CareFest Applies Love to Rochester

“It was our first time to participate and everything about the day was just wonderful. God is so faithful,” said volunteer Louise Paurus.  A single mother recipient of CareFest said, “This is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me.”  A public school leadership team wrote, “Thank you so much for all the cleaning, painting, and other work you did for us over the weekend.   The red stripe along the hallway is gorgeous.  We really appreciate your efforts.”

What was the cost of serving a widow, a single mother, or a fiscally constrained school district or ministry?  Perhaps not much in dollars, but significant personal investment of time and energy in planning, preparing, and carrying out the mammoth amount of work accomplished all over Rochester on June 14.  But the return on our investment is incalculable in terms of the lives touched.

1500 volunteers from over 20 churches served at 60 sites as diverse as the History Center, Season's Hospice, the Women's Shelter, Boys & Girls Club, Crossroads College, Friendship Place, and the Lower Room clothing ministry.  More than a dozen homeless shelters, seven personal residences, six parks, Studio Academy, and 21 public schools also experienced Jesus' love first-hand.

Reviewing the reports of what was accomplished is absolutely stunning!  School tasks included cleaning lockers, furniture, and windows; painting in 16 halls, 3 gyms, and 63 classrooms; weeding, mulching, landscaping, signage, and installing 30 bookshelves.  Work on the other sites included landscaping, maintenance such as painting, making repairs, gutter cleaning, and insulating; not to mention a total reroof of one residence, the demolition and replacement of a trailer home, and the cleaning and detailing of a car soon to be presented to a needy single mother.  New this year, volunteers donated clothing, household items, and small appliances to the Salvation Army’s “Fill the Truck” event at our CareFest staging center.  CareFest’s largest site this year was a facelift of Graham Park which saw over 200 gold shirts buzzing over the fairgrounds landscaping, scraping, and painting the grandstands and in a number of other buildings, and even repainting the main fairgrounds sign.

Berean Church led us to the throne of God in fittine worship at our day-ending celebration barbeque at Graham 1.

Our theme verse this year was from Galatians 6:9: Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.  Our volunteers’ faces and deeds reflected Jesus’ love for our city in profound and diverse ways that few will forget.  Thanks to each of you; may God reward you now and in eternity!