I was taken aback by the e-mails I received privately on my last column, "Finding a balance in one's life". Sometimes a writer doesn't know when they hit a resonance with their readers but it seems that last story did. Using that chord as a means to continue this melody, I would like to share this story that I was fortunate enough to cover this past year.
In early February, I was stopped on a street by a young man who told me several city churches were going to get together in a volunteer effort on a specific day in September. The idea was to help people, regardless of their faith, or lack of it, that needed something done to their homes. He asked if I wanted to be updated as events went along and to cover the story for them to get the word out. I told him I would be happy to and he filled me in on the particulars they had so far.
The name of the group would be known as "Together for Lincoln". It would be comprised of as many congregations as wished to be included and that they needed the word out so that people who needed help with their homes could be included on a list of projects. There would be no demand for payment for labor and if a person could not afford materials, they would also pay for those through church donations. I was told that they believed they had two-hundred volunteers already signed up.
I was happy to pop little blurbs about how things were progressing over the months and I was told membership was increasing rapidly with thirteen church congregations becoming involved in the day.
I liked the way the entire planning was set up. Groups would be formed that would mix the various churches into talent pools. Painters would get painting tasks, Carpenters, building tasks and so on.
Each of these task oriented groups would be broken down by church affiliation so that members of churches would be working with members of other churches rather than their own congregation.
Thus a Methodist carpenter would be working with a tradesman who was Baptist and another who was Catholic and still another who was Lutheran.
The point was that this was a day for Christians to unite to help their fellow man regardless of their denomination and irrespective if the person they were building a wheelchair ramp for belonged to their church or a church or not.
Of course I really liked this idea and was happy to include little blurbs about how things were progressing for the big day on the last Sunday in September.
I recall late in June that the organization was worried. They had over 600 volunteers but only a dozen tasks to perform. All the media spread the word but of course many people who need help don't own a computer or buy newspapers so there was a real need for tasks to be found to fill the work details that had been formed.
And then the volunteers took over. They spread the word person to person. They went door to door in some cases and asked friends to check on neighbors who they thought might need a little help.
And so it came about that on September 28 th that 1000 Christians from fourteen congregations flowed through the city with 114 projects to get done in just one day. The following is how I editorialized my observations the next day.
The houses being painted were not theirs. The projects and work details were not on their own homes. And the families walking this city had garbage bags in their hands and were picking up trash and litter that was not their responsibility, save that they made it so.
In some instances the help being given to others was by friends, family and neighbors. But in most cases the help, the toil, the effort was to make someone else's life a little better, a little easier, and it was performed by perfect strangers.
Of course, in many cases, some volunteers were better suited for their task than others. Some were more experienced or knowledgeable. But all carried one undeniable talent to their task that day. They all cared. Something such as caring has to be within an individual's heart, and it is most certainly a talent.
The Together for Lincoln volunteers, perhaps 1,000 strong that day, were all purposeful in doing something special for the glory of their faith. But it became more than that as they rekindled in many, rebirthed in others, the realization that there is something special about us when we put our heart and our faith and our efforts into helping our fellow man.
This past Sunday a great multitude of us decided to prove that we are not all lost, nor uncaring, and to make it seen that in these often dark times there is something special in us that deserves to be praised and reveled in.
To be sure, not a soul who gave their efforts that day did it to receive thanks or praise. But we (LDN) humbly beg to do so regardless. You need our thanks for an effort well-done. You deserve our accolades for an idea well-conceived and well-directed.
The blessings you deserve will be left for someone with more authority to bestow upon all of you.
Well done, Together for Lincoln."
I found out later that crews also went to homes of the elderly or infirmed and whisked through the homes cleaning, washing and vacuuming. Some visited people in our nursing homes that the homes told them receive few if any visitors.
The interiors of some of our not for profit organizations that are all stretched thin on budget were cleaned and had walls painted and trash hauled away.
That evening at the Lincoln Christian Church a non-denominational service was held. It was one of the bigger churches that can hold perhaps a thousand and it was at capacity.
It has been more than three weeks since this remarkable event and people in town are still talking about the day. And although the organization still needs some funds to pay for materials, organizers intend to make this an annual event in our city.
And how could they not? How could we not all become involved next year? There are so many things we can't fix in our world that when we do fix those within our ability it just makes a person want to do it again.
I recommend you all try this in your towns and communities and neighborhoods. The results are a rush of positives about the human spirit that can't be found in a law or a promise nor a bottle or a drug. It can only be found within the soul of a community, like yours.
Freelance writer, columnist, author and writing coach, ex-Chicagoan Mike Fak presently resides in Central Illinois. More information about Mike's services are available at his home website www.mikefak.com
Mike currently writes primarily humor columns for searchwarp bi-weekly and is the managing editor of www.lincolndailynews.com
Mike now offers a 26,000 word e-book on making money as a freelance writer for only $10.00 at this page. http://www.mikefak.com/id45.html
Mike, very good article. Yesterday my pastor preached on Philippians 2. One place he focused was verse 4 which instructs us not to only look to our own interests, but the interests of others. He commented that we could take out the word "interests" and substitute it with other words such as health, house, and so on. He made other points, but that one particularly stayed with me. A while back I stumbled upon a statistic put out by somebody (I'm so exact!) that if each church (any denomination) in the US adopted 2 homeless families and helped them with expenses, training and whatever was needed to get that family back and running, we would have no more homeless people. I truly believe it is about people helping people. None of us stands alone and all of us have, at some point, needed someone. Thanks for writing this. I think it will touch and motivate a lot of us.
Thanks. Lorrie. There is just something special about helping someone else, isn't there. I'm afarid it is up to us to remedy problems since no one in govt. can or will.
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