Dear Friends and Intercessors,
Two things:
1-Our CedarWood department has a critical need.
CedarWood:
One arm of World for Jesus Ministries was born of a vision the Lord gave to Mom (Nita) over 13 years ago wherein the Lord called her to “to serve the poor”. It was through that vision, much prayer and tremendous planning that CedarWood was born.
Our CedarWood mission statement is “building stronger families.” Our goal is to make sure people have warm clothing in the winter and enough meat, grains, dairy and produce in their diet every week. We strive to ensure the elderly, many of whom live on fixed incomes, have the food and clothing they need to not just survive but thrive. We don’t do the “cheese, butter and bread” thing, we don’t throw expired cans of food at people and tell them to have a nice day, we have partnerships with Costco, Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Food Lifeline and several other organizations to provide wholesome food to our CedarWood Pantry clients, the children who participate in our BackPack Kids program, and our Homeless Outreach.
In addition, we build up families by offering a Men’s Group where we study the Word and provide Christ-centered fellowship. We offer internships and often hire necessary staff from our own volunteer and/or client base.
Cedarwood is a ministry, not a handout.
We also serve those living on the street. It takes tremendous grace to reach into the lives of those whom society pretends to ignore. They are hurting, they are desperate, but our team goes in and gives them a warm meal, a bag of food, clothes, shoes, all the while, sharing the Gospel. Their desperate situation opens their heart to the Gospel like no other operation. People are saved, delivered, and healed because our team said yes to the call to serve the poor.
Our goal is to build up, not shame people for their financial struggles, but build them up. Families come and go as their needs increase or decrease, but we remain a fixture in the community to let them know that Jesus loves and cares for them in a very real and practical way.
We could not do this without our amazing staff and volunteers.
To do what we do at CedarWood, takes enormous resources, but obedience and sacrifice often go hand in hand when we answer the call.
I’m sharing this because we have a need right now, one we cannot fill on our own. I’ve asked Adam Shephard, our CedarWood Director, to lay it out for us here:
CedarWood currently has a 2010 Chevy Express cargo van that is in its final days and desperately needs replacing. The inspection report from its last repair genuinely stated that replacing the vehicle would be more economical than continuing to fix the current one!
With just two vehicles used for our food pantry pickups, losing half of our transportation infrastructure would be devastating. A newer, reliable cargo van would allow CedarWood International to continue collecting donated food and goods from local retail partners as well as reduce the anticipated maintenance costs involved in sustaining an aging vehicle. We are seeking funding to purchase a dependable cargo van to replace the Chevy Express we have used for the last 8+ years. The rising costs of vehicles mean a reliable replacement will be $25-40K.
The vital role our vehicles have in accomplishing our mission becomes even more evident when you consider the following:
· Each week our Food Pantry currently serves 130-150 families (this amounts to 400-500 people)
· Each week our Homeless Outreach team serves another 200 people on average.
· We served just under 12,000 meals to hungry students during the 2025-2026 school year! CedarWood supports two rural elementary schools with weekend food kits for students facing food insecurity.
· In our last annual report with Food Lifeline, we calculated that CedarWood distributed 371,629 pounds of food—almost all of which was transported in our own vehicles!
· CedarWood also transports hundreds of pounds of clothes per week from donors to the Pantry.
Hunger continues to affect working families, seniors, veterans, individuals with disabilities, and children throughout Snohomish and King Counties. Transportation is one of the most critical—and often overlooked—needs for food banks. Without dependable transportation food donations are declined, grocery rescue opportunities are missed, volunteers use personal vehicles not always suitable for the task, and overall operational costs increase.
Bottom line, with a newer vehicle, CedarWood can continue to obey the word of the Lord to Mom and “serve the poor” in our Seattle community.
Blessings & love,
Ricci and Adam on behalf of Mom and our entire CW Team!
