Christmas happens TWICE a year here at South Street!
This past July 25, the South Street RICH Kids Summer Camp youth participants made ornaments and a tree out of bicycle gears and parts! Children thoroughly enjoyed the fun-filled day of cookie decoration and ornament creation that fused the fun of Bike Shop with the anticipation of Christmas.
AND … we get to do it all again on December 9 at the South Street Christmas Store!
This year we return to our pre-Covid traditions of gift wrapping, cookie decorating, and the South Street youth shopping for their families in preparation for Christmas Day. We would love your support, service, and generosity for this event! Here are the details:
- DONATE GIFTS: We anticipate more than 100 children and individuals participating. We are accepting new toys and items only — ranging from infant through grade 8 — as well as other gifts for pre-teens, teens, and adults. You can find the list here! Donations can be dropped off at 798 Grant St. from 12/4 to 12/7. Please contact riley@southstreetministries.org to arrange a drop-off time!
- SUPPORT: If your church would like to host a South Street Christmas store box/tote, reach out to Joe Tucker at joe@southstreetministries to set up this partnership!
- SERVE: Support us in the preparation, execution, and clean-up of our Christmas Store. Consider serving as a small group or family! Service spots are limited, so be sure to sign up early.
- GIVE: Every year the South Street staff goes shopping to fill out the Christmas Store beyond what is donated. Your donation can be restricted to Christmas Store support — which helps provide gifts to families in need during the holiday season. Donate to the Christmas Store.
We hope you’ll come see the Bike Shop Christmas trees the children worked on, and, more importantly, join us to recognize the birth of a coming King who changes the world!
Thank you for your partnership … you make meaningful outreaches like this possible!
Our 10th Annual Trails N Rails was a joy-filled morning full of community, connection, exercise, and celebration — just as this highlight video shows …
We’re grateful for and humbled by the turnout … and the Lord blessed us with a gloriously beautiful day to enjoy His creation!
Our heartfelt gratitude goes to everyone — riders, walkers, and co-laborers in Christ — who came out to share in the fun and togetherness. Your presence made the day exceptionally special! And a monumental thank-you to our generous sponsors — your support was the cornerstone of this wonderful event’s success.
God bless you for caring for the South Akron and Summit Lake communities so well.
Ecclesiastes 3:1 says: “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.”
This verse resounds in my heart as I am in a season of both celebration and lament. I celebrate God’s faithfulness in the joyful and commemorative Open House and Ribbon-Cutting ceremony of Restoration House on Tuesday, September 26. I am so grateful for all who came out to join us as Pastor Duane Crabbs prayed and dedicated the house to the Lord and unto service in helping hurting and unhoused justice-involved women and their children.
I appreciated the opportunity to listen to Joe and our board president, Steven Schloenbach, thank and recognize our funders, donors, partners, volunteers, and staff who contributed to the renovation of Restoration House; without them, this day of celebration would not have been possible. I celebrate Joe Tucker, my esteemed Executive Director, who received a Change-Maker of the Year Award from LOVE Akron that same day.
I celebrate the supportive community who joined the South Street Ministries staff on a beautiful fall day for our 10th Annual Trails N Rails event on Saturday, September 23. I celebrate my last two years with South Street Ministries as I have had the privilege to engage and walk alongside my fellow ministers on staff, board members, volunteers, monthly Bridge Builders, Trails N Rails sponsors and participants, and every friend like you who has prayed, served, and given generously to South Street Ministries’ mission to “equip and inspire the restoration of community, economy, and faith.”
With every fall there is a changing of the leaves which encapsulates a bittersweet moment — as trees simultaneously display their God-given beauty and let go of their leaves. I am experiencing a similar personal season of change, also bittersweet, as I share with you my departure from South Street Ministries and gratefully accept a position as Director of Advancement with Victim Assistance Program.
Though I lament the loss, I also celebrate my two years here as a beautiful gift of community and purpose to me from the Lord. I now let go of my role, knowing it was only mine to steward for a season and knowing God cares for the people and the work of this ministry more than I ever could.
Thank you to my South Street family — Joe, Lisa, Pastor Duane, fellow ministers on staff, the board, and YOU — for this season full of love, ministry, and witnessing God’s power to restore!
