Rochester Schools
Bamber Valley - painting, mulch, weeding
Burr Oak - paint sign, misc. landscaping
Century - painting, landscaping, cleaning
Elton Hills - clean desks, lockers, windows, wash walls
Friedell - cleaning furniture and painting
Franklin - clean lockers, desks, chairs, landscaping and book shelves constructed
Gage and Gage East - clean lockers, desks, chairs, misc. painting, weeding
Jefferson - painting, mulch, light landscaping
John Adams - painting and cleaning furniture
John Marshall - clean lockers, wash tape on walls
Kellogg - painting, cleaning lockers, misc. landscaping
Lincoln - painting, landscaping, window washing
Longfellow - clean lockers, furniture, painting
Mayo - clean lockers, hallway walls
Pinewood - painting, landscaping, cleaning lockers
Riverside - painting
Sunset Terrace - envelope stuffing (2-4 hours)
Willow Creek - cleaning lockers, landscaping, weeding

Rochester City Parks
TBD

Misc. Projects
Bear Creek Homes - various
Boys and Girls Club - painting and carpeting
Casa de Paz - Do-it-yourself workshop, picnic tables, ac training
Crossroads College - cleaning, painting, carpentry
Dorothy Day House - clean, paint trim, misc. repairs, plaster work, bath fan
Friendship Place - misc. painting and repairs, cleaning
Garageworks - oil changes and minor repairs, car giveaway
Jacobson Home - cleaning, repairs, electrical
Interfaith Hospitality Day Center - small shed, shelving, organizing
Linda Kindschy's House - general and carpet cleaning
Margie's House - exterior painting
New Life Family Services - spring cleaning
Rochester Network for Re-Entry - TBD
Salvation Army Homes - various duties
Seasons Hospice - TBD
Studio Academy - cleaning, weeding, painting
Womens Shelter - misc. painting and repairs
Zumbro Valley Clinic - yard work
Zumbro Valley Thomas House - various duties
Graham Park - TBD multiple items landscaping, painting, etc. - 300 plus people

Bear Creek Homes
Manorwood - painting doors and office
Cobblestone - tiling, painting, cleaning
Oxford House - Caulk, painting, cleaning
Park Hill - painting, cleaning, fencing
Northwest House - Dust, Caulk,painting
Westberry - Painting
Tower Hill - Painting

All are invited to City of Life Outreach Center, 804 East Center Street, Saturday June 14, 9 a.m. -- 4:30 p.m.
Rochester House of Prayer RHOP harp and bowl team and others will lead prayer and worship for Carefest and for the city of Rochester.
The City of Life prayer team will simultaneously offer personal prayer for healing from 11 a.m. -- 2 p.m. at the church.
Drop in and leave when you are able. Questions? 280-1948 prayrochester@magnaspeed.net

Dear Prayer Partners,

Please continue to keep CareFest in your prayers. Specifically, pray for:

1. That God will help us finalize the highest impact projects we can do.

2. That our highest profile project with the LGR/County Fairgrounds will raise sufficient funds, enabling us to do a lot of work.

3. Sufficiently clear schedules for our leaders, enabling them to do top quality planning and preparation.

Other downloadable options:

Short version (1 min):
Windows Media Video
iPhone
iPod
Divx

Long version (3 min):
Windows Media Video
Divx

Rochester CareFest provides a great opportunity for the local body of Christ to reach out to our community, demonstrating Jesus’ love in tangible and meaningful ways.  Our desire is to serve Rochester community-enhancing organizations like the schools, parks, and other people-helping non-profits.  The core of Rochester CareFest embraces the faith and beliefs of the World Evangelical Alliance http://www.worldevangelicalalliance.com/wea/statement.htm.

History has taught us that our government alone cannot solve the problems of our culture. Budget cuts and limited resources for cities and non-profits have left great opportunities for us to fill in the gaps. How can we, as Christians, make a positive difference in our community?

