Salvation Army Renton Corps, our Good News Blog

Renton Corps Youth Rally 2010

2010-10-04T14:48:00.000-07:00

To welcome in the school year, Renton Corp once again had its annual youth rally! With giant blow up bouncy toys, pop corn, face painting, cake walks, praise songs, and a tasty lunch the youth of Renton enjoyed an afternoon of worship and games. A total of 30 youth of various ages came to celebrate the beginning of a God-centered school year including many new families. Several of the volunteers laughed the day away while helping facilitate a positive afternoon for all the youth that attended. This fall we are providing programs like BOOST, Boy Scouts, Sun Beams, Girl Guards, Youth Group, and Sunday school to help the youth of Renton to continue to learn and love God.

from the Washington State Chef's Association Food Bank Challenge Cookbook

2010-05-03T13:57:00.000-07:00

(to save - opposite mouse click on recipe and choose Save Picture As )

from the Washington State Chef's Association Food Bank Challenge Cookbook

2010-03-19T14:46:00.000-07:00

(to save - opposite mouse click on recipe and choose Save Picture As )

from the Washington State Chef's Association Food Bank Challenge Cookbook

2010-01-29T15:16:00.000-08:00

(to save - opposite mouse click on recipe and choose Save Picture As )

Wow Story by Kimmberly Baxter

2010-01-28T14:07:00.001-08:00

I was sitting at my desk as always answering the phone and helping people with service. When a client that we have gotten to know pretty well came in to let us know that she had just left the doctor's office with some really bad news! She said that they had just told her that she had cancer again most likely. She said that she had cancer when she was much younger, but the doctors had treated it and the cancer had been in remission for quite a few years. She had been married and had a couple of children. Life had moved on. Now as a single mom with two children she was devastated at the possibility of having cancer again!
My heart began to race for her, the idea of having to tell her two children and go thru this all alone. She said that she was not going to tell anyone until she knows for sure. That there was no reason to get the kids, family and friend all upset until she knew more. We told her that it made sense to wait until she knew more. We listened while she told her story and our hearts felt her pain. You can't be in this line of work without really being sympathetic to the people and their situations.
I suddenly felt like this was one of those times were I needed to use my personal faith to help. I offered to pray with her. My coworker said she would like to join in too. We all stood there for a couple of minutes and prayed for our friend in her time of need. We asked the Lord if he could please wrap his arms around her and let her know that she is love by Him and that he would take care of her in her time of need. We also asked if he could give her the courage to go through whatever comes her way. That we loved him and we needed him to be in our lives. I cried as I spoke all of these words. There are not very many chances for me to pray with our clients. This was a chance for us to make a difference in her life and I was so glad that she came to us first. WOW this really means something she came to us!
A few days later she came back to tell us that it was confirmed that it was not cancer and it was a much easier thing to deal with one easy in and out office visit and she would be done. The office staff and I were so over joyed at her news that we shared her story with the others in the office that had no idea what we were talking about. This was the first time that I had prayed for someone and heard back that It came true. The Lord obviously agreed with me that she needed help and heard our prayers. I was so beautiful to me to see this come full circle. It reminded me that he is the Lord our God the all mighty and that we need him in all that we do. Not just when we think we need him but ALL THE TIME!

WOW GOD IS GOOD ISNT HE!! 22

Support our Online Red Kettle!

2009-12-18T23:12:00.000-08:00

click here to make a donation

Fundraiser Success!

2009-08-30T11:54:00.000-07:00

The Need Knows No Season fundraiser was a great success, and raised over $56,000 for the Food Bank.

Click on the link to read all about it in the Renton Reporter.

Cub Scout Pack 809 - Pinewood Derby

2009-06-04T20:32:00.000-07:00

In January, the boys sanded and painted their wedges of wood in the most creative ways. The car kits we used this year came from a Scout Council in the mid-west. The blocks were pre-cut in wedges and this allowed us to complete cars with the minimum amount of prep.

In March, the boys built display stands for the cars from wood that used to be kitchen cabinet drawers. Since January I've been telling the boys we would race the cars on a real Pinewood Derby track and with just a few weeks left in out schedule I set a date.

The track was located and pre-assembled and all the materials gathered to have a great race.

