Detroit Service Trip (March 31 - April 7)

For the past several years our local outreach team has led service trips to New Orleans during the week of spring break. While some who joined us brought construction skills, others brought a willing spirit and a desire to help in any way possible. The trip focused predominantly on helping homeowners renew their pride after Hurricane Katrina wiped away their homes. We replaced windows, plumbed bathrooms, repaired steps, and served with local agencies designed to bring homelessness to an end.

This year we're switching it up - think two teams, one mission. Here's the mission: To bring grace and peace to a place that has little of either. We're headed to Detroit from March 31 - April 7, to partner with the most creative agencies we've come across in our pursuit of smart compassion (simply put, smart compassion is compassion with the strategic goal of self-sufficiency).

Our chief partner, while serving in Detroit, will be The Central Detroit Christian Community Development Corporation (CDC) - a non-profit faith based organization committed to the city of Detroit. CDC thought long and hard about the working class poor who were suddenly homeless after losing their homes in the housing market crash. They bought the foreclosed homes, made them habitable, then sold them back to the local residents at a reduced price. To make it all happen, CDC held the mortgage notes themselves. When CDC noticed there was a shortage of fresh food in the specific 6-block area where they focus there attention, they bought a local building, converted it into a fresh produce grocery store, then hired local residents to work and manage the new store.

Team One:

Team one will partner primarily with CDC, rehabing a number of newly purchased residential units. Focusing specifically on construction, sign up for this team if you think you look good in a tool belt. Team one will need a wide array of skill sets, along with many willing unexperienced hands. If you have plumbing, tiling, electrical, roofing, framing, drywall, flooring... or any other useful building skill, we'd love for you to join us! We will have an ample stash of skilled workers, so there's no need to have years of experience to join this team, just know that you will be getting your hands dirty on a daily basis.

Team Two:

Team two will spend their mornings visiting and helping an assortment of inner city ministries serving the needs of the local community. In the afternoons, this team will roll up their sleeves and spend time relationally investing in children and students living in the projects. Team two will run much of it's own programming - led by the experienced Heidi Sweetman (who has been serving inner city Detroit for over a decade), and Deane Lafferty, our Willowdale Pre-school (Greenhouse) Director. If you've got a heart for kids, and want to bring some much needed smiles and attention to inner-city kids, this team is for you. Don't sweat the programming either. Deane and Heidi will have much of these details already planned out for you.

Important Details:

This service team is open to adults only (graduated from high school). We will be traveling to Detroit and around during the week in vans. The cost for the trip is $399, which includes accomodations, food during the stay, construction materials, and all transportation costs. We do have a limited amount of scholarship funding available. Please contact us if finances are a serious burden for you.

If you'd like to join us, please register below and be sure you'll be available for our required pre-trip meetings. We'll provide lunch and keep to a tight schedule, meeting from 12:30-1:30 p.m. for three Sundays: February 26, March 11, and March 25.

During our meeting times, we'll discuss a popular and thorough text on the theology of compassion - Generous Justice by Tim Keller. We'll have a copy of the book ready for you at our first meeting.

Any questions, please contact:

Jim Conkle
Local Outreach Director
jconkle@willowdalechapel.org
484.643.8506