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Where: Gateway Apartments, 4712 Gaston Avenue Dallas, TX 75246
When: Saturday, June 5th 10AM
What: June Community Service Opportunity – “Faith Through Flowers”
We’re going to do a landscaping/beautification project at Gateway Apartments. I’m asking each volunteer to buy a PERENNIALS (Any color. Approx. $10 worth) at your local Wal-Mart/Lowes/Home Depot and bring it with you in addition to whatever gardening tools you have. We will start planting at 10AM.
One Body DFW Contact: Ellen Vuong
As I’m organizing the landscaping/beautification project at Gateway Apartments, I spoke to Shama Shams, Family Gateway Community Relations Manager, to gain a better understanding of the organization and its clients. The question I really wondered about was, “How does someone find themselves living in transitional housing?” Shama explained that multiple contributing factors often play a part in homelessness: lack of work skill, lack of role models, different value systems, lack of values of self sufficiency, etc. She encounters “Generations of Welfare,” which is when the children, who have homeless parents using welfare, grow up and live out the same situations.
The goal of Family Gateway is to provide housing for employable individuals and then teach them job and life skills. Currently, Gateway Apartment has 74 residents, 48 of whom are children (under 17 years old). The program’s process:
So why flowers? Well, why not? Actually, Shama asked us to help make the apartment complex feel less like an “institution” and more like a home. I hope the flowers will serve as a beautiful reminder to the residents of God’s love for them. It’s always nice to come home to a place that is welcoming.
Friday afternoon – I stopped by Springcreek Community Church to help organize the donations that the church had received. My first impression when I walked into the church’s main auditorium was, “Wow. This is a lot of stuff!” There was literally a mountain of clothing donations. I had flashbacks of when I worked in retail. Some donated items that caught my attention: furniture (sofas and tables), t.v.’s, and a wedding dress and its matching veil (still in its original dry-cleaning box). Amusingly enough, a male volunteer temporary labeled post-its to sort the apparel into sections. We put the wedding dress in “Ladies Fancy Things.”
Saturday afternoon – The goal was to give away all of the donations in the above photo. Praise God – that is exactly what happened! I don’t have an “after” photo, but there was nothing left. We signed up for the afternoon time slot to clean-up after the event. Only a couple of us were able to commit to this event: Tin, Tiffany , Linh, and myself. However, everything was running so smoothly that if any more people had come, we really wouldn’t have had anything to do! Our assigned task was to clean-up and organize the volunteer meeting room. After some sweeping and chair-stacking, it was back in order for the church to hold their regular activities. Our service experience was brief but was still a good opportunity to serve alongside others.
Thanks to the volunteers for coming out on Saturday and thanks to Springcreek Community Church for organizing this amazing event!
On a side note: We’re wearing “GiveDifferent.org” t-shirts that Springcreek provided. Instead of spending money to make t-shirts for the event, the church saved money and spray painted “Go and Be.Org” on the back of these extra shirts. Springcreek is actively making a global difference in Katito, Kenya by improving the lives of our neighbors across the world. Check it out at www.GiveDifferent.org !
