Sunnyside Partners with Habitat for Humanity
Triumph House
In Luke chapter 6, Jesus tells his followers what it means to hear his words and to act on them: it “is like a man building a house, who dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock; when a flood arose, the river burst against that house but could not shake it, because it had been well built.”
For the past several years the leaders of Sunnyside, as well as the entire congregation, have listened for a word from God as we have discerned the future for our church family. Part of that call was to make our church home a more welcoming and accessible place for members, visitors and the community at large. We heard that call and by the grace of God and the generosity of so many people, we were able to act on that call.
We have also heard a call from God through Jesus’ teachings to be engaged outside of our own walls and to give to and serve those in need around us. As a response to the ways that God has blessed our congregation, we will dramatically act on this call this Spring as Sunnyside funds and builds a home through Habitat for Humanity for a local family in need.
“Triumph House” will be a celebration of the triumphs of God through our congregation as well as the triumphs of the family who will receive this house through their own hard work and commitment. Plans are already underway in scheduling and coordinating the actual building of the house which will take place primarily between June 4th and June 19th, with some work days before and after this week as needed.
It is the hope of the Session and the Habitat task force that everyone in the congregation will be able to find a way to help contribute to this project. Below you will find the variety of ways that we encourage people to get involved:
Direct donations to the house
Habitat Corner: Starting this Sunday, we will have a designated spot in the Gathering Place where you can get more information about the project, and where we will track the status of our fundraising. Additionally in this corner, we will be selling homemade items donated by Sunnysiders. Susan Shields will be coordinating these efforts. We would encourage everyone to check out the items for sale each week and consider purchasing something there.
Building the House: We will need many hands both skilled and unskilled to help actually building the house in June. Days will be broken up into morning and afternoon shifts. If you are able, please consider working a shift, a day or even the whole week. What a great way to spend your summer vacation, giving your time to a family in need! Sign ups for work days will start on May 9th!
Meal Preparation: We plan to have lunches provided for people on all of the work days. If you don’t feel like you can help with the actual work on the house, consider working at the church that week to help cook and deliver meals to the worksite. This is just as important for building up our community!
Children’s Programming: During the full work week, we will host a Vacation Bible School at the church. . We don’t want anyone to not be able to help on the house because they don’t have childcare! Click Here for the registration form, that can be turned in on Sunday mornings starting April 18th.
