We were honored this month to welcome several of our volunteers and their friends to join us for brunch to celebrate the work done through Volunteers in Action over the past year.  We enjoyed live music, delicious food, and friendly company as we were able to spend time together.  Thank you to all of our volunteers and friends for joining us in this celebration!

If you want to know what being a deacon is all about, are wondering about your responsibilities, or want to brush up on your skills, this workshop is for you.  Come and meet other new deacons to talk about how to be effective in your new role.

Topics we will cover:

• What being a deacon is all about.
• Leading the church in service in this time and place.
• Benevolence tools to help people grow and change.

What do previous attendees have to say?

• “Covered a lot in a good period of time. Has made me excited about being a deacon.”
•  “I will encourage the other new deacons at my church to attend the next one.”
• “This was very insightful and helpful!”

Date: Thursday, August 25, 2016

Where: Third Christian Reformed Church

2400 S Ash St

Denver, CO 80222

When: 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

RSVP: donnh@volunteersinaction.info or 303-713-9144

Canterbury Gardens is a low-income assisted living facility in Aurora.  Each month, the Volunteers in Action office staff visits residents at Canterbury Gardens that don’t get many visitors.  We’ve developed special relationships with these individuals, sharing in their hobbies and interests over the years.  Often at facilities like Canterbury Gardens, residents are simply seeking friendship; someone to share with, someone to listen to their life stories, someone to laugh with, someone to hold their hands and pray with them.  Joan, one of our friends at Canterbury Gardens, loves to color with bright pencils & markers, it’s very therapeutic for her.  These brightly colored pictures hang all around her residence, showing off her artistic expression.  If you have any adult style coloring books, pencils, markers, or  sharpeners, we can share them with several of the folks that we visit at Canterbury Gardens.   Please call 303-713-9144 for more information on donating art supplies for our friends, we can assure that they will be appreciated!

 

What do you say when you get frantic calls from seniors whose rent has been raised far beyond their ability to pay? What if there’s no one to turn to for immediate assistance, like a family member or a friend? This has become an epidemic in the greater Denver area as affordable housing is no longer a reality not only for low-income seniors but all low-income families. Our first inclination is to ask, “why are these people in these situations?” There are so many answers to that question and none of them seem adequate. I’m faced with Matthew 25:35-40 (you can read this passage on your own), but the prime question is, “when did we?” Of course we can’t fix all the problems, we can’t even touch the surface….BUT we do have hearts that can care and we are called to respond. A friend, Deb Butte, from Christ’s Body Ministries wrote, “I have worked with this population for over ten years now and I don’t have any grandiose solutions. In fact, I have a phrase from Mother Teresa hanging in my office, “We might not accomplish great things, but we can do small things with great love.” I think of small things like: looking people in the eye, listening without talking, asking their opinion on things, and maybe even giving an unkempt person a hug. It may not be providing for all of their basic needs, but it is a touch to the soul. And maybe, just maybe, it may make someone feel like they are actually a human being.” Isn’t that what Christ expects of us? Donn Hansum & I will be attending a forum at the History Colorado Center entitled, “Talking About the Affordable Housing Crisis: Tools for Delivering Bad News.” It won’t be fun but it should provoke thoughtful consideration on how to approach those in dire straits from caring hearts.

—Kelli Schuttinga, Volunteer Coordinator