© 2011 Hope2Others

Starter Kit A guide to starting H2O where you live

© 2011 Hope2Others

Table of Contents

Welcome ............................................................................................................ 3

Mission of Hope2Others ..................................................................................... 3

History of Hope2Others ...................................................................................... 3

Step 1: Pray ........................................................................................................ 4

Step 2: Talk to Your Leaders ............................................................................... 4

Step 3: Gather a Team ........................................................................................ 4

Step 4: Buy Supplies ........................................................................................... 5

Supply List .................................................................................................................................................. 5

Step 5: fill bags ................................................................................................... 8

Preparation:................................................................................................................................................ 8

Filling: ......................................................................................................................................................... 9

Stapling:...................................................................................................................................................... 9

Prayer: ...................................................................................................................................................... 10

Step 6: Distribute Bags ..................................................................................... 11

Give or sell? .............................................................................................................................................. 11

How to display your bags.................................................................................. 12

Things You’ll need: .................................................................................................................................... 12

Fundraiser Ideas ............................................................................................... 13

1. Find Sponsors........................................................................................................................................ 13

2. Request donations ................................................................................................................................ 13

3. Sell H2O Merchandise ........................................................................................................................... 13

4. Panhandle with Friends ......................................................................................................................... 13

FAQ .................................................................................................................. 14

© 2011 Hope2Others

Welcome We are very excited that you are interested in starting a chapter of H2O where you live. In order to make it a smooth, easy, and fun experience for you, we have put together this starter kit to guide you through the process. In the following pages, we will walk you through how to start H2O in six steps. Further resources can be found on our website at www.h2obags.com in the members’ area. If you have any questions that are not answered here, please contact us and let us know how we can help you. Thank you for joining us on our quest to give hope to the hopeless. Leslie and Lauren Reavely 2277 Ostman Rd. West Linn, OR 97068 503-656-2822

lesliereavely@h2obags.com laurenreavely@h2obags.com

Mission of Hope2Others Hope2Others exists to bring physical and spiritual hope to panhandlers and homeless people worldwide, through lunch bags filled with non-perishable food, simple hygiene items, and a gospel tract.

History of Hope2Others Hope2Others was inspired in 2005, when Leslie and Lauren Reavely attended a summer missions camp, focusing on ministry to refugees. The first morning, they awoke at 5:00 a.m. to fire alarms, smoke bombs, and dressed up "firemen." This was just the beginning of a day-and-a-half of living in a makeshift refugee camp with nothing but sleeping bags, shoes, and the clothes on their backs. They scavenged for food, built shelters out of garbage, and learned about refugees who live in similar conditions. At the end of the first long hot day, they received Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes, filled with some simple items such as toothbrushes, soap, and water. Plain and ordinary as they seem, you could hear the murmurs of joy spread through the camp.

When Leslie and Lauren got back to their clean and air-conditioned home, they couldn't forget how good it had felt to brush their teeth that day. They were so excited to get the boxes after just one day as a "refugee" that they couldn't imagine how wonderful it would be for a real refugee, who's lived months or maybe years in those conditions, to receive one.

At the time, they were only 14 and 11 years old, so traveling around the world to give these boxes to refugees was a little out of the question. But God opened their eyes to see that the homeless people in their hometown of Portland, Oregon, are in need of hope just like refugees. So, in the summer of 2006, they launched Hope2Others. They started small, with 50 bags, but God has expanded the ministry over the years. Today, there are over one hundred H2O locations in the US, Canada, and the Philippines, who together have distributed thousands of bags.

© 2011 Hope2Others

Step 1: Pray Before making any plans or gathering people to help you run an H2O ministry, pray for God to guide you, provide for you, and work through you. Psalm 37:5 says, “Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.” Entrust your H2O ministry to the Almighty God, who has promised to work on your behalf.

Step 2: Talk to Your Leaders Wherever you are starting your ministry, whether in your church, school, or another group, you will need to ask the leaders of the group for permission to promote H2O at your location. Share with them your desire to start an H2O ministry, what it would look like for the group to get involved, and what it would accomplish. It might be helpful to bring a sample bag and fliers to your meeting and to familiarize yourself with the ministry and its background1 beforehand, so that you are prepared to answer any questions they may have.

Step 3: Gather a Team An H2O ministry works best with a team. Gather a team of volunteers to help you buy supplies, fill bags, and support you in prayer. Volunteers can be friends, family, or members of your church, school, club, or any other group you are involved with. God has given us each other to support one another. Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 tells us, “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!” Not only will the work be more productive and simple, but it will be a lot more fun with a team.

1 See the “History of Hope2Others” section above

© 2011 Hope2Others

Step 4: Buy Supplies Once you have support from your leaders and have gathered a team to assist you, it is time to start buying supplies for your first set of bags. Below, we have provided a list of the items we put in the bags, the stores where we have found the best prices, and their unit price.

