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| Walnut Creek South hosted a free barbeque, games, and outdoor movie on Memorial Day. |
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| Bubble Ball was a popular activity at the Memorial Day barbeque. |
Showing posts with label M2TC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label M2TC. Show all posts
Memorial Day Barbecue on the Southside
Downtown Teams Breakfast Drop Throughout the East Village and Skywalks
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| Teams provided free breakfast throughout the downtown skywalks and the East Village. |
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| Walnut Creek Downtown teams kicked off Mission to the City with breakfast drops on early Friday morning. |
Shalom Spends a Day at the Ballpark for Mission to the City
On Saturday, twenty-five people from the Shalom congregation made their way out to Johnston Little League to serve the community. A group of people put new siding on a building and another group scraped benches and gave them a fresh coat of paint. It was encouraging to see so many people take time out of their Saturday to help the community as well as seeing all ages get involved with the process of m2tc. We pray that the Des Moines area is blessed and that God is glorified through our labor!
By Melissa Holle
Walnut Creek Downtown
Pancake Brunch Raises Money for Operation Christmas Child
The smell of hot pancakes hung heavy in the air after the Sunday morning church service at Walnut Creek Downtown on May 29. The pancakes did more than fill hungry bellies after church. Part of Mission to the City for the third year in a row, the pancake brunch raised nearly $700 for Operation Christmas Child (OCC).
Since 1993, OCC – a ministry of Samaritan’s Purse – has delivered gift-filled shoeboxes to over 124 million children affected by war, poverty, natural disasters, and other crises in more than 150 countries and territories. OCC partners with local churches to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with those who receive shoebox gifts. A 12-lesson discipleship program, The Greatest Journey, helps boys and girls learn what it means to follow the Lord and share their faith with others.
The pancake brunch isn’t the only OCC-related Mission to the City project happening this year. Several groups went to the Urbandale home of Central Iowa OCC volunteer to pack shoebox gifts and do other volunteer work.
On July 8, Walnut Creek Church will host the sixth annual Christmas in July party, an OCC shoebox packing party for the whole family. Like last year, our goal will be to pack 2,000 shoebox gifts and raise $14,000 to cover the shipping costs. An anonymous $7,000 donation has already been pledged to the cause.
By Tim Laehn
Walnut Creek Downtown
Walnut Creek Church Volunteers Roll Up Their Sleeves for Freedom for Youth
Roots run deep for Walnut Creek Church and Freedom for Youth Ministries in more ways than one. Members served the organization by pulling up weeds, planting flowers, and trimming landscaping Saturday during Mission to the City as part of an ongoing effort to support the ministry’s staff and volunteers.
Ashlie Baldwin, Job Coach at Freedom for Youth, is also a member of Walnut Creek Downtown and joined her community group Saturday at their main location and Safe Haven, one of Freedom’s residential programs. Ashlie’s primary role consists of coaching participants ages 18-22 involved in the residential training program. While many of the participants and volunteers at Freedom take on various responsibilities, she was blessed by the opportunity for her community group to help shoulder the burden of much of the manual landscaping labor, as the participants often assist in maintaining the facilities and various job training activities.
“We only have about three young adults in our transitions program right now, but if you could imagine all that [work] being done by three young adults and then myself, all that weed-pulling, mowing, even more things that we didn’t even get done today. That would generally be done from nine to noon, so you can imagine that the work is long and it takes a long time to get done. You’ve served the staff, young adults, and many other things in the program.”
Ashlie says the relationship with Freedom and Walnut Creek has been consistent since she started about four years ago, and is thankful that every Mission to the City brings a new opportunity to strengthen the relationship.
“Walnut Creek has been really faithful to Freedom for Youth. The church has been very good about helping the young adults get connected with community groups. Walnut Creek has also been loving and accepting and stepped in, either financially or with discipleship.”
By Noelle Thompson
Walnut Creek Downtown
#m2tc | Refugee Donation Drive Blesses 67 Families
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| The M2TC Refugee Donation Drive collected enough items to deliver to 67 Karen and Karenni families living in Des Moines. |
Throughout Mission to the City, Walnut Creek organized its first Refugee Donation Drive to collect gently used furniture, kitchen, and kids' items to bless refugee families living in Des Moines.
This past weekend with a U-Haul and multiple trucks and vans, four Community Groups delivered the donated items to 67 Karen and Karenni families living in 15 different apartment complexes and houses throughout the Des Moines area.
The Karen and Karenni are people groups that come from Myanmar (Burma) and Northern Thailand. There are about 4,000 Karen and Karenni in Central Iowa, having fled political instability and persecution. Many Karen families attend the Sunday morning service at Walnut Creek Downtown, while a Karenni Fellowship meets at Freedom For Youth Ministries on Sunday afternoons.
During Mission to the City, teams went door-to-door in Des Moines neighborhoods asking the community if they would like to join us in helping our refugee neighbors. As an extra service, other M2TC teams collected donated items from community members and delivered them to Jordan Park Camp. The most needed items were mattresses, couches, and cooking supplies.
"A need was seen and the church rose up to meet that need. It was awesome to see people in the community and from our church come together to serve their neighbors," said Ashley Caycedo of Walnut Creek Downtown. "The refugee drive ran smoothly, and we were able to bless families with multiple items to make their new place feel like home."
The organizers would like to thank everyone who participated in and contributed to the Refugee Donation Drive by donating, delivering, and organizing items as well as inviting people in the community to join us in helping these families.
The organizers would like to thank everyone who participated in and contributed to the Refugee Donation Drive by donating, delivering, and organizing items as well as inviting people in the community to join us in helping these families.
