Thank you!Thank you to the 50 servants who deep cleaned at Century, Kellogg, and John Adams public schools on December 17, 2011. We'll see you on Saturday, June 16, for CareFest 2012! |
CareFest 2008 Applies TLC to Rochester
“It was our first time to participate and everything about the day was just wonderful. God is so faithful,” said volunteer Louise Paurus. A single mother recipient of CareFest said, “This is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me.” A public school leadership team wrote, “Thank you so much for all the cleaning, painting, and other work you did for us over the weekend. The red stripe along the hallway is gorgeous. We really appreciate your efforts.”
What was the cost of serving a widow, a single mother, or a fiscally constrained school district or ministry? Perhaps not much in dollars, but significant personal investment of time and energy in planning, preparing, and carrying out the mammoth amount of work accomplished all over Rochester on June 14. But the return on our investment is incalculable in terms of the lives touched.
1500 volunteers from over 20 churches served at 60 sites as diverse as the History Center, Season’s Hospice, the Women’s Shelter, Boys & Girls Club, Crossroads College, Friendship Place, and the Lower Room clothing ministry. More than a dozen homeless shelters, seven personal residences, six parks, Studio Academy, and 21 public schools also experienced Jesus’ love first-hand.
Take a look at the video done capturing the day. Photography done by Dean Riggott and Michelle and Shawn Fagan of Fagan Studios. Music performed by Jill and Dave Pearson.
Reviewing the reports of what was accomplished is absolutely stunning! School tasks included cleaning lockers, furniture, and windows; painting in 16 halls, 3 gyms, and 63 classrooms; weeding, mulching, landscaping, signage, and installing 30 bookshelves. Work on the other sites included landscaping, maintenance such as painting, making repairs, gutter cleaning, and insulating; not to mention a total reroof of one residence, the demolition and replacement of a trailer home, and the cleaning and detailing of a car soon to be presented to a needy single mother. New this year, volunteers donated clothing, household items, and small appliances to the Salvation Army’s “Fill the Truck” event at our CareFest staging center. CareFest’s largest site this year was a facelift of Graham Park which saw over 200 gold shirts buzzing over the fairgrounds landscaping, scraping, and painting the grandstands and in a number of other buildings, and even repainting the main fairgrounds sign.
Berean Church led us to the throne of God in fitting worship at our day-ending celebration barbecue at Graham 1.
Our theme verse this year was from Galatians 6:9: Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. Our volunteers’ faces and deeds reflected Jesus’ love for our city in profound and diverse ways that few will forget. Thanks to each of you; may God reward you now and in eternity!
CareFest 2011 Photo Album
CareFest 2011 Recap
2011 CareFest Recap
by Pastor Larry Orth, CareFest Coordinator
CareFest 2011...becoming His masterpiece!
On a brisk February Sunday evening, a group of Zumbro Valley community leaders and residents gathered to brainstorm possible solutions to jumpstart their rebuilding process. Five months earlier, the flood of the century had devastated their community; government resources were scarce and buyouts were uncertain. The sea of volunteers that had come to their immediate aid had all but dried up and hope had faded. Many families had lost everything and dozens remained homeless.
That evening, the Lord began to move among His people. CareFest leaders sensed God’s call to get involved and, within a month, a two-phased event was planned. According to Lutheran Social Services relief coordinator Craig Richardt, new life was injected into the whole relief process. “Before CareFest showed up, volunteer and financial support had really diminished. I could feel the urgency that if something didn’t happen soon, the relief efforts would die and there was a lot left to do [$1.3 million].” He continued, “CareFest was the ‘shot in the arm’ that was needed to bring renewed awareness of the ongoing needs of the flooded region. CareFest brought a new level of credibility and trust to encourage other organizations to rally alongside the relief efforts. For example, United Way, Rochester Builders, and Salvation Army released designated flood recovery funds to us because they knew the money would be leveraged to do the most good for the victims. Immediately we started to build momentum and strength for a long term recovery process.”
Read more...Prayer Requests
- Pray that God will reveal the specific projects He wants us to do in our community for His greatest glory.
- Pray that God will raise up the specific leaders and skills we need to accomplish the projects.
- Pray that God will help leaders define each project’s human, equipment, and supply needs; for good communication and good relationships between project leaders and ministry recipients.
- Pray that God's people will respond to the call to serve in faith and perseverance, that God will guide the process of matching workers with projects, and that God will meet all our needs.
- Pray that God will guide our leaders in their planning, site preparation, resource allocation, and carrying out excellent work at each site.
- Pray that all the final details will culminate in the best possible CareFest. Pray for good weather, safety, and for Holy Spirit superintendence of each project to the glory of Jesus.
- Pray that many will come to know the Lord as Savior through CareFest as they experience His saving and restoring hope.