Our Small Group REALLY Cares for Clinton

Well, if you've been following the emails from me for the past week, you've seen where we had some difficulty establishing exactly what our small group was going to do on our church's "Caring for Clinton" day, where we were to reach out to our community with acts of service. Our intent was to show those outside of our church body the love of Jesus by meeting their needs in a specific way.

After the project we thought we were going to help with fell apart, we were scrambling to find something. It was particularly difficult for our group to find something because we really didn't know how many participants we would have since so many of you are involved with other groups who were also serving (college, youth, etc.). So, we wanted to partner with another small group to ensure that we would have enough people to handle the project.

Sunday morning (the day we were to serve), Jim Gifford came through with a project that one of our small group members, Scotty Rogers, made him aware of. So, our class partnered with him to go clean up a single lady's yard on Beverly Street in Clinton.

1302 Beverly Street

When we arrived at 1302 Beverly Street, it was clear this yard was in need of attention. In addition to tons of sticks and leaves that were all over, a rotten tree had fallen on the house in the back.  So, chainsaws, rakes, weed-eaters, mowers, a utility cart, and whatever other tools we could locate in hand, we attacked 1302 Beverly Street's lawn issues with everything we could muster.

Here you can see what who and what was mustered.

Suzanne and Amanda pause from their labors to pose for a photo.

Here is Lee before he misplaced his sunglasses. 

(Why he didn't use his tool belt to store then, I don't know.)

Scotty after he finished blowing leaves and sticks off of the roof.

Josh happily raking and glad this is not a painting project.

Rusty discovered a whole other parking space under the leaves and grass he trimmed on the driveway.

Darth Vader, er, um, I mean Jim helping clear the fallen tree from the backyard.

Matt and Doug working on the tree. That utility cart proved useful.

Lane is looking for something to mow.

Two hours later it would look like a different yard completely. The pile of leaves, sticks, and logs completely covered the front curb, and while we were caring for members of the city of Clinton, we created quite a bit of work for The City of Clinton.

 Sorry, Public Works Department.

As we were finishing our work and looking forward to a well-deserved rest, some of our more informed members started to realize that perhaps something was amiss. Looking into the windows of this house, we discovered that it was practically empty, and we were getting clues that perhaps we were not at the correct house.

 The wheels are turning. The realization is dawning.

A trip three houses to the north would confirm our suspicions. We were supposed to be at 1402 Beverly Street, not 1302.

 The correct house was located.

 Jenna was working so fast, she appeared a bit blurry.

Rusty displays one of several "interesting" things we found while working.

Jennifer was a little under the weather, but stuck it out and pitched in. 

What a trooper.

While some of our workers had to leave, several of us mustered the strength and courage to stumble down the street to put in another hour or so of work at the correct house. Fortunately, it was not in as much need as the wrong one. We raked, mowed, shoveled, piled, etc all over again and by 5:15, we were done. Two houses cared for, and hopefully all of Beverly Street feels cared for.

Here is 1402 Beverly with a little TLC applied to the card.

Thanks for Scotty Rogers and Jim Gifford for finding our house(s)!