When you’re feeling blah in your faith, overworked and out of touch, I’m convinced that the best way to reconnect with God and others is by serving those in need. From the reports I’ve received, the FaithWork folks who went out to serve last Saturday certainly experienced this.
One team of teen girls went to Hillcrest Transitional Housing, which helps provide shelter and self-sufficiency for homeless families. They helped clean and paint an apartment that will soon be occupied by a new family. After they worked for a few hours, the other formerly homeless families cooked and served the volunteers a wonderful BBQ lunch! The families shared their stories of hopelessness and then renewal with the volunteers.
“Our Hillcrest residents wanted to feed the volunteers lunch and they wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer,” said Marilyn Minter, Hillcrest’s director. “The residents wanted to serve the meal as part of their community skills class in which they are learning to show appreciation for others. I think our residents learned just as much as the volunteers did that afternoon.”
Then, I just received an e-mail from an adult that accompanied the girls on the project. She said that these teens have been contributing to a missions fund (These kids rock!) and want to send the donation to Hillcrest. They were so impressed with the way God has used Hillcrest to turn around the lives of these homeless families. The blessing continues!
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Diane // AMpSun, 18 May 2008 01:26:02 +000026Sunday 18, 2008 at 1:57 p05
May 17th – FaithWork Garden Project @ Community LINC
Community LINC is not just a transitional housing facility — it is a LIFE-CHANGING program where homeless families can live in a safe environment for up to 2 years while learning life and budgeting skills to become self-sufficient individuals in the community.
What is better in the summer than fresh vegetables? What if you did not have any money to buy fresh vegetables for your family? I led a small but “mighty” crew to Community LINC and we planted a vegetable garden (tomatoes and peppers) for a Faithwork project Sat., May 17. With the prices of fresh veggies, these summer harvests will be very popular among the families at LINC. We’ve recruited a LINC Mom to maintain and water the garden and she is very excited to take on the responsibility.
I was so inspired by one of my wonderful volunteers (Susan) in our small workforce. She was graduating from high school Sat. Night and still came out and participated in the FaithWork project. She knows the JOY of giving her time at a very young age — I’m so inspired by this young woman.