Harvest Time Church Reaching Out

Over the past few years Harvest Time Church in Brentwood has been reaching out to the local communities to help those in need. They started slowly by helping at the Contra Costa Food bank and later purchased a van that they used to make food donations and deliveries. Now they are taking their efforts one step further by offering "A Day of Compassion", scheduled at the church on March 7.
"We started recognizing how times were getting harder for everyone, even those who had once been considered affluent and wanted to come up with an idea to help," said Pastor Dennis Reynolds of Harvest Time. "Once we got started the families of the church really took it to heart."
Their idea taking off, was the group to making regular trips to two locations, an apartment complex in Brentwood and a mobile home park in Oakley, offering a pick up point where needy families can come and pick up food and supplies. Reynolds said that once the van, or "mobile food bank" was purchased the church found it a lot easier to get what the community needed to the various locations.
The concept of "A Day of Compassion" event started when the group received a large donation from a Springfield, Missouri organization called "A Convoy of Hope". The non-profit, which was first responders during the Kratrina Hurricane in New Orleans and other natural disasters, offered Harvest Time Church over $20,000 in food.
"It is amazing to be able to partner with this group," Reynolds said. "We hope to feed between 1,500 and 2,000 people in need with this donation."
The story doesn't end there, however, since word has gotten out that the church will be offering the food donations after the truck arrives in Brentwood on March 7, other professionals have been coming out of the wood work to help. Reynolds said it started with a dentist who offered to come out and check teeth on this day. "He didn't just offer to come and do an exam, which would have been great, but he also offered to have the patients come back to his office and get fillings or whatever work they needed done for free," Reynolds said.
Reynolds said the list of those willing to donate their time and resources has been multiplying until now they currently have several dentist, doctors and even hair cutters coming out to offer their time on March 7. Sutter Delta and Mt. Diablo Medical Center has offered their help and services, as well.
"This has really rejuvenated our people a lot," Reynolds said. "This hard economy isn't just hitting the people who have always needed help, but those who may have had money and got hit with recent problems."
Reynolds said that so far his group has offered help to a variety of people. One couple, he explained, lived in Discovery Bay. When the van drove up to the very nice, large two-story house, there were two Mercedes parked in the driveway. From the outside this looked like a very affluent family, not needing any help. On the inside, it was a very different story. "The couple was in real estate and lost everything. The cars in the driveway were waiting to be repossessed, the house in foreclosure. The family was just waiting for the bank to evict them. They had three children who needed to be fed. They had no money for groceries," he said.
Reynolds said this it is his church's heartfelt desire to just help people. They are also looking for people with like minds. They estimate that they will need at least 100 volunteers for this event. Most of the volunteers will come from their church, but others are welcome if they just want to come lend a hand.
"We've really found that it is the little things that cause so many problems. We want to help empower people to live their lives and this is one way we can help," Reynolds said.
Reynolds said that they wouldn't be taking applications to make sure people qualify for service. They are taking on faith that those who come out to the church on March 7 are really in need. Harvest Time Church is located at 2220 Ventura Drive in Brentwood. The event starts at 9 a.m., but the food donations from Convoy of Hope are coming in on that day, and donations will start once the truck arrives. For more information call the church at 516-1908.