The OC Marathon is taking place Sunday, May 5, 2013. There will be several road closures that morning, so to assist you in getting to Grace Fellowship Church, we have the suggested routes listed below:

From Long Beach - Take 405 South to the 73 South Freeway, exit Campus/Irvine. Turn left on Campus Drive and left again on Bristol Street. Turn right on Red Hill Avenue (north bound lanes will be opened).

From Orange/Fullerton - Take 55 South to 73 South Freeway, exit Campus/Irvine. Turn left on Campus Drive and left again on Bristol Street. Turn right on Red Hill Avenue (north bound lanes will be opened).

From Laguna Beach/Irvine - Take 73 Freeway, exit Birch Street. Follow Birch Street as it turns into Bristol. Turn right on Red Hill Avenue (north bound lanes will be opened).

Areas to avoid are as follows: Red Hill Avenue - South bound lanes will be closed from Main Street (Irvine) to Mesa Drive (Costa Mesa). Therefore, the Baker and Paularino thoroughfare streets to Red Hill will be closed at Red Hill. In addition, South bound vehicles on Bristol Street will not be able to turn left onto Red Hill Avenue.

If you would like additional routing information or have any questions, you can refer to www.ocmarathon.com.

A few years ago OVERFLOW HS ministries started partnering with Crossroads Ministry in the Dominican Republic. Crossroads Ministry is "dedicated to the service of the poor (Haitian Refugees). Crossroads welcomes groups and volunteers from all corners of the world who desire to help serve the desolate and downtrodden." Their ministry travels to the dumps, hospitals, prisons, and shanties of the sugar cane fields, bringing food, hope and dignity to people who otherwise are unreachable. 

This year our team is compiled of 20 High School students and 4 leaders. We will be working with Crossroads from April 13-20th. This will be an eye-opening experience to see the poorest of the poor and be the hands and feet of Jesus to those we come into contact with.

Our first and foremost request is for prayer. God is going to stretch us and open our eyes to so many new things. Pray for open hearts to grow and open eyes to see the needs around us. Pray for God's Light to be shone and for His Love to be extended. 

Secondly, we desire that our whole church body gets involved. Listed below are a few different opportunities for our church community to be active participants in this trip:

• Hygiene Kits: To support Crossroads our team passes out hygiene kits to the poorest of the poor while in the Dominican Republic. A hygiene kit provides a person with 3 months of hygiene products. The production price for a hygiene kit is $20.  If you are interested in donating towards this you can come to the High School room and sign-up there or we will be selling them on Sunday, March 3rd after service.
• Ruby's Fundraiser: The week of March 11-17th. Bring one of our personalized Ruby's fundraiser flyers for the Ruby's off of 17th Street in Costa Mesa. Our team will receive 20% of all the profit! CLICK HERE to print the flyer.
• Rummage Sale: On March 16th we will be having a Rummage Sale @ Grace. There are 2 ways to get involved with this fundraiser. First, you can come and check the rummage sale out to see if you find any good deals. Second, if you would like to donate items towards the rummage sale, we will be collecting donations the week of March 10th! 
• Wahoo's Fundraiser: Sunday, April 7th. Like the Ruby's fundraiser, if you bring in one of our personalized Wahoo's Fundraiser Flyers our team will receive 20% of your entire purchase to help support our team! It is located at the Wahoo's off of Bristol! CLICK HERE to find the flyer.

Thank you for all your support. We would greatly appreciate your prayers

In His Grip,

2013 Dominican Republic Team

Information meeting Sunday, February 17th in the High School room at 11:15.

Summary: A group from Grace will fly into Lima to assemble and help the locals distribute wheelchairs into the surrounding villages. We’ll also get to the Krochet Kids International Peru compound and possibly work with the local branch of Every Generation Ministry, an organization that Grace Fellowship supports.

Dates: July 5th-14th (maybe one or two days longer)

Team Size: 8-10 People

Ages: 10 and up

Cost: $2,700

Interested? Applications will be available at the Information meeting or you can request an application by emailing Ryan (rzeulner@gracefellowshipchurch.org)