What Is Happening at Guilford?
As we continue our partnership with the new administration, we want to share some of the ways you may not be aware of that we minister to our Guilford community.
For students, we provide items for special events like Trunk or Treat, Read Across America Week, the SOL pancake breakfast, and more. Every month RBC volunteers fill classroom bins with snacks donated by the congregation. Because of your faithful giving, when the Guidance Counselor reaches out about a student needing shoes, clothes, or coats, we can meet that need.
For staff, we provide breakfasts and lunches on teacher workdays, RBC staff prays weekly over requests we receive from the Guilford prayer box in the teacher’s lounge, and we support the school’s Sunshine Committee with raffles and gift cards. We provide the water in the teacher’s lounge and help with classroom and clinic supplies. RBC also walks alongside staff members that are going through difficult times whether it be financially or emotionally.
For families, we pack and deliver food bags every week to Guilford. We do home visits to help those identified by the Guidance Counselor or Parent Liasion that may need extra assistance. Some of you will be delivering groceries this weekend during First Fruits to families we are ministering to. We provide breakfast every month for the Parent Coffee Hour. We assist with the end-of-the-year community picnic and annual Thanksgiving celebration, which is coming up soon and we still need more pies. There will be a table in the lobby after the service to sign up to provide one or to get more information about getting involved.
Let’s take a moment and pray for the new administration, the staff, families, and children at Guilford Elementary.
Thank You from Guilford
In August 2011, God opened the door for RBC to become Guilford Elementary’s first Loudoun County Business Partner.
It has been a privilege to grow our relationship with the school administration, families, and community over the last ten years. The Lord has done great things and used the giving of time, talents, and finances of the body here at RBC for His glory!
This past school year was especially difficult for our Guilford community. Many families were out of work, kids were at home distance learning, and countless families were quarantined with COVID. Our congregation was called to serve in a way we had not done before. Taking on one family after another and walking with them through these struggles. 57 families were adopted by RBC families and Shepherd Groups. Each family had its own unique situation and problems from all different backgrounds. They were shown what the love of Christ looks like through prayer, service, and giving.
Here are a few ways our generous congregation helped: Groceries and toiletries delivered weekly, gift cards donated, bills paid, new jobs found, cars donated and some fixed, rides to doctors and other appointments, clothes and shoes given, furniture donated, medicines provided, legal counsel assistance, Children’s and Spanish Bibles donated, Easter and Christmas gifts provided, and the Good News of the Gospel given to each and every single one!
Thank you RBC for being a generous church to our local community! As we continue to follow up with these families and start a new school year, please pray that hearts will be open and lives will continue to be changed in Jesus name.
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21)
Celebrating Generosity: Guilford Family Partnerships
Celebrating Generosity: Guilford Update
To learn more about our partnership with Guilford Elementary and how you can get involved, email Leigh Ann Kiendl.
Guilford Book Drive Update
Praise God for all who donated books and gave their time sorting, setting up, and assisting the children at last week’s Guilford Elementary Book Fair.
We were able to give out over 2,000 books! Each child took home three of their very own, just-right books, and their faces were beaming as they picked them out.
While the book fair was going on, the children were also getting their fall pictures taken. One of the photographers came over to the tables and asked where the books came from. We were able to tell him about Reston Bible and our partnership with Guilford. We told him about the many ways we are able to show the love of Christ by meeting the needs of the community. He shared how much it meant to him as a father who cannot always provide extra things like books when he is struggling to put food on the table. Because of your generosity, we were able to give him and the other photographer a stack of books for their children as well!
After the last child picked out his books, the teachers were able to come and gather the remaining books for their classrooms. There are many first-year teachers at Guilford this year, so they were incredibly thankful to stock their classroom shelves.
The Guilford staff, children, and parents thank you for your continued support. We will have another book fair in the spring, so hold on to those books!
Friday Food to Guilford Elementary
The mission of our Adopt-a-School relationship with Guilford Elementary School is to help meet the physical, relational and spiritual needs of the disadvantaged through service and generosity, and to encourage the staff who work with these families.
By leveraging the talents and resources of many RBC volunteers, we have the opportunity to positively affect the lives of students, their families, and the staff of Guilford. We can help to fill the gap created by budget cuts and a poor economy with our abundance and share the hope that is in us.
One of the ways in which Reston Bible serves Guilford Elementary is through Backpack Buddies, where we send bags of food home every Friday with the children of families living below the poverty level.
Right now, Guilford has 250 families that meet that criteria and need assistance. Last Thursday, volunteers gathered together in the clubhouse to pack bags for our first delivery of the school year. It was a time of fellowship, service, and an opportunity to show the love of Christ to our local community. Thank you to the volunteers who came out to help! This ministry would not be possible without your faithful service. We are in need of many more weekly volunteers – especially for Backpack Buddies delivery on Fridays when we take the bags of food to Guilford. If you are interested in serving with us, please click here for more information.