On Thursday afternoon (12/20), David and Kim Hopwood's home burned down. No one was hurt and the fire was an accident caused by a faulty electrical wire. For details from the fire department go to this web address: http://www.sykesvillefire.org/index.cfm?fs=news.newsView&News_ID=228 Ted Granger, the contractor volunteering to help build the Ugly Mug Café and Concert House called me (Liz Clark) asking for help. www.TheUglyMug.net On Thursday evening (12/20) and Friday morning (12/21), an email went out asking for help. Many people that received the email, forwarded it to their friends. It was like an email domino effect. Also there were articles in the Carroll County Times, The Eldersburg Eagle and The Gazette about the fire and how the community could support this family. The Journey Church Community and the Eldersburg/Carroll Country Community responded in a HUGE way! The response was so tremendous, that Pastor Steve Lowe of The Journey, changed his message on Sunday 12/23 and talked about how "This is IT" - helping others in the community and working together is what is most important as followers of Christ. You can listen to his message at www.TheJourneyIsHere.com/Archives.htm if you are interested. Just to give you a picture of how HUGE… I received about 100 phone calls and 40 emails from different people willing to help. My house was like a revolving door for three days and in the past week at least one or two people still stop by or call every day. As of 12/30, this is what our community has donated. About 20 large trash bags of used clothing, about 10 large trash bags of household items and food, about 15 large trash bags of used toys, about 70 wrapped gifts – per child and about 20 wrapped gifts for the Mom and the Dad each. I also have about 70 unwrapped new gifts. Gift cards and money total approximately $3500. When we went to drop off the items on Christmas Eve, the family said WOW – and way too much. Find another family to bless with some of this stuff. Our children do not need 70 new toys each. So that is what we plan to do. The outreach ministry team of The Journey Church Community is going to figure out how to use the extra items to bless others. Pastor Lowe has always said that God blesses us so that we can be a blessing to others. And that is exactly what the Hopwood’s are doing. I see a new ministry emerging from this! As of 12/30, the family is staying with relatives and they plan to move into a rented house next week. All 5 members - Dad, Mom and three kids had a wonderful Christmas with lots of presents and gift cards donated by many, many people. The family also received alot of slightly used clothing and household items to help them rebuild some of what was lost. Thanks to everyone that has helped. I am not sure if the Hopwood’s will need the large items (furniture) yet, so I will be in touch with those that offered as soon as I know As for other donations, I think the family is good to go. The insurance will kick in and help them rebuild in the next 5-6 months. I will continue to update those interested in our Ugly Update that we send every few weeks. If you are not on our email list and would like to be, just email me at Liz@TheUglyMug.net or call 443-286-6968. If you want to learn more about The Ugly Mug and why we are trying to so hard to build a community center for Eldersburg, join us on Saturday January 5, 2008 at the Eldersburg Library at 10AM. Free Breakfast and a one hour update on what/why/how/when The Ugly Mug Café and Concert House will be open for business… and how you can help if you want. Thanks again for the tremendous support. I still think that God is smiling on us! If you forwarded the first email about this, please forward this update also. And to everyone involved… THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!