OCC Soap Update 2014

UPDATE: God has answered these prayers BIGGER than I could have seen. We do NOT have to render tallow, so we do NOT need a Commercial grinder. I'm leaving this blog post out there for everyone to see how my human mind does not always match up to God's plan, which is always bigger and better than my plans.   God provided funds to BUY all the tallow for the 2015 project. We do not need to render tallow, which was a very time consuming, messy and stinky task.

Here at Gottes Belle Farm we have planned an on going charity project to make and donate soap to put into Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes.

Current price to buy lye and packaging to make the soap is 3 cents per 1 oz bar of soap.  We were able to raise enough funds to make 9,000 bars of soap, including buying some equipment.

This update is to let you know we need additional equipment.

We have beef fat donated to the project by Baily Park Thriftway and Mooville. Which means we do not need to buy any oil to make the soap, but it also means we need to take that beef fat and render it into tallow.

That process goes as follows: Pick up fat from the source, sort and cut fat, grind the fat, melt the fat in turkey roasters, strain out the cooked meat, and allow the fat to solidify. I then can turn that rendered tallow into soap.

So here becomes our need. We had a commitment from a grinder owner to use their commercial grade grinder to make 3,000 bars of soap. That goal has been exceeded, we have made 5,000 bars to date. So that grinder is no longer available for our use. We are grinding 40-80 lbs of fat a week! So we need a heavy duty commercial grade grinder to do this. While we wait for God to provide one or the funds to buy one, we are using a small home use grinder that someone is lending us. This grinder is rated to grind 40-80 lbs of meat a YEAR, not a week. We need a grinder ASAP so we do not burn up this grinder and then left with nothing and need to replace this grinder for the lender.

The cost for such a grinder new is around $500.

We hope to continue doing this project year after year after year. That will not be possible with out a grinder.



We could also stop rendering tallow and purchase it instead. It would raise the cost of making the soap to 10 cents per bar. That is a 70% increase in costs. So, we would need to raise 70% more money to make the soap, year after year.  I feel that the best way to be good stewards of the money God provides us is to buy a grinder and continue rendering tallow, instead of purchasing tallow.  The grinder will give us years, if not decades, of use.


I'm asking you to pray about this. Share this. Pray some more.  Then listen to how God is asking YOU to help. Maybe you own a commercial grinder you don't use often and want to lend it to us. Maybe you own one and want to give it to us. Maybe you know someone who would do that. Maybe God is asking you to donate some of the money for us to purchase one.

What ever it is, pray and then ACT on Gods leading.

Thanks for reading this!

3 comments:

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  2. Hello, I have just found your site and read your plea above about needing a commercial grinder. How long ago was that and have you had any success locating one? If not, how is the fundraising going??

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    1. Hello! Sorry I haven't been watching the blog lately. I have not been successful locating a commercial grinder. I have adjusted fundraising goals and decided that rendering the tallow was too much work on everyone involved. It really burned out my helpers fast. I was able to raise enough funds to buy already rendered tallow for November 2015's goal of 12,000 bars of soap! I had an all day scrapbooking fundraiser as well as some people hand me some money to make soap with.
      Nov. 2014's goal of 9,000 bars of soap = paid for, made, packaged and ready for shoe boxes.
      Nov. 2015's goal of 12,000 bars of soap = paid for, ready to purchase supplies when the weather is cooler so the tallow doesn't melt on it's way here. I'll have it shipped from Chicago area via UPS and it comes in thick plastic bags inside boxes. I've already ordered packaging from a local supplier at a great discount. I need to order Lye and the tallow still. I'm hoping that I might receive a few more donations for this year yet and be able to increase the size of the bars from 1 oz to 1.5 - 2oz. So, I'm waiting on God to tell me the time is right to order the rest of the supplies. I was just getting on here to update the blog with our current status. :) I'll try to remember to comment here with a link to the update. Thanks for inquiring!
      How great is our God?

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