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! |
by Pastor Larry Orth, CareFest Coordinator
Persistent love on display…CareFest report 2010
1400 red-shirted volunteers blanketed our city in an amazing display of Jesus’ love. Our fifth annual event on June 19 saw workers serving 70 sites including 23 schools, 20 parks, and at Graham Park (our largest project...landscaping & painting), Boys & Girls Club, Better Chance (building a shed platform, cleaning & weeding), building a ramp at the Interfaith Hospitality Network's day home, and extensive painting at Hope Ranch and the Armed Forces Center.
Other jobs included replacing playground material at a daycare and school, installing flooring at an outreach center, and other painting, landscaping, and cleaning at three Salvation Army sites, the Women's Shelter, and Seasons Hospice. We served about a dozen private residences ranging from repairing roofing and ceilings, tiling and carpeting, and replacing doors, replacing a 450' fence for a single mom, plumbing a sink and installing a bathroom fan, and building handicapped accessible ramps.
We had asked Mayor Ardell Brede if we should change our plans based on the tornado that struck northwest Rochester on June 17. After consulting with his emergency management team he felt that we would be most helpful covering the parks with extra folks, dealing with added debris and branches blown by the storm.
Some workers helped to clear trees and debris at two churches and in disheveled neighborhoods.
A special project this year was the Haiti relief bus which we filled with over a ton of provisions including food, clothing, medical and school supplies, and medical equipment. The bus was purchased and made ready to drive, fully packed, down to Miami, and is now in transit to Haiti to be used by a Haitian gospel ministry. We also partially filled a Salvation Army truck with clothing and general household items that will help meet local needs.
This year we added projects on the weekend after CareFest, better accommodating additional volunteer and recipient’s schedules. We installed a handicapped access ramp and did some landscaping at the Buddhist temple. The temple project was added as their facility had been recently damaged with the vandals painting "Jesus saves" on the temple ground’s concrete. We wanted the Buddhists to know that real followers of Jesus desire to help and not hurt people or their property; Jesus said that the adversary Satan came to steal, kill, and destroy, but Jesus came to give people abundant life through the Gospel.
We praise God for providing sufficient resources through His people in our 30 partner churches; though all bills have not yet been received, it appears we will invest about $20000 into our community through this year’s event. We thank each of you who served as volunteers and leaders, and those who gave financially and prayed for CareFest! Your faithful, consistent presence as servants of Jesus over the past five years has a number of Rochester residents increasingly aware that Jesus is alive and they have personally seen and felt His lifesaving, restoring love and hope through you!
This is a trustworthy saying, and I want you to insist on these teachings so that all who trust in God will devote themselves to doing good. These things are good and beneficial for everyone. – Titus 3:8
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.