Jeremiah 29:11 Says "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." This is our hope and our prayer for all the children we serve at The Twig. We want every child to know they have a beautiful future ahead of them, we want them to know they are more than their circumstance, and we want them to DREAM BIG! We know God has plans for these children and we are here to remind them of this. When a child comes to The Twig they are provided with the opportunity to shop with dignity for essential clothing items they are in need of. We also are providing them encouragement and reminding them they are loved. It is so wonderful to hear the success stories as these children are dreaming for their futures and seeing these plans unfold. We also believe God has big plans for The Twig. We were honored to have been chosen as The Venice Area Chamber of Commerce as their non-profit business of the year! As a big surprise The Gulf Coast Community Foundation generously gave a $500 grant to all the finalists in the non-profit category. We are so blessed to be in such a supportive community. Please continue to pray for the children and families we serve, that they will continue to dream for prosperity in their futures. We also ask that you continue to pray for The Twig as we grow and follow this path God is leading us on.
We are currently preparing for our 2nd Annual Online Auction and are hopeful that it will be a very successful event.
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In 2010 Dianne Weed, the Twig founder, felt a call to start a nonprofit. She wasn't sure what she was to do with it, but felt that God would make it clear to her when the timing was right. She knew that she wanted to honor her Christian Heritage and thus named the nonprofit “Beams of Grace” after the little white church her grandparents started in Iowa where the seeds of her faith were planted. Not much happened with Dianne's Beams of Grace until 2016 when she felt led to open The Twig in Venice Fl. Lloyd and Dianne Weed adopted their youngest daughter out of foster care in 1998. During her senior year of high school the Weeds began to think about how differently their daughter's life would have been if she was still in foster care. In February of 2016, they were inspired with the idea to encourage and inspire foster families by creating an upscale store, complete with dressing rooms, that would provide children in foster care with the ability to choose clothing that best reflects how they see themselves. In doing this, it was their desire to uplift, support and encourage these children and their foster families. Since there was already a nonprofit in place they were able to quickly open the doors to the up-scale boutique called The Twig under the umbrella of Beams of Grace in May of 2016 God had paved the road long before he gave us the journey on which we are on today. We are in the process of changing the name, but in the meantime we are officially “Beams of Grace, Inc. DBA The Twig”. Since this is the official registered name you will notice us listed that way on certain websites including the 2018 Giving Challenge presented by the Community Foundation of Sarasota County. Please consider making a gift to Beams of Grace, Inc. DBA The Twig to receive a 1:1 match from the Patterson Foundation from May 1 to May 2 noon to noon. 2 Corinthians 9:7 says “Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” Our community is living out this verse in their support of The Twig. We have had several groups within our community run very successful collection drives for The Twig recently. We see the joy it is bringing to these groups knowing they are helping bless the lives of children in foster care. They are running collection drives and cheerfully giving to us. We love when groups come up with ideas that they know their members will enjoy. I would like to share a few examples of these with you. The grandmoms of Venetian Falls collected board books for babies and toddlers Davita Dialysis collected pajamas Grace Preschool collected pajamas St Marks Preschool held a book drive Venetian Falls collected 6 bins of clothing and shoes The Bridge Church held a pajama drive Foundation Church of Englewood purchased underwear and action bibles with their Sunday School collection. These are just a few examples of the ways the local church and community are supporting the Twig in our mission to encourage and inspire the lives of children in foster care by meeting their needs. My hope is this will inspire you to find a purpose for your group to be cheerful givers. If you have an idea for your church or social group to start a collection for us please reach out to me at (941)212-3326 or nicoleb@thetwigcares.com Blessed to be a Blessing, Nicole Britton Director of Development |
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