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Beverly and Henry Holland have been in ministry for 50 years.

But in 2008, the couple was drawn to Port Arthur.

“The vision was to reach the people in Port Arthur and to help those that were in need regardless of their situation — whether they’re on the streets or in a house,” Beverly said.

The founders of New Beginnings Ministries have since dedicated their lives to assisting local people in need from food to clothing and even Christmas gifts.

“We do educational life skills classes like anger management, parenting, money and budgeting,” Beverly said. “We go out and we feed whoever is in need.”

The ministry’s food truck belongs to members Luis and Giomar Guevara, who own Extreme Detail in Nederland. The truck was first bought as a way to help their families immigrate from Venezuela and operate their own business. However, when that didn’t pan out, the two turned it into an opportunity to serve.

“We just started feeding people on the street,” Luis previously told Port Arthur Newsmedia.

He and Giomar are members of Iglasia Apostolica church in Port Arthur, where the Hollands minister.

“We’re not the senior pastors, we’re the associate pastors,” Beverly, 70, said. “But we joke and say we’re the senior pastors in age.”

But when not in church, the two stay active year-round with their ministry.

New Beginnings Ministries was one of 13 nonprofit organizations awarded grants in late November during the inaugural Port Arthur News Season of Giving powered by Port Arthur LNG.

In addition to the aforementioned services, the group has multiple events each year to assist the community.

Recently they joined the Carter Outreach Center in the annual Back-to-School giveaway to help provide items. But instead of supplies, New Beginnings provided three new pair of underwear and three new pair of socks to 2,000 Port Arthur children.

“Years ago I had a little girl come up to me and I asked, “Are you excited about going back to school?” And she said, “No.” And I asked why, and she said, “Because I don’t have underwear and people make fun of me.’ That’s when I realized we needed to be doing more than just school supplies.”

Each year they host Operation Christmas Blessings, where they provide three new toys to children ages 0-18. On average, the event serves 400 children.

After going through a vetting process, the selected parents are brought in to shop for their children’s gifts, and then volunteers with the ministry wrap them. Mothers are also able to pick a handbag, which comes from their Handbags of Hope program. For that, they collect gently-used purses and then fill them with toiletries for those in need.

And while they do have some regular donors, for the last two years the ministry has hosted a car show in early November at Extreme Detail.

“It’s a lot of fun, and in just a couple of hours in the afternoon it raises a couple thousand at least, “ Beverly said. “And it opens the door for other people to know what we do.”

For more information, visit NewBeginningsTX.org.