Eric Macleod
with Wycliffe Ministry
Bible translators are often in need of non-Roman fonts to translate the Bible into the languages of the world. Eric will join a team of font designers and engineers to develop fonts that can be used by Bible translators.
Eric and his wife Samantha live in Madera, California with their three children. Eric grew up a missions pastor’s kid. He developed a passion for font design. Actually, passion is a bit of an understatement; as a young adult Eric spent countless hours teaching himself about font design. After putting more focus on his career, Eric put his love for fonts aside for over ten years, only to discover that there was a need for font design in partnership with linguists working in Bible translation. Now as a Wycliffe member, he’s serving in the organization he heard so much about as a kid at the dinner table.
Samantha is a pediatrician and is planning to apply to become a Wycliffe member later this year. Eric and Samantha recently welcomed their third child to the world.
Tom & Marti Chance
with Awana Clubs
Country Info
We minister throughout Central California.
Background
We met at Crossroads Church in Turlock, CA (back in the day Turlock Evangelical Free Church). Marti was teaching school at Turlock Christian and Tom was in his sophomore year of college, MJC and then transferred to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. We were married in 1979 and Marti taught school for three more years and Tom was a Pest Control Advisor working for Stanislaus Farm Supply in Ceres, CA. Marti then “retired” and was able to stay home and raise our five daughters. Tom worked for Stanislaus Farm Supply for 14 years.
We served faithfully in the Awana Club at Crossroads Church. We were involved in many children’s ministry activities. In Awana we were leaders, directors and then commanders. Our girls enjoyed Awana and two of them trusted Jesus Christ as their Savior during Awana. We were challenged and asked to consider becoming Awana missionaries when our Awana missionary was going to go and work at Awana Headquarters in Streamwood, IL. We were thrilled to begin this new ministry in December of 1992!
Amy was 10, Karen 8, Melinda 6, and Renae 4 when we began ministry and included the girls in everything. They went with us when we did club visits, church visits, and events (Bible Quizzing, Awana Games and conferences). We were busy and travelled LOTS. Then our Hannah came along 2 years later. We have decided that God sent our Hannah to remind me (Marti) that my main ministry was raising our girls. She has been a great gift to us. Our ministry for many years was events, but Tom is now State Director over 10 missionary units covering California, Nevada, and Hawaii.
Amy and Justin (our son-in-law) have our two grandkids, Piper and Malachi. They live in San Anselmo. Karen is working at a local preschool as the assistant director and infant room teacher. Melinda is working at a local café and owns her own massage therapy studio. Renae is a high school social studies/history teacher in Newman, CA. Hannah is now a junior at Biola University.
Ministry Description
Awana is an international, Bible-centered children’s and youth ministry providing local churches with weekly clubs, programs and training for students in preschool through high school. Our goal is to equip churches to reach kids, and their families, with the gospel of Christ and train them to serve Him. (Learn about the prayer, vision, mission and values of Awana.)
The acronym Awana comes from the first letters of Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed as taken from 2 Timothy 2:15.
Awana began in 1950 as a youth program at the North Side Gospel Center in Chicago, Illinois. Lance Latham, the church pastor, worked with Art Rorheim to develop a program that would appeal to young people, reach them with the gospel and train them in the Lord’s work. Other churches heard about the success of the Awana program and asked if they could use it. By 1960, Awana had registered 900 churches to start Awana.
Today, more than 12,000 U.S. churches run Awana with programs in all 50 states. Awana can also be found in over 3,900 churches in 109 other countries and six continents. Jack Eggar is our President/CEO. Art Rorheim serves as our co-founder.
Regional missionaries and ministry teams will assist you in establishing Awana as a vital part of your local church’s outreach, discipleship and volunteer training. Find your area missionary and contact him today, or learn more about what we believe or register to start Awana online. If you’re interested in working for Awana, check out our current job openings. If you’re looking for an Awana program in your area, use our club finder to locate local churches with Awana. as a Bible-teaching ministry.
Serving With
Awana Clubs
http://www.awana.org
Helping Hands Pregnancy and Parenting Center is a local non-profit Christ-centered ministry offering life-affirming alternatives to abortion with compassionate support and practical education. Helping Hands was founded in 1998 serving the Oakhurst community. In 2014 an additional center was opened in the neighboring community of Mariposa. Helping Hands fulfills its mission by offering: confidential pregnancy tests and options counseling, child-birth classes, “Earn While You Learn” parenting classes where parents earn “Baby Bucks” for attending class and doing homework. Baby Bucks are spent at the “Baby Boutique” to purchase diapers, clothing and other necessities for their children. Helping Hands also offers, “Sexual Risk Avoidance” education and post-abortion recovery support and Bible study. All of their services are free.
