They completely renovated her bathroom, and they did some work in her kitchen. During the work, they noticed that the piping from Maggie’s bathroom to the road was obstructed by a tree root, so they dug up and replaced those. They also did some electrical work on the house.

Along with all of this, Veritas organized a day to support these home projects by putting on gutters that her husband, Matt, had bought but did not have time to install before getting sick and passing away. The group of nearly 20 people from Veritas did yard work, fixed the fence, and put up the gutters.

Here is a message from Maggie:
“I just want to express my heartfelt gratitude for everyone who came today to bless me and my family with their service of love. Words cannot express how grateful I am. I’m praising God for the church family that believes in taking care of the widows and orphans. He is an awesome God and he has given me a wonderful family.”

If you’re interested in helping, click this link to sign up for our Local Partner group.

We believe that as Christians we are called to love God and love people. Much of what we do within Veritas allows us to love our brothers and sisters within Veritas, and that is such a beautiful expression of how we are a family in Christ. But there are many people in Fayetteville who are lost, broken and hurting, and don’t feel Christ’s love. That is why serving with our Local Partners allows us to reach and care for people in Fayetteville whom we would not encounter or talk with (at least in any sort of meaningful way) otherwise. I strongly encourage you to choose one of our Local Partners, and partner with them to put your time, heart, efforts and resources into loving people.

Best and blessings,
Emily Ruth Perry | Director of Community Life

Imago Dei Art Exhibition

We are half-way through the first-ever Imago Dei Art Exhibition. Check out some photos from our first who Art Shows at Sweet Palette and a Woodpecker’s Game. Our hope and prayer is that this is far from the end of this endeavor.

For anyone who is unfamiliar, Imago Dei means that all people are created in the image of God. All people - no matter their ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, religious, or political beliefs, etc. - deserve to be treated with love, respect, kindness, and dignity. It’s very easy for us to subconsciously or systematically disregard this belief. We (wrongly) think there is an ‘other,’ someone who is less human than we are.

The homeless are an easy target for this dehumanization. Maybe we think we are somehow better, maybe we are afraid or uncomfortable when they approach us, or maybe we feel impotent when we cannot or don’t know how to help then and there.

The purpose of the Imago Dei Art Exhibitoin is to create awareness and raise money to care for Fayetteville’s homeless population. We are not so self-aggrandizing to think we will solve all of the problems of Fayetteville’s homeless, but we do hope this keeps the conversation moving in healthy directions.

When we are talking about the homeless population, we are not talking about one homogeneous group; there are situationally homeless - someone has lost a job, gotten kicked out of their house, came out of prison, or something like that, and they have nowhere to go. There are also chronically homeless, this is defined as someone who has been without a home for more than a year. A chronically homeless person has many crushing life barriers that have stacked the cards against them; most have experienced serious trauma and abuse, many have serious mental illness and substance abuse problems.

No matter the circumstances that have gotten them into homelessness, these are people with thoughts and feelings. Some still have hopes and dreams, but many have been struggling and suffering for so long, that their mental space to dream and hope has been drowned out by near-constant fear and crisis. Many have created their own social networks with other homeless and look out for each other in their own ways.

I say all of this to give us some frame of reference that the problems of the homeless are so complex and tangled. It takes a great deal of time, resources, and patience to make a difference. I have the honor of serving on the Board of Directors of Operation Inasmuch, which exists to be the hands and feet of Jesus among the broken, hurting, and homeless by offering relief, recovery, and restoration of hope. If you’re reading this, there is a chance that you’ve served breakfast to the homeless through their morning breakfast ministry. This is the heartbeat of the organization and has been for over a decade. This breakfast ministry is the foot in the metaphorical door with the homeless to offer other relief services like sick call, showers, glasses, haircuts, etc.