In 2006, CareFest had it's first ever event in Rochester with over 1,600 Christians from more than 20 local churches painted, cleaned, repaired, and landscaped over 60 sites.  By reaching out to the community and giving of ourselves selflessly and unconditionally, we model the love that Jesus so freely gives to us.  We also create a spirit of trust and understanding that transcends the social, cultural, or economic barriers that often divide us.

In 2007, nearly 1,800 Christians came to serve touching over 100 sites and the hearts of many. To learn more about the 2007 event read the 2007 CareFest Recap below.

Many cities have found this kind of event to be a catalyst for wonderful new opportunities: congregations are energized as they see the real impact they can have on others through helping them and through the friendships that are consequently formed, and non-Christians have new reason for hope as they interact with a loving church.  Author Eric Swanson aptly summarizes, “Good deeds make for good will, which makes for good opportunities to share the Good News.”

What a wonderful gift of your time and talents you gave us during CareFest! Thank you so much for all the cleaning and painting. Office staff loved coming in to the new blue walls on Monday morning.

These were some of the words of gratitude shared by a lead engineer and principal of one of the 21 schools we served in our June 16 mission to show the love of Jesus to Rochester. Nearly 1800 Christians from the 22 host churches and over a dozen other churches joined forces to paint over 120 rooms, a number of hallways, and three gyms, wash windows and clean furniture at 11 schools, and landscape at four others. Beyond the arduous locker cleaning at ten schools, three of the schools asked workers to apply a rhino lining on the bottom of lockers to preserve them from further corrosion. At Franklin, a skilled carpenter accepted the challenge to pre-make 50 bookcases, which were assembled and installed at the school without the use of power tools (for safety).

CareFest workers also cleaned 53 parks (about two-thirds of Rochester’s parks), covering 1560 acres! New this year, the ministry of Garageworks provided 27 free oil changes and some much needed auto maintenance for those lacking funds.

Our largest project was at Crossroads College where 286 servants worked on the dorms, painting the entryways and removing and installing new lighting. They also framed a classroom wall and did extensive painting and trim carpentry work in the administration building. Even in the month following CareFest, a number of workers continued to labor on this project. A large contingency of workers transformed the college’s grounds, chipping, shredding, and raking, and building a prayer walk, labyrinth, and firepit.

The poor and homeless were a unique focus of this year’s CareFest. Teams of servants swarmed the Women’s Shelter, three homeless shelters, three ministries that help the needy, and nine low-income private homes, providing a full range of services from window washing to pouring a sidewalk and installing a shower. A complete exterior makeover was completed of the Interfaith Hospitality House. Diverse work at the low income residences spanned the spectrum from installing new flooring to sealing leaky roofs. Most of these organizations and individuals had no or limited funds to help pay for the cost of construction supplies and equipment. Thanks to you who gave to help support these projects!

A common sentiment reverberated among CareFest 2007 participants: deeper level relational connections were formed with those we served. We moved from the domain of shovels and paint to people and relationships. Many people’s lives were deeply touched not only by the practical help they received, but through loving conversations about why we do this: we moved from simply showing the love of Jesus to showing and telling them of His great love. A number of workers had meaningful encounters with those they served.

Through CareFest 2007, the body of Christ invested about $17700 into our community (about 55% for construction, 35% on publicity and shirts, and 10% for the celebration and other expenses). What is the impact of good works? (The theme of CareFest 2007) Yes, the reality of our faith. But truly, God only knows the ultimate impact!

Special thanks to our leadership group of about 75 people (core team, church liaisons, prayer coordinators, and site leaders) for your extra investment of time and care. You represented Jesus well! Also, our deep love and gratitude to each of you volunteers—you had many options for things to do on June 16, 2007; instead, you chose to serve our neighbors in Jesus’ name.

Where will you be on June 14, 2008? Lord willing, plan to join us for CareFest 2008!