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SUFFERN, NY – Every day for the past 12 years, Norma Meadows saw it
when she walked out of her home.
It was an eyesore in her backyard, depleting the curb appeal of the
two-story yellow home she had shared
with her husband for nearly 30 years.
But ever since her husband passed away more than a decade ago, the small
garage
sat virtually unused behind the 80-year-old woman’s home.
The beams were rotting and falling
apart. The shingled walls were
weathered and showing signs of their age. The garage did little else but
house
a few broken down cars. Recently, city officials had started to
threaten Norma with hefty fines if she didn’t
remove it from the property.
A fine from the city would’ve pushed her already meager budget to its
limits, but
unfortunately, there was very little this retiree could do to
remove the structure from her yard.
Norma didn't know what to do, but
all of that changed the day she got a call from her church asking if she’d
like
some help tearing down the garage. Suffern Presbyterian Church, just
two blocks away from her home, had been her
church home for the past 17
years, and the church’s co-pastors, Allen and Debbie Kemp, were looking for
some community
service projects to do in the neighborhood as part of the
church’s Faith in Actionday.
The
outreach was part of a nationwide campaign created by World
Vision, the internaitional Christian humanitarian organization;
Christian
publisher Zondervan; and church communications firm Outreach, Inc. to
mobilize churches across the country
to go outside the boundaries of their
buildings and reach into the communities they serve. Volunteers wear
shirts
emblazoned with the campaign's slogan, "Don't go to church. Be the
church," and pastors cancel the church's regular Sunday
service and
organize community projects in the neighborhood. The service event caps off
a four-week study that prepares
congregants for the event by focusing on
the Biblical models for compassion, service, and Christ’s heart for those
in
need.
“We want to do the things Jesus did. Everywhere Jesus walked, he had
compassion
on the needs of the people,” said Pastor Allen Kemp.
Since the campaign started in May, nearly
20,000 participants from
coast to coast have volunteered their Sunday morning to lend a helping hand
to their neighbors.
But for some, canceling regular Sunday services was a
radical idea. For Pastor Kemp, it made perfect sense.
“We have church members in need. That’s why we do this,” said Pastor
Kemp. “Today
isour worship service – but it’s in our front yard.”
Faith in Action projects have
been as varied as the churches that
participate in them. Past projects include everything from making lunch
for
AmeriCorps members in Seattle to fixing up a teen shelter in Chicago to
holding a “free” yard sale, giving
away clothes and food to those in need
in New York.
Here, in Suffern on a crisp mid-October day,
as nearly a dozen
volunteers from the church and the community busied themselves shearing
bushes, raking leaves, and
tearing down the weathered garage, Norma’s eyes
welled up with tears.
“You’ll
never know how much I appreciate it,” Norma said, reaching up
to dab her eyes with a tissue. “Never,
never, never. It’s like a family,
a wonderful family. I wish everyone could have a church like this.”
To get your church involved in Faith in Action, check out:
www.putyourfaithinaction.org or call 1-800-991-6011.
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Laura Cusumano Blank
Media Relations Manager | Domestic Affairs
World
Vision - United States
Office: 212.736.2997, Cell: 646.245.2496
Skype: LauraBlank
lblank@worldvision.org
143
W. 29th Street, 4th floor | New York, NY 10001 USA
World Vision | Building a better world for children |
www.worldvision.org/press
World
Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working
with children, families, and their communities worldwide
to reach their
full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice.
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