Operation Inasmuch also has The Living Hope Program run thorough the Lodge. This is transitional housing for men who want to make meaningful change and get out of homelessness permanently. The men living within the Lodge take classes - everything from art to character development, bible study to group counseling. This Imago Dei Art Exhibition was born out of the art and photography classes led by Christian Prince, the Lodge Assistant Director, as well as Ray Im, a professional artist within Fayetteville. Any art, designs, or work purchased through Imago Dei Art is a 50/50 profit share; half the profits are given directly back to the artists. Many of those artists are the guys in the Lodge, working hard to rebuild their lives and get out of homelessness. We have professional artists who wanted to support the cause also contributing pieces. The other half of the profits goes back into running the Lodge and the Living Hope program. They go toward paying the amazing staff, running the facility, providing food, and various other opportunities to the guys there.

Our next Imago Dei Art Show will be this Friday from 5-7p, at the Cape Fear Studio (1148 Maxwell St, Downtown Fayetteville) for the city’s Fourth Fridays. There will be other happenings, so come down and enjoy the environment! Also, please check out our website; it’s been designed and executed by an amazing team of designers from Nepal!
** Photos generously provided by Kori Frazier Photography

IMAGO DEI: ALL PEOPLE IN THE IMAGE OF GOD ART EXHIBITION

IMAGO DEI: ART EXHIBITION HOSTED BY FAYETTEVILLE AREA OPERATION INASMUCH

We believe all people are created in the image of God with equal worth and value. God created us as beautiful multi-faceted people of different ages, genders, ethnicities, classes, etc. Often the homeless, some of the most hurting and vulnerable, are the least seen and respected within society. Out of that sentiment, the Holy Spirit has brought about a project in collaboration between a few Veritas Covenant Partners and the staff of Operation Inasmuch. The desire for this art exhibition is to create awareness and show the humanity of those struggling with homelessness. This project will be told from the perspective of those experiencing homelessness.

Ray Im, professional artist, and Christian Prince, Assistant Lodge Director, have been teaching art to participants within The Lodge. The Lodge is transitional housing through Operation Inasmuch, a homeless ministry within Fayetteville NC.

Ray Im has begun teaching them the craft and mechanics of photography. Christian Prince is teaching them drawing, painting and other mixed media. Along with being a wonderful form of self-expression, we are hoping this will become an opportunity for income for not only these men but also for The Living Hope Program in the Lodge.

These original art pieces will be for sale at art exhibition events, and they will also be digitized to be sold on a website. Kori Frazier, professional photographer, has been helping with photography as well as design for artwork, clothing, and other merchandise on the website. The website is under construction, but here is the url!

Dates and locations of the Art Exhibition are:

  • Sweet Palette - Saturday, August 12

  • Woodpeckers Game - Friday, August 18

  • Fourth Friday Downtown - Friday, August 25

  • The Lodge Show - Saturday, September 16

Fellowship During Community Group Break

Veritas is currently taking a break from Community Groups (CGs) formally meeting this summer (June and July). CGs will pick back up in August, but we wanted to offer a few opportunities to fellowship in the meantime! Also, we want to have a heart for our city, so we are taking our fellowship into the community!

These are just a few relaxed, low-effort times for Veritas to come together and have fun in our city! If you have any questions or need anything, feel free to reach out to Emily Ruth Perry at 412.414.9227 or emilyruth@veritasfayetteville.com

Hang at a Park - 1921 Wilson St. Downtown

Thursday, July 6, 4-6p

Weather permitting, join us at the small park on Wilson St. downtown. If you have kiddos, bring them and let them play on the playground while we fellowship and watch over them. Remember to pack snacks and drinks for yourself and any littles, maybe even bring a picnic dinner!

Fayetteville Woodpeckers (semi-professional) Baseball 

Saturday, July 15, 5:05p

Feel free to buy General Admission tickets and sit on the BERM, which is a grassy area near the outfield and is across from a great play area for kids!

Hang at Honeycutt Park (with Splash Pad/Playground) - 352 Devers St.

Sunday, July 23, 2-4p

Weather permitting, enjoy the shaded areas of Honeycutt Park! If you’ve got littles, they have a wonderful splash pad and playground! Remember to pack snacks and drinks for yourself and any littles!