This is what community development is all about...

Last night over 40 families showed up for our neighborhood meetings for Oak St. & Eucalyptus Ave.  Each neighborhood group met to connect with one another, share ideas for improving the community and register for the Christmas Store.  (More on the Christmas Store here and below.) 

Empowering Neighbors
At the end of the evening, we joined the groups together to hear a presentation by Southern California Associates of Governments about proposed plans to bring a public transit project (think train, light rail, etc.) through Bellflower, connecting LA to Santa Ana.  Because there is talk of bringing a train stop to the north end of Bellflower's downtown, which borders both Eucalyptus and Oak neighborhoods, we felt this information is extremely relevant to neighbors.  One neighbor shared her excitement and concern for the new project.  She knew the train would be good for the community, but since Bellflower doesn't have any form of rent control, she was worried that a train stop close by could raise property value and rent, resulting in many families being displaced from our neighborhoods.  The presenter validated her comment and said that is precisely why the neighbors need to be involved at this early stage.  She encouraged them to start talking with the city about their fears.  We decided to host a second meeting with neighbors to strategize how to connect best with the city about their concerns.  


Neighbors Giving Back
We registered 35+ families for the Christmas Store last night.  Individuals, local churches, businesses and organizations donate brand new gifts to stalk the shelves of the Christmas Store.  Registered neighbors come and shop, buying presents at 90-95% off the original price.  Then, 100% of the money that comes in goes to a good cause, which is determined by the neighbors.  After some discussion about a few causes to support, they voted to send the money to help build a well in Africa to provide clean water in a village.  

The neighbors voted to send the proceeds to help build a well in Africa to provide clean water.  We're going to send this picture with the check in December.  Look how proud and excited everybody is in this picture!

True development takes time, but it's worth the wait.  I'm so grateful that I was able to be a part of last night.

Homeless Families and Empty Sunday School Classrooms

I got a call the other morning from my friend Justin. A family that he has known for several years through his youth ministry told him that they were being evicted. This mom of three kids between the ages of 9-14 had been paying $650 a month to rent a travel trailer. When she lost her house cleaning job that was paying her under the table, she could no longer pay the rent. Her neighbor has offered her the back of her truck to sleep in for the night and that might be where they end up staying.

Justin called me because in his words, “that is unacceptable.” He wants to help the family but doesn’t know what resources are available to the family and he is trying to get his church to do something about it but that bureaucratic process will be a long one which will end up with help being too little, to late.

The frustrating thing is, I don’t really know what to do either. Despite the fact that social workers in our organization deal with families like this everyday I have little help to offer. If they do not fit our relatively narrow qualifications for immediate financial, assistance we have no place to send them.

The reality is there is NOTHING in our immediate area that is set up to help families like this. Evicted, broke, out of work… I want someone or something to blame for this dilemma. I jump automatically to the family, they should have called sooner, they must have some sort of addiction stuff going on, they must be lazy.

The reality is stark though. Whatever the cause is of this family’s crisis, our local system in Bellflower has nothing for this specific family. 211, the LA county resource call center, will refer her to a shelter out of the area and or give her access to hotel vouchers for a few nights but there is nothing after that. What is the answer? Shelters are expensive financially and socially. Immediate financial assistance will not really help in the long run because of her eviction. What the family needs is a LOCAL place for at least 3 months were they can land long enough for mom to get a job and the kids don’t have to leave their school.

What will we as God’s people in this city do? We have resources. We have people. We have money. We have buildings (approximately 30 church buildings with countless classrooms that sit empty 90% of the week.) I wonder what Jesus feels about that? With hurting and poor neighbors all around us, is Jesus pleased with our clean and tidy classrooms that sit empty, preserved for telling Bible stories to the kids of the saints a couple of days a week?

Would it be possible to set up a Hospitality Network in Bellflower like this one? http://www.familypromise.org/ihn-video What do you think?

Community Responds to Prayer Requests for Bellflower

Photo courtesy of Diandra Jay/Press Telegram

Last Tuesday we hosted the Mayor's Community Prayer Breakfast.  We had a panel of community experts sharing, from their perspective, how we could pray for our city during the economic downturn.
(From left to right)

• Nichole McGahey, President of Caring Connections, a non-profit organization dedicated to serving the needs of children/families in BUSD, shared about the struggles that local families with school-aged children are experiencing.  She also remarked on the incredible support within our community & school district to help one another.
• Marina Flores, Program Director of Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing through OPHS, shared about the 150 families that have approached their program for help keeping a roof over their heads.
• Mike Egan, City Manager of Bellflower, expressed his deep gratitude for the staff who have remained faithful to serving even though they've had to take big cuts and for the many organizations who have stepped up to take over what the city can no longer afford.  He was transparent in sharing the many financial needs in our city and asked for the people to pray for wisdom for the leaders as they make tough decisions.
• Cristina McConnell, President of the Bellflower Chamber of Commerce, told the crowd about how several business owners are working together to creatively support local businesses in our city.  She also shared about the hard times many local businesses are facing due to people spending less of their paycheck locally.

After the panel shared their prayer requests, four community members led the group of 100 in prayer.

One guest was particularly moved by the stories of local families struggling to make ends meet.  The next morning he dropped off a check for $1000 to Caring Connections to be used toward basic needs for families in our school district.

Click here to read the article written about the breakfast on Press Telegram.

6th Annual Golf Marathon TODAY!

As I write, Joel Holwerda, Kendall Carrico, Adam Edwards, Ethan Strong, Robert VerWys & Rachel VerWys are swinging away at 100 holes of golf for our 6th Annual Golf Marathon fundraiser.  You better believe they're going to be hurting tomorrow :)

It's not too late to sponsor one of the golfers to help Bellflower reach our goal of raising $15,000 today!  (We're already close to the $10,000 mark!)  Click here and select the name of the golfer to make an online donation for Bellflower.

Here are some pictures from this morning:

Do you teach excellence?

Second servings were being passed around the dinner table in my parents’ backyard when my dad broke into a loud laugh. “Son” he says to me, “all those years of mowing my lawn, I didn’t expect it to be job training!”

We shared a laugh, but as I think about it now I am struck by something, isn’t that where most of us received our “job training”? Someone who cared a lot about us invested time, taught us the ropes, and showed us how to do work with excellence. That investment was priceless and our success today is in part due to those people.

At Good Soil Industries, we’re wrestling with the question, “what about the people who didn’t have that upbringing? How will they come to succeed?” It's through daily work and discipleship that God's people are teaching the Good Soil participants the lessons that many of us learned in the homes we grew up in. Timeliness, respect for authority, to wear a clean uniform, to work with excellence; and as the guys begin to internalize these lessons they gain a sense of pride in themselves and in their work. They become successful employees and doors open that were not possible before.