JAN 2, 2024 UPDATE : HUGE thanks to everyone who helped us raise $55,074.96 at the end of 2023!
Dear OSC family,
This week we are kicking off our annual year-end fund drive. This is just one of two times every year when we focus on fundraising. Last year you raised $40,151.00 for urgent building repairs to fix our leaking roof and broken front window. Thank you to all who helped make last year’s year-end fund drive a success!
This year the OSC Board decided to do something more vision-oriented. Inspired by the tireless work of our food pantry crew, who serve 400+ households every month, and all the staff and volunteers who pulled-together a remarkable asylum-seeker emergency shelter this fall, we are imagining more ministry possibilities for our basement space.
Pantry Manager Victoria McGoldrick and the pantry crew in action.
We envision the basement of OSC becoming a community center for downtown Oceanside. In 2024 we plan to grow food-security outreach, offer expanded services to meet the needs of local seniors, and get equipped to host emergency sheltering when another crisis arises. We also envision hosting more outside groups, classes, and events throughout the year, like more AA groups, or yoga classes, or even neighborhood markets. We also have plans to become a destination for other churches across the country to send their youth groups for community service “mission trips” during the summer. We did this before the Pandemic, and feel 2024 may be the time to renew that ministry.
But to do all this well, we need to renovate our basement space. We’ve renovated most of the building over the past six years, including the main kitchen, but the rest of the basement remains untouched. It is badly in need of new flooring, new storage space, new tables and chairs, and new paint and lighting to become a more functional and hospitable space. The bathrooms are especially bad. As 8-year-old Luke Eaton says, they are “very scary and super creepy.” We agree Luke.
(Also, have you noticed? We have grown to averaging nearly 100 people for our Sunday Gatherings, so we really do need more functioning bathrooms!)
Toward that end, our goal is to raise $50,000 by December 31st. That may seem like a lot for a small church, but it isn’t much to renovate a space as big as our basement. If we raise more, we will do more. But we have managed to renovate every other part of our 96-year-old building, inside and out, without going into debt. That is our plan for this project too. As always, we will be as frugal as possible and leveraging as much volunteer work and “sweat-equity” as we can.
Final Raised: $55,074.96
Please prayerfully consider making a special year-end gift toward this goal. As Co-Lead Ministers, we will be doing the same. We strongly believe in the mission of OSC, so as leaders, we always strive to be the first to give.
To make a gift, use the secure giving form to on this page. If you prefer to give by check, be sure to send it to our mailing address: PO Box 360, Oceanside CA 92039. Whatever amount you can give is greatly appreciated!
Thank you again, and may your family be blessed this Advent and Christmas season!
Blessings,
Jason & Jenell Coker
Co-Lead Ministers
PS: We are very excited about the vision of making our basement into a genuine community center! Your extra gift this month can help make that vision a reality in 2024.