On Wednesday, May 27 my husband and I arrived around 10:30 to set up the track in the meeting hall. When the boys came rolling in after school the race officials and pit crew were there and ready for them. My daughter, Megan, a Venturer with BSA Crew 474 served as Finish-line Judge, my youngest son, Matt, a First Class Scout in Troop 449 was the Starting line Official and I served as photographer. And so it was that we held our first Pinewood Derby Car Race. It was an exciting time for all the boys. Some of the boys had not attended at the time we made the cars, but we were able to come up with enough cars for all the boys to race. We ran several heats and had several exciting issues. Cars jumping tracks, flipping from the track to the floor and a couple with wheels that were not set quite right causing friction issues. We even had two of the Boy Scouts join us to race their cars as their meeting got out early. The race officials also judged the cars based on appearance and each boy earned a certificate stating an attribute of the car he raced.

All the boys received a participation ribbon. Every boy seemed to enjoy the race and they are looking forward to the next time. Several boys have told me that next year they want to build their cars using regular car kits which means we will be designing and shaping their cars from a rectangular block of wood. Boy Scout Troop 809 still has 4 boys and the two youngest boys are the most active. We are hoping to build the program for both of these age groups into an even more exciting program than we had this year.

It is my pleasure and honor to work with these fine young men.

Written by Dani Killingsworth - Program Leader

The Salvation Army Famous Doughnut

2009-05-31T23:25:00.000-07:00

Salvation Army Doughnut Girls
served on the front lines in France during World War I.
They wrote letters home, darned socks, served doughnuts, sewed on buttons, provided counseling and companionship to American soldiers -- many of the girls away from home for the first time.

Doughnuts were made with improvised tin can cutters, and all doughnuts were free..
click here to read about the history of the Salvation Army Doughnut.

THE FAMOUS SALVATION ARMY DOUGHNUT RECIPE

click here for the traditional doughnut recipe which makes 250.
This modified version of the traditional doughnut recipe is scaled down for home cooking.

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
cooking oil or lard for deep frying

Reserve 1/4 cup of the flour for the board.
Combine remaining flour with the baking powder and set aside.
Cream shortening, 1/2 cup sugar, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon.
Add milk and well-beaten egg and stir.
Then add the flour-baking powder mixture.
Work into soft dough.
Roll onto the floured board into a 1/4" thick sheet.
Cut into the desired shape and fry in the oil, heated to about 375 degrees F.
Turn donuts frequently while frying.
The fat should be hot enough to give the donuts a rich golden-russet color within 3 minutes.
While hot, roll donuts in remaining sugar.
This recipe will make about 15 good sized donuts.

ZMT 2009 Silent Auction

2009-05-29T11:09:00.000-07:00

Zimbabwe Mission Trip Walkathon

2009-05-18T13:36:00.000-07:00

Next Saturday!

The nine Zimbabwe Mission Trip members and their families will be walking 10 miles from Maple Valley to Renton from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm next Saturday, May 23rd, to raise funds for the Salvation Army Renton Corps' first mission trip.

click here for details

WINNERS IN THE RENTON REPORTER 2009 'BEST OF RENTON'

2009-04-30T15:37:00.000-07:00

http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/south_king/ren/community/43646682.html

Follow the link above to check out the winners!!

The Salvation Army's Commissioner Visits the Renton Corps!

2009-04-23T13:46:00.001-07:00

On March 22nd, Commissioners Phil and Pat Swyers visited the Renton Corps. During their visit, Commissioner Phil Swyers called Five of the ten boys in the Cub Scouts and one Boy Scout forward one by one, announced the awards they would be receiving and said something special about each boy. The Commissioner handed each boy a card with the awards attached, said something unique and special to each of them and shook their hand. The Cub Scouts were Justice Svenson, Carlos Escobar, Mark Cameron Johnson, Chris Tolliver, and Ethan Morris. The Commissioner also presented the Scout Badge to Christian Johnson.

Commissioner Pat Swyers awarded our very own, Raven Svenson with the highest award in the Sunbeam Program - the Commissioner's Sunbeam Award. Not only did she work hard, but so did the Sunbeams leaders as they completed the requirements for this award.

Applebees on April 20th!

