Churches plan Serve Day projects
This Saturday you may see a lot of gray shirts buzzing about Butler doing a variety of service projects courtesy of Butler Serve Day.
The Allison Park Church Butler campus, 150 Legion Memorial Lane, will participate in its second annual Serve Day and this year will be joined by the First United Methodist Church and the Community Alliance Church.
Peter Bess of Butler is the Serve Day Butler Campus coordinator for the second year.
“Heading up the Serve Day event for the Butler campus was and is a huge honor. We took on several projects in 2018,” said Bess.
“We provided oil changes and car washes for single-parent families and veterans. We did lawn work and cleaning for the American Legion in Lyndora and some cleaning on East Brady Street for individuals who had suffered from flooding in the recent past.”
Despite being a newer church, Allison Park Church Butler campus members didn't hesitate to dig in and get their hands dirty serving their neighbors.
“Allison Park Church is a church that firmly believes we have been called by God to share His love with everyone. Serve Day is one of the ways we try to show God's love in practical, tangible ways,” said Bess.
Allison Park Church is based in Hampton and currently conducts services every weekend at five campus locations.
The Butler campus launched in 2017. All the campuses are participating in Serve Day in their communities.
On Saturday, the Butler campus will have more than 300 volunteers moving out from the Lyndora American Legion Post to tackle projects throughout Butler.
“We want the communities we call home to know we love and care about them. We are grateful to be a part of them,” Bess said.
His job is not an easy one. It is even more challenging this year because of the doubled size of the program.
“My job is to keep in communication with each of our project leaders, making sure that they have enough volunteers to make their project happen,” he said.
This year Allison Park Serve Day will feature oil changes and car washes for single-parent families and veterans. They are also working to provide free haircuts for boys and men.
One group will be working on a roof for a local couple who are both veterans and local volunteer firefighters.
“We will be helping Life Choices with some painting as well as landscaping at their women's home. We are doing some clean up in the Island neighborhood and holding parties for those in residence at the VA and at Sunnyview nursing home,” Bess said.
Church members will also be packing bags for children who are entering the foster care system in Butler. Those bags will be donated to Family Pathways and the local Children and Youth Services.
The project ideas come from people in the community who attend the church.
“We also look at what other churches have done for events like this, and we decide if that project would help our community as well,” said Bess.
This year Pastor Gregg Jacobs and Bess approached other churches about Serve Day. Two churches jumped on board with a few of their own projects and volunteers.The First United Methodist Church of Butler will have its own list of missions to accomplish under the direction of Lisa Gill, the director of serving and outreach.“Our senior pastor, David Janz, met with one of the pastors at Allison Park Church and asked me to connect with Peter Bess,” explained Gill. The pair previously worked on a summer lunch program years ago.“It was nice to sit down with him again to see how we could work together to help our community,” she said.The church has seven different projects planned including a litter pickup, prayer walk, a car wash at its Crossfire campus, a senior citizen yard beautification project, a playground revitalization, an emergency flood cleanup project at the Eastbrook Mission Barn in New Castle, and a home sprucing project.“A team is going to provide some general cleanup and yard work help at the home of a veteran's widow,” said Gill.“First United Methodist Church has always been a church focused on serving the community and Butler Serve Day gives us another opportunity to do so,” said Gill.The Community Alliance Church effort is being spearheaded by Bob Thomas, the executive pastor.“We believe it is a great way to let people know we are part of the Butler community,” said Thomas.“Community Alliance Church will be serving the community in a variety of ways including rebuilding boards at the dek hockey rink, painting shelters and tables and landscaping at Alameda Park, and cleaning up limbs, trees and debris from a person's two-acre yard.“We will be having a free car wash and lemonade stand at our church for anyone that wants to come,” said Thomas.Members of their team will also be crocheting scarves for veterans, working at Fishbone Ministries landscaping and painting, and preparing meals at the church to be given to The Inn Maternity Home.“We also will be participating in various landscaping, painting and cleaning projects at Grace Youth and Family Foundation's site and cleaning homes of widows who are unable to clean for themselves,” Thomas added.“We simply want to serve people and let them know we care. Hopefully we can bring a smile to some faces and let people know they are valuable,” he concluded.Bess said the hope is that Serve Day will continue to grow and more churches will get involved to bless more people in Butler. “The main website for Serve Day is www.serveday.com for any churches that might want to get involved next year,” said Bess.If anyone would like to be a volunteer for serve day, visit the registration page at www.apcserveday.com and choose the Butler Campus. Choose from the list of projects and then register.
WHAT: Butler Serve DayWHEN: SaturdayWHERE: All over ButlerINFORMATION: www.serveday.com
