Dear Friends and Intercessors,

Today, I want to honor one arm of our ministry—CedarWood. This arm of our ministry was birthed in 2013 through an incredible experience Nita (Mom) had wherein the Lord showed her the desperate need that was going to come to the nation.

Here we are ten years later, and I see the critical nature of CedarWood, especially in the last three years, how important it was for the faithful stability CedarWood provides to be well established in preparation for desperate need 2020 would bring.

A brief history: in 2013, Kin and Kathy Rickey were tasked with spearheading this arm of our ministry. They worked tirelessly to recruit volunteers, procure food donations, and spread the word that we were open to serve the community. They did such a wonderful job, creating a foundation that would withstand the storms, establishing relationships with the community, and really bringing tremendous gifts and talents to the table to serve. The work was hard, the resources were slim, and in the beginning, from the outside the rewards seemed small. Yet, every week Kathy would call me in tears so grateful for what God was doing. I knew seeds were being sown through the work, and one day, it would amount to so much more, in fact, it would be desperately needed in the days ahead.

The Pantry was a bustling flurry of activity filled with tenderness, tears of joy, and an abundance of supply by the time they retired.

After they retired, Vivian DuPorter, a volunteer since almost the beginning, picked up the torch and built upon their foundation. She implemented additional structure as CedarWood was expanding quite a bit as it matured. We procured dedicated vehicles, hired additional staff, and fostered relationships in the community to increase our food supply. She worked long hours, served with a joyful heart, and when she passed the torch over to Adam, she left him with a solid foundation, and a wonderful framework he could build upon for the days ahead.

Adam Shepherd stepped in and took us to the next level using his experience and talents to help shore up CedarWood, like a living breathing arm of our ministry, CedarWood developed character and strength to help it engage within our community, even expanding and supporting that community in ways no one ever saw coming. In fact, a year and a half after Adam would take on the CedarWood Director’s role, CedarWood’s faithful stability would be put to the ultimate test. He built upon the sure foundation of Ken and Kathy Rickey, strengthened and built out the solid framework of Vivian DuPorter, in preparation for what was about to be one of the most difficult seasons of all of our lives.

I’d like to insert here, one of the wonderful benefits these last two directors share is their involvement within CedarWood began long before they stepped in as director so they both knew the inner workings of CedarWood before they ever moved up to the director’s role. It’s as though God was preparing them in advance to take us to where God was extending our borders in preparation for the days ahead. Of course, at the time, we had no idea know how much CedarWood’s borders would need to be extended.

From our inception, Mom wanted to make sure every family had at least 4 dinners with meat, every week. When we tell you we have a food pantry, what we really mean is that we have a grocery store that hands out a basket of FRESH food to each family. Meat, dairy, fruits, vegetables, grains and occasionally there are even some fun treats in these baskets. While we do provide canned meats, vegetables, and fruits, these are in addition to the fresh meat, fresh dairy products, fresh vegetables, and fresh fruits. Each family receives what they need according to the size of their family.

Our Coats and Clothes Closet began with coats for children referred to us by the local school district. Today, our Coats and Clothes Closet provides almost anything a person would need for work, school, or play. Our clothing is clean, properly sorted by age and gender, and nothing that we ourselves would not wear or put on our children any day of the week. If it is unacceptable for us, it is unacceptable for our clients.

Last week, we had six new families, five of those were large refugee families from Ukraine. They needed everything. They arrived here in America with not more than the clothes on their backs and left our pantry with a basket of food and a car full of clothing, blankets, and other household essentials. They were in desperate need and found the faithful stability at CedarWood.

BackPack Kids started by handing out coats to children in desperate need and providing bags of food to be distributed on the weekend to children living in such poverty, many did not eat more than once a day until they returned to the classroom on Monday mornings where breakfast and lunch programs were available to them.

Today, the school district provides weekend meals to the first children we served, and today, we have the privilege of sending our resources to a very small town up in the mountains where many live at a poverty level most of us cannot imagine. Again, desperate need meets faithful stability.

Our CedarWood Homeless outreach is really where we see the greatest level of desperate need, and they fight to keep it from swallowing up the people on the streets. This branch of our ministry began in a small kitchen and served a couple dozen people every Saturday. Today, we have half a dozen volunteers, serve a hot meal to minimum of 145 people, and provide sleeping bags, coats, tarps, gloves, thermals, shoes etc., along with a bag of shelf-stable food and essentials to get the homeless through the week.

Our team has prayed for healing, led countless people to the Lord, and prayed for those who overdosed on the latest drug while emergency personnel rushed to the area. We’ve prayed for healing, restoration of families, housing, jobs and so on. We’ve also prayed for some to come back from the brink of death and watched as God gave us a miracle. Every week, our team carries faithful stability with them and goes back out to fight for the lives of our homeless citizens, the ones people so often choose to ignore. They truly are on the frontlines, fighting for those society continues to ignore.

