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This week’s Family Life “Hometown Hero” is Lydia Sujkowski.

Lydia is a Cortland College senior organizing a September 5K race to raise funds to better train area counselors on treating eating disorders, which she herself began suffering in high school.

Hear her inspiring story, and discover how she is reaching out to encourage others, plus how family and faith helped her on her road to recovery.

• For personal assistance:
• Cortland County Mental Health
  
• National Hotline for immediate mental health matters: call or text 988.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 6:13 — 8.5MB)

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“Operation Good Neighbor” serves the Southtowns area around Buffalo, New York. This provides a food pantry, clothing closet and much more for it’s neighbors in Derby, North Evans, Evans, Brant, Farnham, Lake View and Angola.

Listen as Family Life’s Mark Webster gets the good news about “Operation Good Neighbor” from Claudette Abshire and Bill Bateman, Sr.

More about this program can be found here.

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“The Impact Project”  sprang from a simple act of kindness:

A group of church members banding together to assist a woman whose dilapidated home was in dire need of repair. The extensive work a band of volunteers completed in less than 48 hours proved to be a powerful witness to her neighborhood, and the genesis of “The Impact Project” which has since helped hundreds of people in need in Chenango County, New York and beyond.

On this edition of “Hometown Heroes”, founder Jim Willard recounts those early days and the moving stories that have happened since then.

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Watsontown, Pennsylvania’s Craig Wheeland has demonstrated the Gospel of Jesus Christ in small towns and large cities in Pennsylvania — plus many villages in many countries. His work encourages children to learn to read, so they can read the Scriptures and talk about faith with their parents. When he and a U.S. team go on a mission trip, his priority is to deepen connnections, knowing the people even more than doing projects.

Wheeland’s ministry goes by the name Aim4Christ, which stands for “Actions In Mission For Christ“. They are active in food programs in their local community of 2,300 in the West Branch Susquehanna River valley of central Pennsylvania.

In his conversation with Mark Webster, Wheeland also tells how his international evangelistic work put him a momentarily life-threatening situation, even as the Lord’s work multiplied.

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This week’s Family Life Hometown Hero is Jeff Roeters, co-founder of the Rochester nonprofit ‘Guitars for Glory” (www.guitarsforglory.com) . Hear how he brings the healing gift of music throughout the world by providing guitars to those who cannot afford them.

Music is an amazing blessing that we often take for granted. There are many communities around the world who do not have access to the instruments we can so easily get our hands on. Guitars for Glory’s sole desire is to put guitars and instruments in the hands of churches, schools, missionaries, and orphanages. Our hope is to enhance their musical experience and build up worship leaders within the community; through the giving guitars and musical training.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 5:41 — 7.8MB)

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Craig Wheeland, founder of “Aim 4 Christ” Ministries in Pennsylvania tells his story on this week’s “Hometown Heroes”.

Wheeland’s outreach ranges from the streets of Philadelphia to the poorest regions of Pakistan. His work encourages children to learn to read, so they can read the Scriptures and talk about faith with their parents. Hear how he knows mission work has as much influence on the workers who “get out of the church building” and meet the people they serve (Matthew 25:44). That aspect of deepening connnections, to know the people is much more important than carrying out other tasks. Wheeland also talks about his international evangelistic work put him a momentarily life-threatening sitaution, but the Lord’s work continued to blossom.

Aim4Christ (“Actions In Mission For Christ”) is based in Watsontown, Pennsylvania.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 5:41 — 7.8MB)

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Rebecca Ellis and Nancy Hurst are founders of “Raise of Hope”, a new community center in Cattaraugus, NY.

On this week’s Hometown Heroes on Family Life, you will hear how the Lord placed a vision before our guests, which then blossomed into a community center for artists, a farm-to-table market, and a transitional residence for teens moving from foster care into the early stages of their adulthood.

The Raise of Hope community center also can host entrepreneurs, county services, church events, and a private professional counseling practice.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 5:16 — 7.2MB)

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This week’s Family Life Hometown Hero is Joe DeMarco, founder of Wings Flights of Hope, based out of Orchard Park, New York.

Wings Flights is a free volunteer service which flies seriously ill patients and their families to out-of-town medical appointments. Transplant recipients and injured military members are key recipients of this ministry. This service is especially crucial when timing provides only a short window of opportunity to begin the medical treatment to receive organ transplants.