Every year, Grace Community Church in Noblesville, Indiana shuts its doors, cancels its services and sends its congregation out to do service projects all over the city. This year, myself and a handful of others had the pleasure of writing articles for World Next Door. This is the story I wrote, along with some extra images not featured on World Next Door.
On a chilly Saturday morning in November, hundreds of people huddled in the Grace Community Church parking lot to worship, pray, and go out into the community to participate in over 100 projects. These people would be the first of over 3,800 people to participate in Grace’s third annual Weekend of Service.
The Weekend of Service was born out of a challenge for the attendees of Grace Community Church to live out one of its core values, “to launch people into God’s Kingdom revolution.” And with that, dozens of families packed up their minivans with children, baked goods, cleaning supplies, donated books, paint brushes, and headed down to Ralph W. Emerson IPS School #58. These families were just one of the teams for Grace’s Weekend of Service.
As the families pulled into the parking lot of the school, they were greeting by Grace Team Leaders, Ann Stone and Mary Estrada of Grace Kids Company. Many of these families are active in Zone 2/3 which serves the second and third graders of Grace Community Church.
Anticipation was in the air as families made their way down to the gym where they would meet their respective team leaders and begin their projects. Before work began, however, the families were greeted by School #58’s principal, Vicky Kelly.
“I want to thank you all for being here today. Only a few staff know what’s going on here today, so I think they’re going to be pleasantly surprised on Monday.”
As groups began to split up, I began to walk around the school to see what was going on. When you walk through School #58, you’ll notice that it has a lot of character. Built in 1908, it has three levels, wood flooring, chalk boards, and built-in wooden bookshelves with glass doors. The school has been updated throughout the years with carpet being installed and some other minor things, but for the most part, it still has that old school charm. The school currently serves over 400 students from the surrounding east side neighborhood.
Having gone back and forth between public schools and private schools growing up, I was surprised at the lack of amenities compared to what the suburban schools have. Throughout the school, I noticed how much of an emphasis School #58 put on reading. However, going down to the library I couldn’t help but notice how small their library was compared to the library I used as a student in Washington Township Schools.
“Being so old, this school is a little worse off than other schools in IPS. We’re going to be renovated a year from now, so once we get renovated, our library will be nice,” said Principal Kelly.
I was very encouraged that where the library lacked, teachers tried to make up for it by stocking their rooms with books. In the gym, teams were busy building bookshelves and using glue to decorate them with various patterns. It was fun to watch the kids smear glue everywhere as anxious parents came behind them with a damp cloth to wipe off the excess glue. In another corner of the gym, Becca Wilds and Jan Perrigin were busy organizing books donated to the school through the efforts of Zone 2/3.
While the bookshelves were being built and donated books being sorted, there were teams of families going from room to room helping to clean. Brothers and sisters were wiping down desks, while parents were helping to organize the bookshelves. Rick and Julie Santiago were busy cleaning classrooms with their two boys, one of whom, is a student at Heritage Christian School. When I asked him how it felt to help students his own age, he said that it “felt good” and he enjoyed it. For last year’s Weekend of Service, the Santiagos helped out at Third Phase.
“I’d love to see Grace do this twice a year, there seems to be such a great need,” said Rick.
Down in the kitchen, the Johnson family was helping to put together “thank you” cards that were to be attached to treat plates for the staff of School #58, over 30 treat plates were put together which included cookies, brownies, and other goodies.
As I walked through the hallways and saw people painting, cleaning, working together, a quote from Mother Teresa kept resounding in my mind, “We can do no great things; we can do only small things with great love.”
Sometimes people think that to be “the hands and feet of Jesus” means that we only need to feed the homeless and clothe the poor. Or to really make a difference, we have to send a family off on vacation while we rebuild their house in seven days. Both of those are great and noble things, but we can continue to do small things which can also have immeasurable impact.
