Middletown Journal
By Rick McCrabb, Columnist
A 50-plus house renovation blitz is called a first step
MIDDLETOWN (OH) — The idea, to most, would seem impossible.
After years of renovating one home in Middletown, volunteers from Berachah Baptist Church — this time assisted by two other churches — tackled a larger project: 50 homes in four days.
Clark Helvey, outreach and mission director at Berachah and project manager, called it “a lofty goal.”
Regardless, at 5 p.m. Sunday — during a celebration at Robert “Sonny” Hill Community Center — Helvey and the Rev. Lamar Ferrell, pastor of Berachah, and city officials proclaimed the four-day blitz an “overwhelming success.”
Consider that hundreds of volunteers renovated 50-plus homes in the city, and the $50,000 in materials were paid for through the Middletown Community Foundation and a Community Development Block Grant fund, and the project was completed on time.
And there was paint left over.
Doug Adkins, community revitalization director for the city, applauded the efforts of the volunteers.
“This has been wonderful,” he said.
And what’s next for Berachah and its army of volunteers whose closets must be stuffed with paint-covered T-shirts? Ferrell said the church hopes to complete another “Extreme Makeover” this fall.
“We’re ready,” he said.
Helvey compared Middletown’s climb out of its depressive condition to a marathon.
“It all begins with a step,” he said. “You can’t run 26 miles without taking that first step. You know it’s going to be difficult, but you have to sacrifice, you have to endure. It’s a process.”
That’s a lot to ask for a city labeled as “dying” by a national publication.
“I don’t see that,” Clark said. “I see life in this city. We are not done. We have been knocked down, but we’re making every effort to get back up. We are not finished.”
'It’s amazing the difference a coat of white paint can make'
Read the rest of this incredible story at http://bit.ly/cPqW4H
By Rick McCrabb, Columnist
A 50-plus house renovation blitz is called a first step
MIDDLETOWN (OH) — The idea, to most, would seem impossible.
After years of renovating one home in Middletown, volunteers from Berachah Baptist Church — this time assisted by two other churches — tackled a larger project: 50 homes in four days.
Clark Helvey, outreach and mission director at Berachah and project manager, called it “a lofty goal.”
Regardless, at 5 p.m. Sunday — during a celebration at Robert “Sonny” Hill Community Center — Helvey and the Rev. Lamar Ferrell, pastor of Berachah, and city officials proclaimed the four-day blitz an “overwhelming success.”
Consider that hundreds of volunteers renovated 50-plus homes in the city, and the $50,000 in materials were paid for through the Middletown Community Foundation and a Community Development Block Grant fund, and the project was completed on time.
And there was paint left over.
Doug Adkins, community revitalization director for the city, applauded the efforts of the volunteers.
“This has been wonderful,” he said.
And what’s next for Berachah and its army of volunteers whose closets must be stuffed with paint-covered T-shirts? Ferrell said the church hopes to complete another “Extreme Makeover” this fall.
“We’re ready,” he said.
Helvey compared Middletown’s climb out of its depressive condition to a marathon.
“It all begins with a step,” he said. “You can’t run 26 miles without taking that first step. You know it’s going to be difficult, but you have to sacrifice, you have to endure. It’s a process.”
That’s a lot to ask for a city labeled as “dying” by a national publication.
“I don’t see that,” Clark said. “I see life in this city. We are not done. We have been knocked down, but we’re making every effort to get back up. We are not finished.”
'It’s amazing the difference a coat of white paint can make'
Read the rest of this incredible story at http://bit.ly/cPqW4H
they came to Zerubbabel and to the heads of the families and said, "Let us help you build because, like you, we seek your God and have been sacrificing to him since the time of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us here." Ezra 4:2 NIV
No comments:
Post a Comment