HOP Day Spring 2022

On our second HOP Day, thirty-five adults, teens, and children joined together to Help Other People and had a lot of fun doing it!

Here’s a recap of the day’s accomplishments out in the community:

• Three adults and four teens, traveled to Nampa to help with spring cleaning at the Valley Women and Children’s Shelter (operated by the Boise Rescue Mission).
• A group of eight, including one teen and two kids, made quick work of raking at the Rescue Mission’s new facility, Sonrise Manor: A Transitional Christian Community. Located on Curtis Road, this former assisted living facility is being converted into transitional housing for formerly homeless residents seeking a fresh beginning toward independent living. Our group also got a tour of what’s being done inside the facility.
• One of our volunteer families washed windows for one of our older members who can’t tackle this task anymore. He really enjoyed visiting with the family while they washed the windows and he now has a brighter view when looking out!
• Two of our handier volunteers took care of a few repair projects for another member, removing plastic from a porch, trimming down a door, trimming some plants, and working up the garden spot. She was smiling when she reported they “Got more done than she ever imagined!” (And that they could come back anytime 😊)
• One project on the schedule will be done shortly after HOP Day. We’re happy to be able to help one of our neighbors near the church. Recent utility work disrupted their dirt driveway and we will work to help them restore it and spread gravel to even it out.

Back at the church more good works were underway:

• Volunteers assembled a variety of toiletries, socks, and snacks into 60 blessing bags for the homeless. These are available in the entryway for you to take one to keep in your car and give out when you see someone in need.
• Another crew put together jars of soup mixes. The volunteer assembly line layered ingredients like beans, rice, dried vegetables, and spices into jars. Then the jars were sealed and labeled with cooking instructions. They made twenty jars of both 5 Bean Soup and Garden Vegetable Soup. The soups are available at the church for you to take when you know someone needing help with a meal. All they need to do is to add water and a can of tomatoes (available along with the jars of soup).
• The third inside project was one that let volunteers’–adults and kids alike–creative juices run wild! They decorated 30 goodie bags for the Ronald McDonald House (RMH). RMH fills the sacks with snacks so parents can stay at their kid’s bedside without having to leave for food. Volunteers added stickers and jokes to the sacks, drew and colored fun pictures, and wrote encouraging messages. These sacks will definitely bring a little cheer to RMH families!
• There was also time in the day to help out our own daycare. Bark was added around the modular so it matched the new landscaping recently done around the church building. And some mint that was running rampant in the daycare playground was pulled out.

The morning concluded with lunch and fellowship.

We’re very appreciative of everyone who supported HOP Day by volunteering and by donating project supplies. We also received funds from Thrivent to purchase additional project supplies.

We hope to have another HOP Day in the fall and would love your ideas on what projects we might do then. If you have any feedback on HOP Day or ideas on other future community projects, please contact the church office. We also invite anyone interested to become part of our Community Involvement team to help us plan future HOP Days and other events.