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