Photos Courtesy of the Full Gospel Holy Temple Church
In its 39th year, the Full Gospel Holy Temple Helping Hand Outreach ministry continued the legacy of caring for the community and hosted two giving events in a single day, one in Dallas and another in Garland. With lines extending from the freeway to double lines of cars in the parking lot, members of the community came to both sites to receive more than 1000 baskets of groceries to prepare holiday meals and more.
This is the first time the giving events happened without its founder, Dallas Humanitarian Dr. Shirley Murray, who died in October at age 88. Dr. Murray, a renowned humanitarian and religious icon began in 1981 providing meals, clothes, shoes, and toys to those who were underprivileged, homeless, or simply in need in the “store without a cash register.”
Upon the passing of Dr. Murray this year, the leadership baton passed to First Lady Daniele Murray to lead the Helping Hand organization along with her husband Pastor Herman Murray, Jr., who oversees the entire Full Gospel Holy Temple Church corporation. “We are here to continue the legacy that she started. She built this outreach program from the ground and worked tirelessly until her passing to ensure it was successfully able to serve thousands each year.”
In Dallas, community members were lined up from the service road to lines intertwined throughout the parking lot. As they entered the drive-thru lines to the smiles and tunes of church volunteers clad in red or green singing Christmas carols or providing a holiday greeting, a smile, or a wave as they waited to have their trunk filled with fresh vegetables, turkeys, dairy products, cereals, desserts, treats, and other items to support them through the holidays.
“During this time of the year, we like to bless our community and with the COVID-19 pandemic many have lost jobs and many have experienced hard times. We just want to do our part to help those who may be less fortunate than us,” said Lady Murray. “We just want to show the love of Jesus.”
In addition to the Dallas giveaway location, the Helping Hand Outreach expanded the giveaway event to serve residents of Garland on December 19th on the land of the new building site of the Garland Full Gospel Holy Temple Church at 302 Kingsley Road. This event served just under 400 families in about one hour and a half.
At both events, recipients were grateful for the support during this giving time even pausing to say “thank you,” “God bless you” and another enthusiastically stating “Hallelujah, I have been waiting on this!” before exiting the line.
“We just want to show the love of Jesus and be a blessing.” With her husband, Pastor Murray, Lady Murray was onsite greeting people and was even asked to offer a prayer.
“When we give the groceries, we promote the love of God. We are a church that loves people and wants to see the whole man satisfied. We want the community to know that we are here and care about them whether or not they are a member,” said Lady Murray. “At the end of the day, everyone needs Jesus. I believe that the love of God and a full stomach can take care of just about everything.”
As Lady Murray reflects on the vision and sheer weight of the baton she now holds, she says the only thing to do now is to continue to accelerate the impact of the Helping Hand Outreach ministry in the community.
“When you have seen how tightly woven to this outreach our founder, Dr. Shirley Murray was and how hard she worked to provide for people whom she did not know, we have to keep it going,” shared Lady Murray. “You do not let something dynamic fizzle, you keep it going and that is what we are going to do.”
The organization serves the community throughout the year and has already served numerous families this year, especially since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
To see more photos of this event, click here.
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