Open Source: Avenue Church in Ontario raises more than $261K for community

ONTARIO — Avenue Church in Ontario wasn’t sure what its future would look like six years ago.

“It started as a revitalization project with people saying the church was about to die,” Lead Pastor Nate Hultz noted. “We came in with an expectation to evaluate what we could be doing.”

Be Generous campaign paves the way

What began as a simple effort to breathe life back into the congregation has since grown into an impactful annual generosity campaign — and it keeps getting bigger.

The church launched its Be Generous campaign in 2019 with a meal-packing fundraiser, earning around $11,000.

The campaign’s name comes from the verse in 1 Timothy 6:18, Hultz said.

Every fall, Avenue Church opens a two-week window in which the goal is simple: raise as much money as possible — and then give every bit of it away.

Each year, members challenged themselves to give more, serve more and find new ways to meet needs in their community. Before long, the effort had taken on a life of its own.

“It really exploded into something even bigger,” Hultz said.

This year, the church raised around $261,000. Hultz emphasized the church does not keep a single cent.

Connecting with the community to give back

“All the money is divided up and used for many different organizations and community members,” he said.

Some of the organizations Avenue Church has helped include:

• Kids Around the World
• Church Multiplication – Shelby
• Lifewise (Ontario, Lexington, Madison, Mansfield City and Ashland)
• 27 Small Groups – random acts of kindness all over the community
• Operation Christmas Child Boxes – 185 boxes
• South Dakota and Dominican Republic Mission Trips
• Angel Tree Prison Fellowship (35 children)
• Wayfinders – Helping the Homeless in Mansfield
• GiGi’s Playhouse
• The New Store
• Safe Harbor

The generosity takes many forms from Avenue Church. Small groups go out into the community, surprising shoppers by paying for groceries at Kroger, covering gas at local stations or kids receiving gift cards to Altitude Trampoline Park.

“It’s so fun to read the stories,” Hultz said. “We created a document for the team, and everyone writes about the moments they got to experience while giving. I live for the stories.”

Local partnerships have become a major part of the mission. This year, the church donated $10,000 to The New Store, which provides clothing and essentials to children in need.

Hultz said they also support GiGi’s Playhouse, a Down syndrome achievement center, not only with funding but will be hosting the organization within Avenue Church itself, launching soon.

The church’s original meal-packing event has also grown significantly. Hultz added this year they plan to pack 200,000 meals, enough to fill an entire shipping container which will go to a country in need.

Hultz said the spirit of their mission has reached far beyond the congregation. One year, more than $25,000 came from people outside the church entirely — a sign, he said, of how wide the impact has become.

For Hultz, watching the initiative expand has been deeply meaningful.

“The excitement of blessing other people — that’s my favorite part,” he said. “It has shown me I’m truly a part of something bigger than myself.”

“That is the joy I get out of Be Generous,” he said. “It just keeps getting bigger every year.”