2009-04-03T16:08:00.000-07:00

Eat at the Renton Applebees on April 20th, 2009 between the hours of 5pm and 8pm and when you present the "ticket", they will send us 15% of all the proceeds!

click here for details

Man shares hope, faith he found amid despair

2009-03-16T10:42:00.000-07:00

http://www.seattlepi.com/swift/402816_mary09.html

IT WAS A blind man who gave Terry Masango hope -- and hope that kept him from suicide.
Masango, the oldest of five children whose alcoholic father spent his money on beer and his anger on his family, grew up in "abject poverty" in the poorest ghetto of Harare, Zimbabwe.
"Sometimes we had two meals (a day), sometimes one," Masango says. "My father would come home drunk and cause problems for everybody. If he got angry, he would beat up everybody."
When Masango was 8, his mother packed up the children and went to live with her parents. He was 9 when his father's brother took him to live with his paternal grandmother.
Almost a year later, his mother came to find him. Shocked by his appearance -- "There was little to eat," he says -- she reunited with her husband hoping for better times for the family.
It didn't happen.
By 16, Masango was desperate.
"If you answered, you were wrong," he says. "If you didn't answer, you were wrong. It drove me crazy. I was filled with anger, pain, bitterness -- and contemplating suicide."
That week friends headed to church camp lent him money to attend. A respite from torment, he thought. But it would prove much more than that.
"There was a blind man teaching," Masango says. "I remember his message: It was about hope. He talked as if he knew what I was going through. I accepted his message. I said, 'I'll try this. If it doesn't work, I'll kill myself.' "
Back home, nothing had changed -- except Masango. Growing up a member of Salvation Army church, he'd "gone through the motions" of faith, he says. Now, he embraced it. He joined a group of students who met before school to pray, sought out good men who became surrogate fathers and eventually became a youth leader and taught Sunday school.
After high school, he got a job in a bank and brought his siblings to live with him.
"So, at 19 I was a parent," he says. "For the next six years they lived with me until I married and moved out, and left them in the house I'd rented."
He'd met his wife, Rutendo, at a wedding in 1997. Both felt drawn to the ministry. In 1999, six months after they married, they sold their house and furniture to attend the Salvation Army's School for Youth Leadership in Australia.
The next year they were sent to Spokane to help with a summer camp. One Sunday, Masango was asked to preach.
"I was walking down the aisles like we do back home," says Masango. "The people loved it and immediately offered me a job."
When training was finished, they returned to Spokane to work there. In 2004, the couple went to California to attend the Salvation Army's College for Officers Training.
"On the day we graduated in June 2006, we were told we were coming to Renton," Masango says. He and Rutendo are now captains of the Renton Corps of the Salvation Army, an operation that includes a large food bank and social service center. "We immediately looked it up on the Internet. I'd never seen a food bank that large."
It has been eight years since he and Rutendo were last in Zimbabwe. Her parents are dead. His mother has never seen their children, now 2 and 7. That will change in July, when he and Rutendo lead a 15-person mission trip from the Renton Salvation Army to Zimbabwe.
"If my mom had not returned to get me, I would not have the life I have today," he says, choking back tears. "Her love gave me hope and a reason to live. I've told people they're going to have to pull me off her lap.
"However," he says, laughing. "I think she'll push me off to hold her grandchildren."
Masango asked leaders of his old church in Zimbabwe what they needed. The answer: brass band instruments to replace the ones that were already old back when Masango played.
"We're hoping to get donated instruments to take with us," he says.
To help, call 425-255-5974.

Hard Times Cooking

2009-03-06T15:32:00.000-08:00

Clara is a 93 year old cook and Great Grandmother. She is 100% Sicilian-American and grew up in a Chicago suburb, Melrose Park. She survived the Great Depression and claims to have actually gained weight during America's worst state of financial despair. She has shared some of her recipes on YouTube, and is putting together a cookbook.
Here is Pasta & Peas.

you can see more videos of Clara here.

Parables

2009-02-24T11:55:00.000-08:00

Why do you think Jesus used parables to spread his message?

Often times parables can be confusing with their indirect meanings leaving people scratching their heads perplexed. So, why do you think Jesus chose to spread the most important message of all time using parables? Could it be that his message wasn't one that was reliant soley on what we are to hear, just some food for thought!! Discuss.....

Where is God when it hurts?

2009-01-28T22:31:00.000-08:00

Life is tough and unbearable, sometimes. Where is God when things are horribly wrong, friends abandon me, and family seems not to care?

2008-10-30T13:42:00.000-07:00

Welcome

2008-10-30T09:42:00.000-07:00

Welcome to The Salvation Army Renton Corps blog.

Let me know what you think about churches creating websites and blogs. Are we bringing the church into the world, or are we dangerously letting the world infiltrate and corrupt the church? Any thoughts?