Note: You may not have these stores near you or you may be unable to find the items for the same price. If this is the case, we encourage you to shop around before purchasing supplies. A few basic guidelines:

1. Try to find the items for the lowest possible price. 2. Quality is still important. Homeless people know when they’re getting low-end products. 3. Look for soft food items (i.e. applesauce instead of fruit snacks, and cereal bars instead of granola bars)

Many homeless people have weak teeth. Also, the given list does not take sales tax into account, thus the price of your bags may be over $3.00. These are suggestions built off the products we use. You may adapt as needed, although we ask that you at least include the supplies in italics.

Supply List

Item Store Price Amount Unit Price

Labels2 Office Depot $29.99 1000 .03

PB Crackers Costco $5.69 45 .13

Water Costco $3.49 + $1.75 deposit

35 .15

Cereal bars Costco $11.39 48 .24

Socks Walmart $7.00 10 .70

Applesauce Walmart $1.38 6 .23

Mints Walmart $4.24 325 .013 (.026 for two)

Band-aid w/ antibiotics

Walmart $3.17 20 .16

Band-aid Walmart $0.96 60 .016 (.032 for two)

Tuna/crackers Dollar Tree $1.00 1 1.00

Kleenex Dollar Tree $1.00 8 .125

Wipes Cash and Carry3 $2.08 100 .021

#12 white bags Cash and Carry4 $19.99 500 .04

#10 white bags Cash and Carry $17.57 500 .0351

Tracts ChristianBook.com $2.49 25 .10

2 We’ve found 2” x 4” address labels, with 10 on a page, to be a good size. Included in the starter kit is a template of logos to print on a page with 10 labels. Log in to the members’ area on our website to access this file and download it. 3 If there’s not a Cash and Carry near you, you can look for wipes and white bags at any retail store.

4 White bags can also be purchased online at http://www.storesupply.com/pc-13332-650-paper-sack-grocery-bags-white-

92310.aspx

© 2011 Hope2Others

Water: We use 16.9oz plastic water bottles, because they fit well inside the bag.5

Tuna Salad with Crackers: Tuna is one of the most important parts of the bag, because it is nutritious, filling, and delicious as many homeless people have told us. The tuna box comes with a small plastic spoon, which can be used for the applesauce cup as well.

Peanut Butter Crackers: These are a great source of protein and can also be substituted with the cheese crackers for variety.

Nutri-Grain Cereal Bars: Because many homeless people are not able to brush their teeth on a regular basis and some are addicted to drugs, their teeth are often weak or missing. Cereal bars are softer and easier to chew than regular granola bars.

5 Many states have a new water bottle deposit fee, which means the price per water bottle is greater in order to encourage

recycling.

© 2011 Hope2Others

Applesauce: We use applesauce cups instead of fruit snacks or fruit leathers, because they are more substantial and easier to eat. Although these individual applesauce cups do not come with a spoon, one is provided in the tuna pack.

Socks: Socks are good to include in the bags year round. Not only do they provide warmth, but everyone can use a clean pair of socks. Also, from our experience, homeless people highly value socks. Men’s black crew socks are practical and fit most people.

Band-aids: Normally we put one anti-biotic BAND-AID in a bag. They are more effective at healing, but they are also expensive. If your budget can’t afford anti-biotic BAND-AIDs, you can put in two normal BAND-AIDS instead.

Tracts: In order for a bag to be labeled an H2O bag, it must contain an evangelical gospel tract. If you are in doubt about a particular tract’s use, please contact H2O for approval. Tracts can be purchased at various Christian bookstores or online. Some of our favorites are: “Hope in Dark Times” and “3:16”, both available at ChristianBook.com. H2O hopes to have its own gospel tract available to download and print sometime in the near future.

© 2011 Hope2Others

Step 5: fill bags Although there is more than one right way to fill an H2O bag, using these basic steps and suggestions for filling your bags will make things run smoothly.

Preparation:

Set up a couple of rectangular tables and organize the ingredients by item to create an assembly line. Place the water bottles, tuna, and socks at the front of the line and the smaller items (i.e. wipes, band-aids, mints, tracts…) at the end. Before you stuff the bags, label and double bag them. We use two different kinds of bags, 12# and 10# white paper bags.6 Center the label on the 12# bags near the bottom, on one side, preferably the seamless side. Then, put a 10# bag inside the labeled 12# bag. It is also fine to double bag with the same size of bag, instead of buying two sizes.

6 White bags look more professional and match the logo. Paper bags are biodegradable, unlike plastic bags. If you can’t find white

bags, use whatever paper bag you can find. Many homeless people will take the food out of the bag and then leave the empty bag on the streets, so it is important to use paper bags.

© 2011 Hope2Others

Filling:

Put one water bottle, tuna box, cracker pack, cereal bar, Kleenex, hand wipe, and Gospel tract in the bag. Put two mints and two BAND-AIDS in. We recommend you keep the water bottle standing up when you put it in the bag, so the bag doesn’t fall over when you set it down. It is helpful to put socks and tuna around it to hold it up.

Stapling:

Once the bag has been filled with all the ingredients, we suggest you fold the top of the bag down twice toward the side with the label and then staple7 it three times.

7 Small Swingline staplers from WalMart work really well.

© 2011 Hope2Others

Prayer:

When you are finished stuffing and stapling the bags, take a few minutes to pray over them. Pray that God will direct the panhandler or homeless person to the Gospel tract and that they will see Jesus in the giving of the bag. Make prayer a central part of your H2O ministry.