And that’s what I got out of my day at School #58. These Grace families were being the hands and feet of Jesus to these educators and students. For the overworked teacher who has spent all weekend grading papers, she will come back to a clean classroom on Monday. To the student who was looking for that perfect book to read, he’ll find it on the new bookshelves. For the custodial staff who have been working so hard to keep the school clean, they’ll have a cookie tray with thank you notes (and hopefully a little less to clean for now).
Wrapping up the day, I felt a great sense of hope for School #58. In a small way, our church helped and will continue to provide help. In the next couple years, the school will be renovated which will provide a new library, among other things. I was also filled with hope that those who volunteered would see a need to be involved with IPS or even their local school.
Saturday was just a glimpse of what can happen when the church steps out of the building and goes into the community, but it doesn’t have to happen just once a year. Ralph W. Emerson School #58 as well as other IPS schools are always needing help, here are just a few ways that you can get involved:
Uniforms are always needed and appreciated (khaki, blue, black pants with red, white, blue collared shirts). People wishing to donate can do so by contacting any IPS school or by contacting the main IPS office.
School supplies are another need. The most effective way to do this is to participate in the various “Backpack Blast” events that occur in late July and early August prior to the school year starting.
For those who want to work directly with the kids, after school tutoring is available at various IPS schools and at Shepherd Community Center on East Washington Street.
As I saw how well everyone worked together at IPS, I realized, “we’re all in this together.”
Note: Below are some photos that were taken at School #58, some of them were taken by me, some of them were taken by our awesome Grace Volunteer Photography Team. Thanks so much to all the volunteers who helped capture this weekend in pictures!
As the dust began to settle, we began seeing the results. The blog we set-up received thousands of hits that day, our church web site received 15x the normal amount of traffic, the free e-mail account we set-up with Gmail was filled with thousands of e-mails and actually locked up because over twelve of us were in there trying to process all of them!
It was a hectic day, but it did show us just how many people cared. Some were willing to give temporary homes, some were wanting to adopt, others were wanting to offer donations of clothing and other items. It amazed me the generosity of our people and their friends who received a forwarded copy of the e-mail (or heard about it on Facebook or Twitter).
Now it is indefinite as to when the Haitian orphans will arrive (if at all, although we are seeing some released little by little), but the work doesn’t stop there. Our friends at Safe Families have been busy going through all the e-mails we received, lining up qualified applicants should the need arise for temporary housing or adoption, they’re amazing.
Can I tell you something else amazing that happened? Last weekend our pastor scrapped his sermon and focused purely on Haiti. Here’s a video of him interviewing his son Barry and Curtis from our Outreach team as they talk about their recent experience in Haiti…
Dave talked about the realities of what’s going on Haiti, how we’re going to have to continue to support Haiti long after the media stops covering it, because the effect of that earthquake will be felt for years. And one of the biggest things he did was bring a challenge to the congregation to raise money for Haiti.
The money we raised is to be distributed to two of our partners, Nehemiah Vision Ministries and Kids Against Hunger. One of the challenges Dave gave was that if we raised $40,000, Kids Against Hunger would set-up a food-packing operation in our gym. This would mean putting together food packages that would help feed a family of six (or even just six people) for an entire day and provide all the essential nutrients.
We got calls throughout the week, "did we reach our goal of $40,000?" Little do people know Dave. Our goal was never to raise $40,000, we only wanted people to know what we would be able to do through their generosity.
The final total collected to help Haiti? I believe it was over $220,000.
We don’t throw that number around to brag. Considering all the work that has to be done in the aftermath of this earthquake, that is only a start. And the food-packing that we’re doing for Kids Against Hunger? All 400 volunteer slots were filled within an hour of being available to sign-up and these volunteers will be packing over 200,000 packages of food. The response was so great that we’re trying to coordinate more times for Kids Against Hunger to come to Grace so we can pack more food.
