H2O Church Community Grocery Store

THE OPPORTUNITY BEFORE US (WHY WE ARE RAISING MONEY):
It is with great excitement that we have been presented with an amazing ministry opportunity.  With your help, in late December of 2016, we will be taking possession of an existing grocery store right in the heart of our ministry outreach area (located in East Dundee, Il).  We will temporarily close this store for remodeling and re-open as a non-profit extension of the ministry of H2O Church Ministries Inc.  Our Church will run this store similar to how some Churches run a Thrift Store, but we will be selling groceries at a greatly reduced price to our community.  How we will do this is basically, we will have a special state-issued license to procure and resell items that typical grocery stores won’t or can’t. These items include out of date items, seasonal items, promotional items, mislabeled items, etc. The exciting thing is, these items are just as good as items from a typical store at a fraction of the price. This gives us the opportunity to provide great groceries to our community and help them have more money to care for their families.  

The ministry opportunities are endless, but here are a few ways this extension of our ministry will benefit our community:

- The store will be staffed with members of H2O Church who will be trained to be always on the lookout for ways to meet needs in our customers’ lives.

- We will have a sitting & coffee area where we can take time with our friends and guests to sit and chat as opportunity presents itself.

- Give people with limited budgets the opportunity to buy food at a reduced price while maintaining their dignity. (Some people are reluctant to visit the local food banks because they feel they don’t deserve it or that they are taking away from people who may need it more)

- Provide us the opportunity to bless people with a free cart of groceries if they have a need.

- Get to better know the people and families in our area. As we get to know them better, we can better serve them.

- Provide us with an income stream to be able to expand and improve our outreach to our communities. We have many ministry outreach ideas that we could finally bring to fruition.

- When we receive items that are too closely dated to sell (i.e. bread too close to expiration date). We have multiple locations in our community that would greatly benefit from periodic, free food distributions.

- Provide volunteer opportunities for local individuals and groups wanting to help give back or meet certain volunteer hour obligations.

ABOUT H2O CHURCH (WHO ARE WE):
H2O Church is a non-denominational, Christian church focused on ‘Living Jesus & Loving People’.  H2O was planted in 2012 and has since been consistently active in hosting free, family-friendly events  and giving back to our home town of Carpentersville, Il, (a far west Suburb of Chicago).  We believe that a Church should be local-community focused and active in giving back to the people and families that call our community home.   To this end, we have a financial goal to spend as little money as possible on our facility, unnecessary items, and the production value of our Sunday morning service.   We consistently strive to reduce & eliminate the frivolous and unnecessary things that we many time associate with Churches.  We don’t have fancy sound and video systems, an expensive building or large paid staff.  We do this in order to funnel a large portion of our finances into our community events & making as big of an impact we can for Jesus.   This year, we were honored to recieve the Community Service Award for the Village of Carpentersville for our efforts. 

WHAT SPECIFICALLY WE NEED THE MONEY FOR:
We are confident that once we are up and running, that we will be able to break even in a very short period of time.  The current sales figures bear this out as well as the fact that we have some great volunteers and the benefits of an already existing business.  However, we are not in a place where we have the cash on hand to get everything in place that we would want to before we open on the 2nd or 3rd week of January 2017. That’s why we are reaching out to friends, family and fellow Jesus-followers to help us fund the lead up to opening this amazing ministry opportunity.

Here is a breakdown of what we need
Amount of money needed $15,700
Breakdown (approx. numbers)

- $6400 - Initial security deposit & rent

- $2000 - Initial Print, Social Media, Direct Mail marketing push

- $1500 - Interior signage design, print & paint

- $4000 - Lawyer fees to set up everything to comply with all local and federal requirements. (Lawyers are expensive, but we need to do this right)

- $500 - Additional shelving, fixtures to fully prepare for opening

- $200 - Shirts/uniforms for workers and volunteers

- $500 - Materials for construction of register area

- $400 - Print material (Gospel of John - Qty: approx. 600)

- $200 - General maintenance needed before opening

WHY WE NEED TO ASK YOU FOR THIS MONEY:
We have NO large cash contributors. We have funded almost all the community outreach events we do from the contributions of our church people.   We have a strong deisre to be fiscally responsible and honoring to Jesus.  One, we don't accept money that has 'strings' attached (interest bearing loans, money with pre-conditions attached, etc).  Second, we honestly believe that if God wants our ministry to exist into the future, He will provide us with the finances to make it happen.  God has always provided.  Now, with this amazing ministry opportunity being presented to us, we need a one-time influx of money to fully prepare to do the best job possible for Jesus and our community.  

TIMEFRAME:
The current timeframe is:
- Later December 2016: Take possesion of the store
- Late December thru 2nd or 3rd week of Jan 2017:
     - Deep clean the store (strip/wax floors/organize)
     - Paint and refresh appearance of interior
     - Adjust store layout, limited remodeling
     - Train staff
     - Secure all permits, needed repairs, etc. 
-2nd or 3rd week of January 2017: Open the doors to the public.

This will be such a unique an awesome way to reach our community with the practical and real love of Jesus.  Thanks for prayerfully considering helping us meet our goal.

More questions or need more info?  Please feel free to contact us through GoFundMe.

H2O Church Website: (Contribute to this project through our website as well)
www.h2oillinois.com

H2O Church Mailing Address:

H2O Church
50 E. Main St.
Carpentersville, Il. 60110

H2O Church is a 501 c 3 organization.  All contributions are eligable for tax deduction.