Here at Sellwood Faith Community we love the Oregon Food Bank. We’ve spent many Saturdays putting frozen food in to 2 pound bags for distribution at sites across the state. Kids 6 and up can come work at the food bank and it’s been lovely to have a wide range of our community and friends working together to help fellow Oregonians in need. If you are local and have never been I encourage you to consider giving 4 hours to make a big impact on food insecurity in our state. http://www.oregonfoodbank.org/volunteer
SFC will continue to support the food bank, but this fall we are trying a new set of service experiences. The food bank is low risk work, meaning that while we are doing good and helping our neighbors in need the chance for us to have a transformational experience while serving is lower. When we serve in ways that allow us to meet and connect with people who are on the margins or who are not from the places where we are from there is more of a chance for God to touch our hearts and for us to learn in ways that can cause spiritual and social transformation. I can believe a lot of things about homeless people, but when I was at Veneta and having dinner with our homeless folks each week they became people with names and stories who were my neighbors. This meant that when we were discussing our homeless problem in city meetings and in public places my contribution to the conversation was shaped by my service experiences.
All kinds of services experiences are important so this fall we will be engaging in two service projects each month. One project is for older youth and adults. This is high risk, engagement work under the Burnside Bridge with the Night Strike program. September 29th and October 27th we’ll meet at 6:45 just outside the Liberation Street Church at 214 W Burnside. Night Strike is a place where people can get hair cuts, have a meal, receive prayer, chat with someone, find new clothes, and more all because the people who run the program share love because people matter. You can lean more here: http://bridgetowninc.org/night-strike/
Our other project each month is for all ages to work together. We will be helping out at Bethlehem House of Bread. Babies on up are welcome to come and work on various projects at this ministry of Tigard United Methodist Church. BHOB is focused on feeding hungry neighbors and you can lean more about their work here: http://bethlehemhouseofbread.org We will be at BHOB on September 10th and October 15th from 9am-12pm. Meet us at 9055 SE Locust St in Tigard. We will share more details about the specific work we’ll be doing on our Facebook page.
Serving our neighbors is a huge part of the way we learn and grow as a community. Serving my neighbors has been a huge part of me becoming who I am today. I hope you can join us on one of these projects this fall and see for yourself the power of working together to make the world just a bit brighter.
-Eilidh
| Our crew getting ready to serve a meal to our neighbors in Woodstock last year. |
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