Dear
Friend of FOA,
Over
the past year and a half, all of us have been affected by Covid. But at the end of July, FOA was affected in a
way we had not yet experienced. With the
emergence of the Delta variant the Covid numbers began rising quickly. Due to the decreased numbers in recent
months, we had loosened up some of our policies about interaction with the
community. On Saturday, July 24th
we had our first positive case of Covid.
By Monday the 26th we had 11 students and 5 staff members who
were positive. By the end of that week,
we had a total of 17 of 30 students and 6 of 9 staff members positive with
Covid. We turned our gymnasium and a
vacant staff house into quarantine buildings and our positive men settled in
for 2 weeks of isolation.
As
I write this almost 3 weeks later, I am hopeful that we are on the back end of
this outbreak. I am very thankful that at this point none of our staff or
students have had to be hospitalized due to this virus. I know there are many in our community who
have had to be hospitalized and others who have lost their lives due to this
virus. I am thankful that no matter the
individual experience God is faithful, and His comforting peace is available
for all who would trust Him.
For
now, we will have to take some measures to limit our interaction with the
community. Please pray for wisdom as we
seek to make decisions as a ministry that enables us to continue ministering to
the men the Lord brings our way. Over
the past 3 weeks we have had to close our doors to new men until we knew it was
safe for them to come. With many men on
our waiting list there is a great need for those dealing with drug and alcohol
addictions. We are beginning to bring
men in again. Please pray for the almost
60 men on our waiting list at this time.
During
these difficult weeks, we were encouraged by the outpouring of support through
local churches. Thank you for your
prayers, financial support and material donations that helped us through this
time. I was also very thankful for how
our students banded together. With only
13 students and 3 staff members who did not have Covid, there was a lot of work
placed on these few. Our men came
together to help in ways they weren’t used to so we could get through this
time. Please continue to pray for us
during these days and let us encourage one another.
Resting
in God’s Grace,
Aaron
Bonner