© 2011 Hope2Others

Step 6: Distribute Bags After your bags are finished, they are now ready for distribution. Distributing bags can happen in various ways. You can distribute the bags by giving or selling the bags to people at your church, school, or other location. The buyers will then carry them in their car to hand out the window to panhandlers. Another option is to directly pass out bags to homeless people with your group. We often go downtown with a hundred bags and hand them out in person. When brainstorming with your team, decide how you want to get these bags into the hands of the needy – through distribution by driving or by a personal encounter with homeless people.

Give or sell?

Deciding to give or sell your bags to drivers ultimately depends on your budget and what works best for you. Many people will help you distribute bags if it is at no cost to them, so fundraising or requesting donations to cover the cost of the bags’ ingredients would be a smart choice if you want to provide the bags for free. The other option is selling bags for the price of making the bag. We’ve used this method for the last five years, and it has also worked very well.

© 2011 Hope2Others

How to display your bags

Things You’ll need:

Table Black table cloth H2O bags Price/Information sign8 Money jar Fliers

Note: Remember that how you make and display your bags is a reflection of the thought and care you have for the people who will be receiving the bags.

8 Visit the members’ area at http://h2obags.com/help.php to access the sign and fliers for your display.

© 2011 Hope2Others

Fundraiser Ideas

1. Find Sponsors

Finding sponsors to fund your bags or events is a lot easier than it may seem. The best advocates for sponsoring your H2O project are people who have already expressed interest in what you are doing or close friends who have supported and encouraged you in the past. Talk to them about your goals with H2O and how they can be a part of what you are doing. To take part in a work that God is doing is a blessing and should excite them too.

2. Request donations

You can request that friends bring various supplies to contribute to making the bags or contact stores about partnering with them to receive donated supplies.9

3. Sell H2O Merchandise

We’ve used H2O silicone wristbands as a way to raise money in the past. They are inexpensive to have made and popular in many settings.

4. Panhandle with Friends

For us, this has been the most fun way to fundraise. On World Homeless Day, October 10th, we spent the afternoon panhandling with our friends at several different exits in our county to raise awareness and money for our H2O location. After a couple hours of panhandling, we had raised almost $500.10 Organize a group of your friends to “panhandle” and split up to different exits. Hold signs that say something like, “Helping the Homeless. Donate to Hope2Others and make a difference.” Then, hand out fliers when a driver donates money or wants more information.11

9 A sample letter that we’ve used is provided in the members’ area. 10

www.h2obags.com/whd 11

We recommend you dress normal and act like you are fundraising for an organization, so that drivers know you are not a real panhandler.

© 2011 Hope2Others

FAQ Some of these are questions you might have; some are questions you might get asked.

1. How do I distinguish between the true needy homeless people and those who are running a scam? Since we are humans, we can not easily distinguish between authentic and phony. That is why H2O is the better solution. For those who are scamming, an H2O bag is a better alternative than money, which would only enable their current problems. And to the genuinely needy homeless and hungry people, it is giving them a meal and the good news of the Gospel.

2. The Bible says, “He who does not work shall not eat.” Why should I give food to a homeless person who isn’t working for their food? In 2 Thessalonians, where it refers to “if a man will not work, he shall not eat,” it was referring to Christians, pastors, and fellow believers. In order to apply this verse to homeless and hungry people, one must take the passage out of context, to mean something beyond what it says. Additionally, regardless of the homeless person’s circumstances, we have been commanded to have compassion and mercy on the poor. 172 verses in the Bible mention the poor. Proverbs 14:31 says, “He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.” Deuteronomy 15:11 affirms, “There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land.” (Emphasis added.) In Matthew 20, when confronted with two blind beggars on the streets, Jesus didn’t turn the other way because they should have been working, but rather, he stopped and asked what he could do for the men. So we, as Christians, should do what Jesus would do, by offering help to the modern-day panhandlers.

3. Do you include any contact information in the bags so the panhandlers can receive extra help? Sometimes we put meal vouchers from our local homeless shelter in the bags. Their meals are free with or without the voucher, but it helps direct people to the shelter to receive a meal and further help. This is optional, depending on what is available in your area. If your church or group is located in a strategic place and has resources to help homeless people, you might also consider putting your group’s contact information on the back of the gospel tract.

4. How much time does running an H2O location take? H2O does not take a ton of time, especially if you have a team to help you run it. Once every couple months, we make a shopping trip and fill bags. Then all you need to do is work at getting the bags distributed, either directly or through other people.

5. Do I need to register my H2O location as a 501(C)(3) Nonprofit? Our H2O location is not registered as an official 501(c)(3) because we run H2O as a ministry of our church, which is a nonprofit organization. This keeps things simpler and gives us financial accountability. If you are not partnering with a church or another nonprofit in order to run this organization, we recommend you register your H2O location as a nonprofit within your state.

© 2011 Hope2Others

6. How should I take care of H2O’s money? If you are partnering with your church or another non-profit, we recommend you handle your money through their account. This will help with record-keeping, liability, and professionalism.