Last week, considering how much work we put into it and our hopes being dashed at not receiving orphans, I was greatly encouraged by our church’s response. And I’m not talking about the response from Dave, I’m talking about from the people who we asked to "step up" and put "Plan A" into action. It is my personal hope, as someone who’s about to graduate with a degree in Pastoral Ministry, that last week stirred the hearts of our congregation. That they would not only remember Haiti, but think about the issues of social justice all over the world and do something about it!
When we first got the call about the orphans, those of us who were there at the onslaught of news knew that God was definitely up to something. Only time will tell what effect the Church’s response (the entire body of Christ, not just Grace) has on Haiti. In the meantime, I know that some people had their heart stirred by the efforts of Safe Families and have offered to open up their homes to kids who need temporary homes. This past week has truly shown me that when we’re open to the Holy Spirit, He’s going to work through God’s people. And Grace Community Church really stepped up to the plate, along with various churches around the world.
When I worshipped this weekend, I looked around at all the faces in the auditorium, filled with an immense pride to be able to serve and serve alongside the wonderful families of Grace.
"Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain."
Many of you are well aware of what’s happened in Haiti, almost two weeks ago, an earthquake shook the country to it’s core. I don’t know the exact number of the dead, but I read a story that they buried over 150,000 just the other day. It seems like for most of us, we didn’t pay much attention to Haiti prior to this, I was one of those.
Yet the effect of this earthquake really hit home last Tuesday. I had finished my night class and walked into my friend’s house, to see all of my friends on their phones calling various people. I was confused.
"Hello, this is Stephanie calling from Safe Families, we kind of have a unique situation here…"
As I got up-to-speed, I found out that the Department of Child Services (DCS) had contacted Safe Families’ regional office in Chicago asking them to prepare for 300 Haitian orphans who could be arriving in the next couple of days. I was immediately recruited to start calling people, so I looked through the database and called people I knew.
I can tell you that what we were asking was not an easy thing to ask. Take in a child coming off a plane with little more than their sandals and underwear, many infested with lice and ringworm, only speaking Creole? What fascinated me in that moment were the answers I received, "yes, we’ll take them!" As we finished going through the whole database of people, I had to step out on the back porch to grasp the reality of what was really happening. It struck home that these are children, God’s children, who had lost their families and were looking to be transported to a country they knew nothing about. I could only weep for them (I’m an emotional dude, it happens) and I was reminded of my prayer earlier in the week, "break my heart for what breaks yours," yup, my heart was broken for these kids.
Since our church partners with Safe Families, they had asked us what we could do to assist. Our pastor, Dave Rodriguez, decided to send out an e-mail to our Grace family to let them know of the need… little did we know what this would bring. I came into work with Safe Families and our Outreach team setting up a "command post" in the conference room we affectionately call the "War Room." My friend Steph had gotten two hours of sleep and hadn’t eaten all morning, we had three people answering phones, and e-mails were coming into the e-mail address we set-up at over eight e-mails per minute.
By mid-afternoon, the DCS had denied any such report that any orphans were on their way to Indiana, even though we had written proof. It was a whirlwind day of emotions: we were tired, emotionally exhausted, hearts were broken. But the story doesn’t end there…
This week begins a crazy week for me. We’re preparing to launch the new Grace web site and I start classes on Wednesday morning. Fortunately I don’t have college group or small group anymore, which frees up my schedule, but I’m still beginning to feel overwhelmed.
Even in the midst of all this stuff going on, I am looking forward to helping out with girls club at Shepherd Community. I started volunteering this past winter with my friends as a way to serve God together, or better said, to serve with God together alongside my friends.
I could lie and tell you that it’s easy… and that I see the face of God in those children whenever I serve. But the truth is, sometimes it’s hard to picture Jesus when you’ve got a seven-year-old dressed up in a princess gown jumping at you screaming, "Save me Jesus! Save me Jesus!"
