Sunset Park Cleanup!

This past Saturday, April 25^th was our first all-church project for Renew.  We partnered with Keep Middletown Beautiful, a local non-profit organization, to come together with folks in the community to landscape and paint at Sunset Park for about 4 hours.  In total, about 40-50 people from The Oaks showed up to help. It was a beautiful day for the project, with 85 degree temperatures and not a cloud in the sky. As volunteers showed up at the park, the folks from Keep Middletown Beautiful directed them to jobs and everyone went cheerfully to where they were assigned.

People from The Oaks served in a variety of ways. Some  went to the basketball courts to paint the backboards and poles, and then on to the volleyball courts to paint the poles there as well. Afterwards, they looked like brand new courts. Others dug out sod around trees and benches, hauled it all the way across the park, and came back to mulch the areas for a nice, clean finish.  Another group of people drove around the park in a truck, picking up and hauling away dead branches and trimmings scattered everywhere.  The biggest project, which took about 2/3 of the volunteers, was the massive task of painting the chain link fence around the tennis courts. It was daunting and it was tedious, and nobody who served was able to come away without a significant amount of paint splattered all over their face, hair, and arms.

Although the folks at Keep Middletown Beautiful said over and over how bad they felt that we had such “messy jobs,” none of our people complained. It was extremely encouraging to see the joy that flowed out of serving the city together in community.  There was clearly a spirit of mercy, humility, and servanthood present in our people.  They were excited to serve, and it was rewarding to see solid results from our efforts. We enjoyed the free lunch provided for us too, especially the homemade desserts!

This project should remind us that when the body of Christ comes together to serve our city with humble hearts, we can have a very real impact.