Blessed to be a Blessing!

(left) Mike Vander Vliet and his son Colin work at the Owens home on Saturday, October 29th. (right) Br. Dave of St. Ben's Community Meal receives over $500 from the B.Y.O.R (Bring Your Own Rake) event.

As the Owens family works to juggle family, school, church, work and medical responsibilites it can get a little (and sometimes a lot!) overwhelming. Since so many people at BCS, BCRC and elsewhere have asked how they can show their love and concern, we asked Mark if we could invite the community over for a fall clean-up and leaf raking party.

Members of our neighborhood small group,  immediately volunteered to make chili for the volunteers, gather tools, assign tasks, and help get the word out.

We also decided to use the opportunity to raise funds for St. Ben's in downtown Milwaukee. Those who were able, were asked to contribute $25 to the St. Ben's Community Meal where over 85 religious groups and organizations bring in hot, homemade food for the hungry, six nights a week. Some weeks they serve over 2,000 guests!

The weather report for Saturday had been cold & rain, but not on our parade! The sun shone & the temperature was perfect. Many volunteers from our group, others from the community, and a neighbor of the Owens'- under the capable direction of Paul Veldhouse & Derek VanderHeide- mowed, raked, pulled, planted, scraped, primed, edged, thinned, cleaned, fixed, sawed, weeded, clipped and hauled. Then we went across the street to the Owens' neighbors who were kind enough to let us use their driveway and yard for some great chili and desserts. It felt so good to be done early because so many people came over to help!

As Steve Baas said, “Normally you couldn’t get me to scrape paint for three hours with a gun to my head. But doing it in that community setting with so many folks joyfully pitching in actually made it a fun experience.”