RITT | Friends Katie Johnson and Cindy Kumsher have always wanted to do something together.

And this summer, they found their something.

In August, the women opened Grace Abounds, a Christian ministry housed in the United Methodist Church in Britt. They accept clothing donations and provide them to children and adults in need within the communities of the West Hancock Community School District.

“We were both feeling the call to do something, so we talked about it and we just decided this is what we were going to do together,” Johnson said.

The idea, Johnson said, was placed on her heart by God nearly a year and a half after she learned about a school counselor in her hometown, who collected and distributed donated items to her students as a need arose.

 

“I just thought it was a great idea, so for the longest time, I was donating things to them,” she said of a school in Wall Lake.

After learning of the need from school and hospital officials, Johnson and Kumsher decided to create something similar within their own community.

 

The first step for the women was to determine a name that appropriately conveyed their mission.

Johnson said the name was “definitely spoken through God.” After she had prayed about the ministry, “Grace Abounds” popped into her head “out of nowhere.” She searched the Bible with verses containing the phrase and found 2 Corinthians 9:8-9, which is part of a chapter that talks about “being a cheerful giver.”