But it’s in my quiet time with God that I am reminded why we do what we do:
"Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it." – Luke 18:15-17
I cannot tell you the many times we leave tired and exhausted. There are even times when we can’t get the girls to stop talking so we can do a lesson, apparently this is something women develop early in life. Ha ha!
But there is no greater reward than to sit in the cafeteria as the buses start to drop them off. The joy I get when I see some of my favorite kiddos get off the bus is indescribable. To have them jump in my arms and tell me about their day, or to sit on my lap while we do our lesson.. it’s priceless.
I remember one day when one of the girls ran into the cafeteria and jumped into Chad’s arms, excited to see him. She was holding her new Bible and was so excited to show it to Faith. Unfortunately, Faith wasn’t there that week, but I had my little camera and we sent her a video message. Every week this girl was so eager to get out her Bible and start reading, she’d get so excited about it! Honestly I don’t know how much of this "Bible knowledge" she’ll retain, in fact, I’m just stoked that her and the rest of the girls are developing their reading skills.
What’s most important to me is that these kids know that they’re loved by God. When I was their age, the most exposure I got to Jesus was through Vacation Bible School and occasionally going to Sunday school with my Grandma Hicks. I remember singing songs, though I can’t remember what they were. I remember playing with flannel graphs, though I don’t really recall the lesson. I also remember having some pretty sweet snacks during VBS, but once again, the only thing that really sticks out is Hi-C Orange Drink.
What I remember most though, through all those experiences, is how much the volunteers cared about me and made it such a wonderful experience. As these girls grow up, I don’t know if they’ll remember what we taught them or if they’ll remember our names. But hopefully what they will remember is that those people at Shepherd loved Jesus so much and loved them so much. And perhaps that may give them cause to learn for themselves who this Jesus guy really is.
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If you’re interested in getting involved at Shepherd Community, the best way is to just give them a holler by filling out the contact form on their web site. Programs are starting to kick off for the year, so now is a great time to get plugged in. And just a free "advertisement" for our Outreach ministry at Grace, feel free to see them after weekend services and see if there’s a place you can serve with Jesus.
Serving, like anything else, takes discipline to tell yourself you’re going to do it. And while it takes a little bit of your time, you may find that you get a lot out of it, like I have.
I can be pretty passive about things, yes, it’s true. I’ve been attending Grace Community Church since 2002 and in all the years we’ve done Bag Hunger, I haven’t contributed once. It’s not that I didn’t want to, I’d even take a yellow bag home with me convinced that I’d finally get around to donating food! But alas, my procrastination got the better of me.
That changed when I started to volunteer at Shepherd Community Center on Tuesday nights. As part of our volunteer orientation, I was given a tour of the facility and was shown where all the donated food was stored. More importantly, when I started working with the kids, I realized that the food we were collecting at Grace was going to help feed those kids.
It’s sad to think that 8 out of 10 kids on the eastside of Indianapolis will get two meals a day when they’re in school, instead of the recommended three meals per day. Who knows if they’re provided with two meals a day during the summer, which is why our Bag Hunger program at Grace has begun stirring my heart. And you know what? It wasn’t as expensive as I thought! I worked at Marsh for over eight years and was familiar with the foods that parents bought with WIC vouchers (Women, Infants, and Children) and food stamps, so my shopping trip was pretty easy.
And the cost? I was able to fill one of our yellow bags for under $15… especially when buying generic. Furthermore, I considered it not as charity, but as part of my offering. To those of you who attend Grace, I can’t emphasize enough that Shepherd Community is one of our awesome partners in what God is doing. And if you’re able to, consider taking a yellow bag with you when you go grocery shopping. It’s a great way to remind you that there are people out there who could use our help in feeding their families and it will only take a little bit of effort on your part.
If you don’t go to Grace, you can still participate! Just stop by during the week (or during weekend services) and pick up a yellow bag by the main entrances, fill it up with food, and drop it off at the collection containers near the main entrances. It’s a great way to contribute to the community. For more information about Bag Hunger, visit http://gracecc.org/baghunger.