South Street Ministries is excited about expanding our Bike Shop program — with inspiration from the words of Mother Teresa, “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”
Our vision includes intentional repair and maintenance training for a youth cohort, expanding mobile services with an enclosed trailer, and promoting community engagement through cycling and faith in the South Akron, Summit Lake, and Kenmore communities.
As a valued partner in our community- and Kingdom-minded outreaches like this one, we invite you to make a difference through small acts of great love. Here are a few tax-wise, year-end giving strategies — beyond gifts of cash — you may want to consider:
- Giving from an established Donor Advised Fund (DAF) allows you to claim a charitable deduction in the year you contribute to the DAF while making donations to a ministry like South Street over time.
- If you are 70.5 years of age or older, you can direct a distribution from your IRA to go straight to South Street. If you’re 73 or older, this type of distribution can be counted toward satisfying the annual Required Minimum Distribution from an IRA. The amount donated via the Qualified Charitable Distribution is excluded from your income (which helps lower taxes and provides other benefits) … and you do not have to itemize deductions to utilize this strategy.
- A gift of appreciated securities — like stocks or mutual funds that have increased in value — is one way to avoid capital gains tax on the donated security as long as it has been held for more than one year. This strategy will also help reduce your taxable income because of the itemized charitable deduction.
Contact your financial advisor — or Joe Tucker at joe@southstreetministries.org — if you have an interest in these or other giving options that will connect children and families in South Akron and Summit Lake to Christ’s great love. Thank you!
Proverbs 27:17 declares, “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.”
This is just what happened at the recent Christian Community Development Association conference in Cincanniti!
Joe Tucker, Pastor James Talbert (of Citizens), and Pastor Bryson Davis (of Front Porch Fellowship) had the chance to share from their hearts at this conference and presented on Togethering — Embracing Collaboration.
Many of the Akron-area churches and non-profits work closely together to encourage, sharpen, and uplift one another. We share vans, policies, and best-practices … and we support each other in the highlights and the hardships of the work.
This gathering of Christian Community Development practitioners meets regularly to pray, encourage each other … and also to play kickball! Every year this crew walks the streets on Good Friday for a collective service and even hosts an annual gathering: Together NEO!
If this is of interest to you, consider attending the Together NEO gathering on November 11 in Canton! James, Bryson, Joe, and many others will be there sharing about ministry, diving into theology, intersecting with culture, and encouraging the good works of the people of God being done TOGETHER!
Thank you to EVERYONE who came to our Open House and Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony for Restoration House!
It was certainly a time of celebration with our community, a time of prayer over the house and all future residents who will come for renewal and guidance, and a time to connect with individuals and families in the neighborhood.
Be sure to watch this special video to get a tour of the house yourself!
Thanks again for your support of this place and this program. Together, we’ll see lives transformed by God’s grace here!
It’s tragic — and deeply saddening — that gun violence in Greater Akron is making headlines as of late. The Akron Beacon Journal has recently featured a “multiweek, in-depth” look at the intensifying impact of such violence on the community.
But Luch Griffin has the heart to address the root of the problems Akron is facing and help move us toward hope in two very powerful ways:
- Through his “i Pick Me” program, Luch takes the men of South Street into local schools and youth settings to provide mentoring and teaching about respect, responsibility, and accountability …
- His “Before I Self-Destruct” program engages youth and young adults who are proximate to situations of violence. Through alternatives, mentoring, conversation, and support, young adults are invited into an alternative from the challenges, trauma, and violence around them.
In addition, we were on a podcast! You are warmly invited to listen to Storyboard Episode 18: Disciple Making which features Joe Tucker, Monica Moening, and Jeremy Jordan — Reentry facilitators — who share about the Reentry experience, why the work of Reentry is so necessary, and how we are building a community redirection and restoration.
“South Street’s Reentry has changed my life,” Jeremy shares. “I will never pass someone that is thirsty, hungry or has a need. I was seen and have felt unconditional love by the Reentry team, and I want to pass that on.”
Thank you for investing in humanity through your support and prayers for South Street Ministries. Together we are pointing people in need of love and grace to the One who gives both freely!
Your prayerful support of South Street Ministries makes caring, compassionate Kingdom work possible.
It is your generous giving that keeps us walking alongside children, families, and neighbors who need hope. Together, we’re making an impact alongside you to renew our community for the sake of Jesus Christ.
Thank you, and God bless you!