Answering the Call for Community Action |
By Eddie and Connie McNeillWe are certain God has called us to reach out to those in our community who know God and are seeking Him in a very real and personal way. Joyce Horace is one of the people who was brought to us. My wife, Connie, works with Joyce as a Paraprofessional educator for life skills special education at Cy Ridge High School. The children in this department are physically and mentally challenged. Connie has known Joyce for 2 years and invited Joyce to attend our Calvary LIFT group meeting on Friday nights. Joyce joined our group this fall session, and started attending Calvary’s services on Sunday, and one Sunday brought a friend for prayer. In June of this year, Joyce told Connie that she needed to sell her house because she was getting behind on the house note. She had undergone hip replacement surgery in June and fell short of paying all the medical bills. The house is very big and the note is very tough to pay. She lives with one son who does not stay there regularly. Joyce is a widow whose husband, Alphonzo, died in 2002 from complications that the U.S. Government now recognizes as coming from Agent Orange. He was a veteran and served in Vietnam for 4 years and then came back home and served protecting our nation in the Coast Guard for 6 more years. Joyce lives on a fixed government pension and works a second job, but still struggles financially. She needs to sell this home and get into something smaller that she can afford. With the help of a Christian real estate agent who is not charging her commission to sell the house, she’s temporarily avoided foreclosure, while trying to prepare her home to be sold. The real estate agent gave her a list of items to increase the value and improve the possibility of selling the home. On August 1, 2009, Connie and I, along with 21 other volunteers and donations from Calvary Community Church, came together to help Mrs. Horace. We tore out old and overgrown landscaping, painted, and assisted in making repairs inside her home. On August 14, under the supervision of Kathy Vosburg-Miller, Landscape Project Coordinator, 15 volunteers returned to finish the landscaping portion (picture attached). The inside work was completed under the supervision of Curtis LaMontagne, Interior Restoration Project Coordinator, Calvary members, and youth volunteers coordinated by the Calvary youth pastor, Jeff Chapman.
The picture of those attending on August 14 sums up the community effort of believers coming together for God’s purpose to help each other serve the needs of the widows and those in need. The inner joy, love, and sense of accomplishment are great motivators to encourage others to answer God’s call to action in his community.
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