By Jackie Wallentin
Walnut Creek Windsor Heights
#m2tc | Pancake Brunch Raises Money for Operation Christmas Child
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| A Downtown Community Group serves pancakes Sunday to raise money for Operation Christmas Child. |
As a fundraiser for Operation Christmas Child, a Mission to
the City group served a pancake brunch after church on Sunday, May 24 at the Downtown location. The money raised – nearly $500 – will go toward the church’s
annual Christmas in July event on July 31. This year, the goal for Christmas in
July is to raise $7,000 and pack 2,000 shoeboxes with gifts for children in
impoverished countries with little or no access to the gospel.
“The pancake brunch is a great way to serve families from
the Sunday morning service as well as other Mission to the City groups looking
for an easy way to eat lunch together,” said Brett Stewart, one of the
organizers of the event. “Plus, the money raised goes to a great cause, and who doesn’t love
pancakes?”
The leftover pancakes, syrup, and butter were donated to
Bethel Mission, an emergency shelter for homeless men, and also taken to a
homeless camp in Des Moines.
Before church on Sunday, the group met at 7 a.m. at Walnut
Creek Windsor Heights to start mixing batter and flipping pancakes. They
filled seven roasters full of pancakes, which they hauled downtown before
church. Immediately following the service, the group set up a serving line in
front of the stage and also plugged in griddles to keep flipping
pancakes.
They served plain and chocolate chip pancakes with butter,
syrup, and peanut butter. They also offered lemonade, coffee, and water. The cost
was $5 per plate for all-you-can-eat pancakes, and kids ate for free.
Mark your calendars for Christmas in July on July 31, and
begin collecting new and gently used toys, school supplies, and hygiene items
for the gift boxes.
By Tim Laehn
Walnut Creek Downtown
#m2tc | Teams Play "Buddy" Baseball at the Kiwanis Miracle League
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| Teams "buddied" up with kids at the Kiwanis Miracle League for a day of baseball. Photo by: Faith Crane |
Multiple Walnut Creek Church teams spent day two of Mission to the City serving the Kiwanis Miracle League, an organization
devoted to giving children with special needs a place to enjoy America’s
greatest pastime.
Each member was “buddied” with a child and assisted in a
friendly game of baseball. Unlike your average little league, competition is
minimal. Every participant gets the opportunity to bat, run, and score; and
each game ends in a tie. Participants had varying degrees of functionality, so
members served by helping with coordination, running or standing alongside
children, helping participants to hold their bat or glove, and pushing children
bound to wheelchairs around each base.
Downtown Community Group leader Zachariah Saari enjoyed seeing all of
the encouragement just one game could bring to so many children.
“You could actually see kids light up and get super excited
about it,” he said. “The whole experience was really good because people cheered for each other. Everyone won; everyone got a hit, everyone got to
run through all the bases. It was really coordinated well to where everyone got
the best feeling of playing baseball.
“Some kids couldn’t communicate, so you had to try to point
at things, laugh, and smile, but everyone had a good idea how it worked," Zachariah said. “Some of the kids had been doing it for a long time.”
Travis Grandgeorge of Walnut Creek Downtown said the time spent with the children was a great way of living out the Gospel and investing in people that don’t know Christ by showing them that there are
people out there who will love them.
“My favorite part was just seeing how the kids reacted to
the game, to us being there,” Travis said. "And just all the encouragement
they showed each other, and even the encouragement we were able to show them,
and to see them absorb that.”
Follow what's happening during Mission to the City at m2tc.com.
By Noelle Thompson
Walnut Creek Downtown
#m2tc | 5,400 Meals Packaged for Families In Central Iowa
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| A Walnut Creek Windsor Heights team packages 5,400 meals for Meals From the Heartland during M2TC. |
In a little under two hours, a team from Walnut Creek Windsor Heights packaged 5,400 macaroni and cheese meals with the organization Meals From the Heartland. Teams from Mission to the City have served here in previous years packing meals as well.
Meals From the Heartland is a nonprofit based in Des Moines that empowers people to help the starving around the world, in the United States, and in central Iowa. In 2014 the organization packaged 10,658,144 meals. Their 2015 goal is 15 million meals. They rely largely on the help of volunteers from churches, businesses, and organizations.
The meals packaged by the M2TC team will be sent to families in central Iowa through local food banks and school programs. In addition to packaging meals, the team helped landscape the property and clean and sanitize the packaging facility.
By Jackie Wallentin
Walnut Creek Windsor Heights
#m2tc | It's Fun to Stay at the YMCA
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| Chris Meyer of Walnut Creek Windsor Heights paints the YMCA gym during M2TC Friday afternoon. |
To begin the Mission to the City weekend, two groups from Walnut Creek Windsor Heights spent Friday morning and afternoon serving their local Walnut Creek YMCA with some much needed renewal and repair.
More than 25 M2TC volunteers donned their painting clothes and touched up the walls in several rooms, as well as the curbs, lines, and crosswalks in the entire parking lot.
“I want this to be a family-friendly environment where people feel comfortable, that it’s kind of a home-away-from-home for them,” said Britt German, YMCA executive director.
The maintenance manager, Kevin Morrill, put the volunteers to hard work. Kevin is one of eight people who solve maintenance issues for 14 YMCAs in the greater Des Moines area. Since Kevin and the others are spread so thin, they do not usually have time to remove scuffs, organize closets, or paint the gymnasium.
“I’m impressed by everyone’s motivation to go the extra mile. They work quickly without having to be told what to do more than once,” said Kevin. “Members of the YMCA are going to notice the changes and love it, I guarantee it.”
By Brigitte Haugen
Walnut Creek Windsor Heights
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