On Tuesday night as we were wrapping up day 2 of our new ministry, Steele Street School, one of the parents of a participant stopped me to thank me for offering the day camps. After we chatted a bit and I went back to tidying up, I started doing the math. How many weeks was this family registered? How much would they be saving? And after I added it all up I realized that we were making a $2400 difference for this family. That’s a mortgage payment, 534 pounds of Tillamook cheese, 184 pairs of children’s shoes, or 727 gallons of gas.
Drawing a huge garden for all the insects & birds we’ve learned about this week.
Our neighborhood is changing. Big apartment buildings are coming in. The community center is closing. My old favorite coffee shop has changed from a clientele of mostly moms to hipsters. In the midst of gentrification and change the Parish is engaging in our Neighborhood Associations and joining the conversations about development. We’re standing in solidarity with families by offering a safe, fun, low-cost place for their children. We don’t want to stop the changes, we simply want to be in the conversation about what it looks like to live here in this place at this time and we want to help support our neighbors so they can live healthy, happy, whole lives.
This is the work of the people of God, to be present here and now, aware of the pressing issue of the day and offering what we can where we are to make the world as much like God’s kindom as we can. As exhausting and hard as this first week of Steele Street School has been, it’s also been one of the most rewarding gifts of my ministry. We really are doing the work of kindom community here. We are making a difference in the lives of these families that will continue to have ripples in our neighborhood. I’m so looking forward to week 2!
-Eilidh
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