Events and Administration

FFOZ Relocation Update

By Boaz Michael  | Comments (3) | Posted on July 15, 2007

Last April, FFOZ formally announced on this BLOG that we would be relocating our offices to Southwest Missouri, centralizing staff, and beginning the process of building our new distribution office (Click here to review that announcement). I want to take a few moments to update you on our progress.

Most of the families that will be relocating to this area have already made the move. We are still waiting on a couple families to sell their homes and join us. Thus far, there are a total of six families here—all working for FFOZ. We are all very pleased with our new homes and feel very blessed to be here. Any preconceived concerns we had, have now proven to be baseless. This is a wonderful place.

Mid-western people are respectful, kind, down-to-earth, and non-assuming. There is a great sense of community, yet a respect for personal boundaries and privacy. I cannot begin to tell you all of the jaw-dropping moments that I have in my limited interaction with the greater community in this area. It is very obvious that we are no longer in the busy, impatient, uncaring, hectic, and overwhelming culture of the big cities. We are very blessed.

The new FFOZ building is a bit behind schedule, which is a disappointment. The temporary facility is not the greatest, although we are trying to make the best of it. Perhaps the biggest downfall is that there are no windows at all in our rental space. This is very hard for most of the distribution staff members...40 hours a week with no natural or sunlight at all can get depressing, especially since the building is old, run-down and not so clean. Some of the FFOZ staff kids made "picture" windows for the employees in the office and hung nicely decorated posters around the room to make it feel more cheery. The older children copied encouraging Scripture verses to uplift our Care Team as well.

Our long-term vision and hopes for the new building and for this quiet, little country place in the middle of America are quite extensive. Thus far, we sense that our plans are accomplishable, and we're trying very hard to be patient during these transitional days. Your prayers for our staff and for the construction crew working on our building (as of July 30th) are greatly needed and appreciated.

Thing we enjoy:

Springfield Cardinals
Cost of insurance
The overall cost of living
Andy’s frozen custard
Our Carhartt overhauls
The clean environment
The hum of the bugs at night
Minimal traffic (back roads driving rather than highway)
The simple of life
Day-to-Day business and life transactions on a name basis.
Amazing library which is bigger and more extensive than any big city library we have visited—go figure.)
Kosher meat cooked on The Big Green Egg
Turtles for the kids
The lack of mosquito’s
The abundance of trees and the rolling green hills
The sense of a place and home for the future
Other Torah families in the area that we have met
The joy on the kid’s faces when they are playing in the backyard (not your typical backyard)
Less stress as we are in a more laid back society
The quiet environment with the lack of noise pollution
The weather is very moderate and not extreme in heat or humidly

About the Author: Boaz Michael is the president and founder of First Fruits of Zion.

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