I’ve given you a glimpse of CedarWood here. In two weeks, CedarWood will celebrate 10 years wherein we’ve had the privilege to serve the community in ways we never imagined possible. While we began with a few tables, one paid employee, and more volunteers than clients. Today, we have 8 paid staff members, 20+ volunteers, 3 dedicated vehicles, and four extensive outreaches to serve the community. We serve 105+ families in our Pantry each week, our Coats & Clothes Closet remains open each Monday, in addition to the meals we provide through BackPack Kids and our homeless outreach, we reach nearly 700 people each week through CedarWood. 700 people who will not go hungry because God, in His faithfulness, prepared us for what was about to come.

While we are thrilled with the growth, the expansion of various arms within CedarWood, and how it provides us the opportunity to serve the community in greater measure. What we didn’t know when we began ten years ago with our three tables, one employee and a few volunteers, was the desperate need CedarWood would meet in the days ahead. We’ve grown because the need within the community has grown.

Then it hit, what God saw coming that would change everything, adding a level of desperation to an everyday need that none of us could have ever imagined.

In 2020, when Covid began, so much fear swept the nation it was unbelievable. Pantry and Food Bank distribution programs shut down all around the country. This is when the commissioning, the development and framework of CedarWood and our people would really be put to the test.

I met with our director, Adam, who met with our staff and volunteers to determine whether we would remain open and serve the community. Adam and I knew in our hearts that we had to stay open, we knew the importance of maintaining faithful stability in the face of this desperate need, but we did not want to force this decision upon anyone. We promised to keep people on staff regardless of their decision, we believed God would honor this decision and continue to provide. While we did ask our high-risk volunteers to stay home, no one was willing to stay home when the crisis was creating such a desperate need for food distribution. People were not working, they had little or no income, even from government programs, and without school breakfast and lunch programs to offset the cost of feeding families, people were in desperate need and our team felt they simply could not stay home when the need of our clients was so great.

So, with a true heart of service, our CedarWood team set up a drive thru pantry service, braving extreme temperatures throughout this process, to serve the community. We served every family that came, offering hope and faithful stability in the face of fear and desperation.

Friends, I’ve written before about how the Lord showed me that CedarWood Pantry is the last line of defense, because once a person is homeless, they are thrust into a desperate need few in this country understand. I cannot begin to tell you here of what our team witnesses on the streets. Let me just say, we know firsthand what happens when desperate need has no faithful stability because we’ve watched it as the EMTs work feverishly over the lifeless bodies of those living on the streets. And we’ve seen firsthand what happens in the moments after, when those watching bow their knees to Jesus realizing He is their faithful stability.

Through 2020 and beyond, that “desperate need” in the Seattle community was met with the “faithful stability” only Jesus can provide. Let me tell you, faithful stability is gaining the victory! God faithfully provided every need we had through you, our donors, providing us the stability we needed to continue to serve the community.

Like I said, in 2013, we had no idea what we were building and why it was so important to the Lord that we begin immediately so our foundations would be unshakable in the greatest shaking our nation has seen in decades. We did not know that the world would be forced into one crisis after another with prayer being the key stabilizing force in this hour. We did not know what our economy would endure, and even with people back to work, the how the need would steadily rise. We simply did not know ten years ago, how essential CedarWood would become in the days ahead.

I am deeply thankful to the Lord for entrusting this to us and our team. What an honor and a privilege it is to have CedarWood as such a vital part of World for Jesus Ministries.

I am deeply thankful to our CedarWood staff and volunteers for without them, their heart and passion for the community, we wouldn’t be celebrating this 10 Year Anniversary. Throughout Covid, our team, most of whom battled Covid at one time or another, one nearly losing her life, refused to stop serving the community. When the public was in fear and we had the option to stay open or shut down, not a single employee was willing to back down in fear. They determined in their hearts to put the people first trusting God to see them through and in the end, provided faithful stability to overcome and thwart the enemy of desperate need that was cast upon our nation.

I want to thank those of you who support World for Jesus and specifically this arm of our ministry. The seeds that were sown clear back in the beginning, will surely be credited to your account in the days ahead.

Our CedarWood Pantry is located in Mountlake Terrace, WA. We are currently hiring a driver to help with our pickups, participate in the Pantry and so on. If you have experience driving a box truck and can lift 50 LBs, we can train you for the rest. If you are interested, please contact Adam at CedarWoodpantry@gmail.com

We also have opportunities for those interested in volunteering with this arm of our ministry. It’s tremendously rewarding to serve the community in this manner. We have plenty of opportunities Monday-Saturday for you to do so. Again, please contact Adam at CedarWoodpantry@gmail.com

Much love,

Ricci Johnson-Wilson