Category: Outposts

Hey there Access-Life family and friends. 

I finally got the north Texas Expo wrapped up except for the finances. So, I wanted to share with you that the following weekend on September 19th, spearheaded by our local board member Helen McLaren, Shady Grove Church hosted yet another great Fall Fun Day for the ministry. 

As always, it was a God blessed success with God’s presence permeating the atmosphere and putting smiles on lots of faces with the joy of life in Christ! 

Attached is the photo collage so you can see some of these happy faces and blessings that were exchanged among participants and volunteers alike. :-) 

Thank you so much to everyone who prayed, networked and served to make this annual event a great entrance into the wonderful season of autumn!

Well, our second year of doing Leanne Life Legacy baskets for Easter was yet another greatly God bless success. Not only were we able to reach new individuals and families living with disabilities in need with the love and gospel of Jesus which included the true meaning of Easter but we were able to do it in not only Central Florida but East Tennessee, too. :-) 

Thanks to Amanda Rathbun five individuals and families living with disabilities received a special Easter basket that contains not only a Bible, ministry art book with scripture, $100 food card, Leanne Life legacy t-shirt and the personalized Easter card but also various special faith-based Easter items geared especially for kids. 

In Central Florida, I was specifically privileged to get to spend some time with a fellow spinal cord injury patient, Rhonda Reese who I have known for many years. The Royal Ambassador also got involved as we were able to deliver a basket to a lady who lives in his community this year. 

All in all, it was great to see God pour out His Easter blessing on 10 recipients this year and two states. Hopefully, as God leads this program will expand to more areas with our next distribution on Thanksgiving. :-)

God blessed us with another wonderful Access-Life East Tennessee Spring Fling this past Saturday March 28th at Faith Community Church in Talbot, Tennessee. The participants were plentiful but the workers were few. However, as always God made a way for his blessings to flow on all the individuals and families living with disabilities as well as the volunteers who were there. Hope you enjoy some of the pictures below and please be praying for God to send more volunteers our way for future activities!

Hey there boys and girls of all ages and abilities in CFL. I just wanted to share that we finished our last 2025 Access-Life activity.

That’s right. This past Saturday, our East Tennessee Ministry lead, Hannah Spradling lead a small group of volunteers in hosting our annual Christmas Jingle and Mingle in Jefferson City, Tennessee.

We had candy cane and wreath ornament crafts along with winter games and festive food. Hannah even made some of it herself! We were blessed with some of our most committed volunteers and everyone got to sing Christmas carols and hear the nativity story. I’d call that a God bless success!

Great job to our team and thank you Lord Jesus for all the good work you do through the ministry. :-) 

Hope you guys enjoy the collage that shows the smiles of joy that are so appropriate for this time of year.

Well, God did it again! Thanks to Amanda Nichols Rathbun and her local Bible study group in Talbot, Tennessee, our Access-Life Leanne’s Life Legacy basket program has doubled from just Central Florida for Easter to Central Florida and East Tennessee this Thanksgiving. Thanks again to God working through the hearts and minds of his people, we were able to distribute Christ centered baskets focusing on the true meaning of these holidays as well as providing much needed household and family support in Central Florida and East Tennessee. Attached is a photo collage of some of the recipients in the East Tennessee area. Unfortunately, due to school and programming policy rules not every child and family could be included with photographs. However, Amanda said she heard so many stories of thanks and gratitude and as always the smiles say it all. It makes me so happy to see Leanne‘s impact continue and even grow as we see God expand his kingdom!

We did it! That’s right. With the gracious help of the Lord working through the hearts and minds of his people, we finished our second Access-Life Leanne’s Life Legacy project here in Florida. Just like before Easter, we distributed baskets filled with Bibles, ministry scripture art books, $100 grocery cards, hey Leanne’s Life Legacy t-shirt and a variety of other seasonal items for guys and gals of all ages and abilities for Thanksgiving.

It was so fulfilling to be able to not only bless individuals and families living with disabilities in our area but it to spend time visiting, learning people’s journeys and even praying with them when we met. While the variety of disabilities and circumstances for each person were different God’s presence was there not only blessing others but blessing us in the process. I know it would have greatly pleased Leanne.

I hope you enjoy the above collage and seeing the smiles that God put on all of our faces! Also, be on the lookout for more pictures as God has expanded this program to Tennessee, too. So, soon we’ll have a collage of baskets delivered up in the volunteer state. I love seeing God expand this part of our ministry and see Leanne’s Legacy grow.

Thank you so much Friends at Shady Grove Church for hosting another Access-Life FALL FUN DAY! As always it was a God blessed success with many individuals and families living with disabilities fellowshipping in a faith-filled and festive environment.

A special call out goes to our two board members Helen McLaren and Mike Mitchell who were instrumental in making things happen. Although, I know there were key volunteers and point people at the church that pushed it over the finish line! Here is a collage so you can see the smiles that the joy of the Lord put on many faces this past Saturday.

Enjoy and may God bless each and every one of you beyond that you could hope her imagine. HAPPY FALL Y’ALL.

Hey there ministry family and friends. I hope everyone had a God blessed Easter and celebrated the wonderful resurrection of Jesus that makes all things possible especially new life in Him with heaven as our eternal home. 

To celebrate this wonderful holiday and honor my precious Leanne we initiated our first Leanne Life Legacy project of giving out meaningful and impactful Easter baskets to individuals and families living with disabilities in the Central Florida area. 

These baskets included a food gift card, devotional book, our ministry art scripture book inspired by Leanne, Access-Life t-shirts, He Has Risen Easter bags full of items for kids like coloring books, crayons, stickers, etc as well as a special chocolate cross and kaleidoscope for everyone to enjoy. 

Each family was handpicked and the beautiful baskets that were donated and decorated with festive Easter coloring were hand delivered with a special ministry Easter card and handwritten note of encouragement. 

My vision was extra large as usual as I had hoped to give out five baskets in all six areas in which we minister but the cost and logistics were a little overwhelming for our first delivery. Hopefully, other individuals and churches will come alongside us so we can expand this project to other areas during the Christmas season. 

If you would like to be involved in the future or donate to this specific fund just let me know and/or go to our website (www.access-life.org) to click on the donate button selecting Leanne Life Legacy for your gift.

Attached is a small collage of the recipients of this initial distribution that include families with children with down’s syndrome, cognitive and physical delays, amputation, severe burn challenges and traumatic brain injury. 

Thank you all so much for your prayers, gifts, service and support as we kick off our Leanne Life Legacy project program and prepare for future projects that would be close to her heart and please her dearly.