Helping Hands is a lifeline for women and men of all ages, helping them through difficult times and ministering to them in the name of Jesus.
https://pregnancyoakhurst.org
Oakhurst Helping Hands
49346 Road 426, Suite 2,
Oakhurst, CA 93644
hours
Monday : 10am – 4pm
Tuesday : 10am – 4pm
Wednesday : 10am – 4pm
Thursday : 10am – 4pm
Mariposa Helping Hands
5072 Bullion St Mariposa,
CA 95338 Suite B
hours
Monday : 10am – 4pm
Tuesday : 10am – 4pm
Wednesday : 10am – 4pm
Thursday : 10am – 4pm
24 Hour Hotline: (800) 359-4357
Although Gleanings started producing food in the summer 1982, God was planting seeds for this ministry well before. In March 1975, Wally Wenge was appointed to YWAM’s International Council. During the installation ceremony, three YWAM members prophetically prayed the Lord would give Wally a “Joseph” ministry. God added clarification to the prophecy and a heart for the needy in 1981 when Wally and his wife, Norma, were with Cambodian refugees in Thailand. Later that year, while spending Christmas with family in California, God revealed to Wally that the tons of California cull fruit thrown away annually could be used as “gleanings for the needy of the world”.
During the first summer of 1982, the Wenges and local volunteers were able to process about 15,000 pounds of donated cull fruit using donated equipment in a borrowed raisin dehydration facility in Yettem. Roughly 1,500 pounds of sun-dried peaches and nectarines produced that first year were used to feed the hungry in Guatemala after a hurricane and flood. Mercy Ships helped transport the dried fruit to Guatemala and it was distributed by YWAM missionaries. The next six years all of the dried fruit was shipped to Thailand to help feed the Cambodian refugees who had captured the Wenges’ hearts.
Through process improvements and focused volunteer recruiting from YWAM bases throughout the western U.S. and Canada, production increased rapidly in the early years. In the 1986 season, over 500,000 pounds of fresh peaches and nectarines were processed. In April 1987, just nine weeks before the start of the summer fruit season, Wally got some bad news…the borrowed Yettem facility was being lost to foreclosure. With only days to remove the fruit processing equipment, things looked pretty grim. But in the eleventh hour, God provided a permanent home for the ministry: a 10-acre former tomato-packing facility in Sultana. Even with a delayed start, roughly 40,000 pounds of dried fruit was produced that year.
In late fall of 1988, Wally learned that the YWAM Discipleship Training School in Fort St. John, British Columbia, had lost the lease on their facility. Seeing this as an opportunity to expand the ministry, Wally invited their staff to join Gleanings. They agreed, arriving in January 1989. Over 2 million pounds of fresh fruit was processed that summer. In 1991, Wally acted on an opportunity to purchase an 11.6-acre parcel adjacent to the existing facility, which allowed for expanded production and improved staff housing.
Although God clearly placed Wally as a mighty leader of this ministry, Gleanings continued to flourish even after Wally went home to be with the Lord in 1999. Len and Lois Nylin served as directors from 1999 through early 2004, and the ministry continued to develop and strengthen under their influence. Soup mix production began in 2000, with 160,000 8‑ounce servings produced in the inaugural season.
Wally & Norma Wenge 1993
God continued to grow the ministry with Rick & Lynn O’Dwyer as Directors from 2004 – 2012. Under their leadership, the ministry enlarged the office and soup plant, completed the dining hall and chapel, added RV spaces, and kicked off the building of a new 10-plex.
Fritz and Cindy Meier, current directors, are serving with excellence in building, improving, and caring for this ministry, since 2012. Under their direction, the beautiful new 10-plex building was finished, as well as a 2-bay fumigation tunnel, complete with a rain canopy. The fumigation bays greatly enhance our soup production process. The Meiers have increased short-term outreaches, including both staff and Gleanings’ volunteers in the trips. This has allowed a great opportunity for volunteers to participate in not just the start, but the completion of our mission, from production to delivery, and see first-hand the impact our product has on the world. A project to bring solar power to Gleanings was completed in 2018. The solar power significantly reduces our cost of operation for years to come.
Gleanings has also pioneered a ministry to “Backpackers”, opening our lives to international travelers who seek opportunities to volunteer.
This ministry continues to fulfill its vision to feed the hungry of the world, both physically and spiritually. In 2015, with the help of thousands of volunteers, over 53 million servings of soup was produced and shipped to more than 30 different nations. It is very difficult to quantify all that God does at, and through, Gleanings, but we know that millions of lives are touched by this ministry every year as our product goes out to sustain lives and spread the Gospel of Christ, to the glory of God.
43029 Road 104, Dinuba, CA, 93618
For driving directions click here!
Office Phone
Phone: (559) 591-5009
Fax: (559)591-5036
Email: info@gleanings.org
Come serve with us!
Procurement and Distribution
(559) 397-0472
