2009 Annual Report

2009 Annual Report

“Taste and see that the Lord is good,” Psalm 34:8. He is worthy of all our praise, honor, resources and life. Deuteronomy 30:20 says, “you may love the Lord your God, listen to His voice, and hold fast to Him. For the Lord is your life.”  2009 came and went so fast, we find ourselves three months late providing you our annual report. But praise the Lord, He is never late on providing for us. We have learned that Christ is our life and with Him we have life in abundance.

In March, four of us had the privilege to join two State Farm agent families and a few other folks on a mission trip to Costa Rica with Reel Life Adventures. When you dance, sing and serve an impoverished people group, your heart grows bigger for all people. We painted, added on two rooms to a one-room home, played with kids, worshipped with locals, served ice cream in the village and drank some of the best coffee in the world. One Costa Rican child gave the only sucker he had to a man on our team. He keeps that sucker on his desk to remember to give every bit of his life to Jesus. (Can you imagine giving all you have away??  Do you even consider it?) Through generous donations from many customers and friends we were able to take 20 tubs of supplies that were shared with local missionaries and schools.

Additional items shared in 2009:

• 17 tubs of shoes to Guatemala
• two truckloads of donations for a yard sale that helped raise money for a college girl to share Christ in Africa (God sold everything!)
• school supplies for local children;  multiple schools received boxes of children’s books
• shoe boxes went to Andalusia to be filled with gifts for Operation Christmas child
• blankets, coats, scarves were provided to homeless in Birmingham
• at least 45 families received gifts for their children for Christmas
• countless families received clothes
• Sav-A-Life shelves were restocked with needed baby supplies
• four apartments were furnished for a transition facility with Pathways
• many families received furniture and household goods
• a trailer load of donations given for the Great Giveaway hosted by Christ-followers in Birmingham
• washers and dryers provided to multiple families
• kitchen appliances donated to families
• basic cleaning supplies to Bethany Home

We are so thankful to have the help of many volunteers in organizing the donations and helping in deliveries. Donations were received from customers, friends, students, churches and corporate sponsors. Also, a huge thank you to Jim N’ Nicks and GKC Friends for donating food for our annual Backyard Bible Club, held in July, and to the customers and employee spouses who helped teach and host.

In September, God opened up a new world for us. God made it clear that we should coordinate a food distribution for families in need of food in Jefferson County. We sent out an email to see who might be interested in helping. A friend called back explaining that she and another lady had been praying for over a year about how they could feed families in Shelby County so she asked if they could head up Shelby County. So in three days, we embraced the need and began establishing a structure to feed hungry families in both Jefferson and Shelby Counties. God has breathed life into this outreach in such incredible ways. We found two churches who agreed to be our host sites, Asbury United Methodist and Chelsea Community Church. We then began encouraging friends to sponsor boxes of food. Each box of food is $30 and feeds a family of four for one week. The goal is to have distribution teams for every five families. The distribution teams consist of groups of friends or families that want to share their time and the hope of Christ by delivering food to the poor. The food boxes can be sponsored by anyone, so spread the word. In October God allowed us to feed 58 families and by December we were nearing 200 families. We do not know what God has in store for the future, but wow, it has been a blessing. Many distribution teams have begun meaningful friendships with the families they deliver food to and God has done incredible things. We still have our donation room, which has fit perfectly with the food outreach as we often find families who have additional needs. Donated clothes, furniture, housewares, etc. are provided to these families. Everyone jokes with us asking how we get any construction work done, but God is gracious and has provided in miraculous ways.

Grace Klein has not been without hardship and difficulty. We lost, to the grips of death, cousins, grandparents, and a sweet little niece. Parents have been in the hospital, kids have been sick and friends have lost jobs, suffered anxiety and struggled with addictions. Our material manager was diagnosed with prostate cancer and he continues to fight the good fight. But what a joy to celebrate the weddings of three of our folks, the salvation and baptism of three GKC kids, the completion of a GED, two of our folks securing their CDL licenses, completion of the Mercedes half-marathon and St. Jude’s marathon with some of our customers, egg hunts and baptisms in the lake, our first GKC retirement of an exceptional carpenter, serving at a Compassion International concert, writing letters back and forth to our Compassion child, team building water day at our office, sporting our logo on a racing shirt for one of the fastest triathlon athletes in the world, and four community parades.

When we look around at other companies that continue to close all around us, we know that without God’s provision, great friends and diligent staff we would not still be in business. We give all the glory to God and know that He alone sustains us. We were blessed to receive a Home Depot kitchen install contract, servicing 217 customers this year, along with our consistent insurance referrals, which formed a solid base for Grace Klein in a difficult economy. We also secured a RSW roofing contract, Home Depot/Wells Fargo Home Remodeling contract, the wonderful referrals from past customers and 55 repeat customers. Altogether we serviced 416 customers this year with the help of 379 vendors. God used you to provide for 31 employees, 24 spouses and approximately 57 children. Our blessings overflow.

Our life is Christ. Without Him, we have no life, no breath, no direction. Col 3:2-4 says, “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.” I hope we are hidden from you and that you only see Christ when you look at GKC. I know we will make mistakes and let you down in our humanness, but hopefully we made things right for you and you saw Christ in the way we do business. Our dream and ambition is for people to look at our logo and think of Jesus.

Oh yeah, and God kept us safe with only a few minor injuries and no worker’s compensation claims to report. He provided two new vans for our cabinet installs and we were able to pay off our bobcat, hire 6 people and provide 40-hour work weeks for all our staff. Thanks to our marketing guru, we entered the world of Facebook and became friends with many of you under the name Grace Klein. GKC was also honored as a feature article in Birmingham Works Magazine and Kingdom Business Magazine.

We humbly request that you pray for us if we cross your mind in 2010. Pray that God will continue to send the work we need to protect the employment of our people. Pray for safety of the guys and for people to pay what they owe. Pray that we will always be obedient to whatever God tells us to do next. Pray that hope will always be stronger than adversity and that God will be glorified. If you have suggestions on how we can do things better, please visit our website at www.gracekleinconstruction.com and send us a message through the ‘Contact Us’ page. We desire to serve you well so that you will continue to think of us when you have any home repair, remodeling, restoration, new construction or commercial needs and that you will refer us to your friends and family. Your recommendation of our services is your highest compliment to us. And thanks for the feedback surveys. The positive comments are always forwarded on to our folks to encourage them and the negatives are addressed so hopefully we do not make the same mistake twice. Thank you for your friendship and your trust in us, we will never take it lightly.

Working with all our hearts,

Jason and Jenny Waltman