On a side note, you will notice some points begin with emboldened words, those are the organizations we partnered with for the work mentioned.

The Orphan and Fatherless:

• Help end Local Poverty (H.E.L.P.): Recently we began to donate quarterly a portion of our tithes to support this poverty reduction organization focusing on eliminating poverty in local communities and around the world.
• Mexico Orphanages: Donated quarterly a portion of our tithes to support two orphanages in Meir and Sandoval Mexico that provide complete care and education for over 40 orphans
• Miracle Foundation: Donated quarterly a portion of our tithes to support their efforts in India to care for over 700 orphanages and help renovate conditions in 6 orphanages; while several individuals made 5-year commitments to sponsor individual orphans in India.
• Caring Family Network: Our Restore Communities volunteered at and sponsored the 2009 Christmas Party for Foster Children and sponsored 15 children & 45 families for Christmas
• Extreme Make over for Lutheran Social Services
• Collaboration with local Churches and Adoption agencies to remedy the orphan crisis in Austin.

The Dispossessed and Homeless:

• Mobile Loaves and Fishes: Our Restore Communities assembled & donated 100’s of Toiletry Bags for Homeless; Coordinated several neighborhood Jeans Drives; Prepared meals for thousands of Austin’s Homeless and working Poor; and Served hundreds of burrioto’s and breakfasts through the burrito project.
• Foundation for the Homeless: Our Restore communities coordinated monthly Birthday Parties for Homeless Children; Landscaped the campus of Foundation for the Homeless; and Built an organic garden
• Caritas of Austin: Our Restore Communities did an Extreme Makeover for the Caritas’ Kitchen on SAS; Provided consistent Volunteers for Caritas Morning Meal through the week; Hosted a Caritas Training in which 15 individuals where trained to care for the homeless on a more personal level; and Sorted, labeled, and stocked over 500 pounds of food
• Refugee Services of Texas: Our Restore Communities trained over 15 volunteers to care for refugees in 2010 and collected enough furniture and appliances to furnish a new apartment for new refugees in Austin.
• Fed over 6,300 hot meals to Austin’s Homeless through Downtown Grillouts.
• Organized Christmas-eve Homeless Blanket, Coffee, and Socks giveaway
• Held a Red Cross Training and Red Cross Certified 30 people

The Poor and Needy:

• Communities in Schools: We completed 3 Extreme Classroom Makeover’s (Langford Elementary, Rodriguez Elementary, and Lanier HighSchool) while committing to two more in 2010.  Promoted the annual CIS Back Pack Drive for those who couldn’t afford backpacks and school supplies and donated1,800 back packs.  We raised over $2,200 for the Austin Marathon and recruited a total of 10 runners for the 2009 and 2010 Austin Marathon benefiting CIS. We provided Christmas presents and food for over 60 families in need.  We recently committed to a partnership in the Santa Rita projects near our East Side Church, and we were recognized as the Volunteer Organization of the Year.
• Capital Area Food Bank: Currently working with the CAFB to meet some of the hunger needs in East Austin by developing a local food distribution center at SDG.
• Housed and Fed over 60 East Houston evacuee from hurricane Ike
• Had over 50 volunteers serve Blue Santa three years in a row.
• Donated enough food to Capital Area Food Bank to serve over 1,000 families
• Supported children in need through Angel Tree
• Donated School Supplies for kids under the Austin Housing Authority
• Painted a house for a widow, built a wood fence for a family who could not afford it and helped a single mother move
• Held a Bake Sale and donated for the “No Kid Left Hungry”
• Served the residents of Maggie Johnson Nursing Home
• Extreme Make Over: three different rooms at Akin’s High School different times

The ill and marginalized:

• Livestrong Foundation: Mobilized 10 runners and 40 Volunteers for the 2008& 2009 LiveStrong Challenge.
• Care Communities: Restore Communities partnered with a family in which the mother and Father has HIV/AIDS.  During this time they walked with the mother through her husband’s death, salvation, and helped the mother become self-sustaining. Cared for a 21 year old lady with a brain tumor that has attacked her skeletal system in her spine.  Partnered and cared for a man who was living with Cancer.  Partnered and cared for a man who has AIDS, schizophrenia, and dementia. Partnered and served at the Austin AIDS Ride, AIDS Service, and AIDS Walk
• Raised money and walked in the Race for the Cure

The Environment and Creation:

• The Eden Projects: Donated quarterly a portion of our tithes to support their efforts in Ethiopia and Madagascar through digging wells to provide water, support reforestation efforts in planting over 1.8 million trees, & help provide jobs to 1000 indigenous people.
• Keep Austin Beautiful: Restore Communities removed close to 1,000 pounds of litter from an East Slaughter Lane; Adopted Boggy Creek for two years; Cleaned up and did restoration work on Stassney Creek and Onion Creek; and Cleaned an illegal dump site in the Sol Wilson / Pandora area of town.
• Filled three 40 yard-city-dumpsters of litter to clean Park Ridge Subdivision
• Landscaped the Campus of Clayton and Houston Elementary
• Supported and Served at the Austin Trail of Lights
• Beautified the campus of Jackie’s Fine Arts Facility

Church Planting:

• Hill Country Bible Church: Donated Quarterly a portion of our tithes to their church planting and training efforts in Austin.
• Austin Baptist Association: Donated Quarterly a portion of our tithes to their church planting and training efforts in the Austin area.
• Soli Deo Gloria – Helped Financially Secure an East-Austin Property for their church plant in a strategic ministry area.
• The Soul Movement – Providing Support and Training through our partnerships for this primarily African American downtown church.
• Revolution Church – Donated much needed sound & technical Equipment for this plant in Shertz, TX.
• Placed two couples in Apartment complexes South Austin as Missionaries and one couple on the East-Side of Austin as Missionaries.
• Refugee Church in Houston – Helped secure their Building, donated our van, chairs, and sound equipment and are continuing to mentor.
• Austin Mustard Seed – Partnering in North Austin help develop a network of Mission minded house churches.
• Planted over 12 Restore Communities impacting our city.

In addition to the report above (and most importantly) we’ve had the honor of being a part of seeing over 80 people find faith in Christ through God’s movment and your commitment to incarnational community and service. Just in the last three months, we’ve had 104 people join ANC as “Partners”. And are looking forward to adding a second worship gathering this spring. Amazing!

Honestly, when I put together this report last week to send to Brandon and Tray, I was blown away!  Both by the generosity of our people and supporters… and by the sheer volume of what a small little church plant in South Austin was able to accomplish (together with our partners) in our first year and eight months. When we began to dream of a church… this was it. What an honor.

Thank you,

Matthew