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CitySERVE 2008 Largest Event to Date!
 On May 3, national Join Hands Day for volunteering, hundreds of area Christians gathered as God’s “sent” people to provide a day of service and ministry in urban Cleveland. This year’s CitySERVE event, organized annually by Building Hope in the City and Lutheran High School West, was the largest to date, gathering to-gether the talents of more than 420 people to serve at 25 area urban Lutheran congregations, schools and other faith-based and social agencies. (reprinted from the Lutheran Messenger)
“CitySERVE demonstrates what’s possible when God’s people come together in His name to bless others and give witness to His love for us in Christ,” said Brian Upton, Assistant Director for Building Hope in the City. The impact of the event was felt across Northeast Ohio, including these highlights:
- At Luther Memorial School, CitySERVE participants helped lead a neighborhood childrens’ carnival that at-tracted dozens of unchurched families to the school.
- At 2100 Lakeside and New Life Community, two area ministries/shelters for homeless individuals, cleaning, organizing and food preparation were completed.
- At local congregations, including St. Mark-Cleveland, Trinity, Zion-East 30th Street, St. John – Garfield Heights, St. Philip, Martin Luther-St. Paul, St. John-Nottingham and Iglesia Cristiana Hispana participants fur-thered ministry by painting and cleaning facilities, prayerwalking through local neighborhoods, preparing a community garden, and helping serve lunch at children’s ministries.
- In downtown Lorain, nearly 50 CitySERVE participants volunteered with the Neighborhood House Associa-tion to help rehab several homes and apartments for those in need. Meanwhile in Cleveland, another Ci-tySERVE crew invested their efforts with Habitat for Humanity.
- Two area families who recently experienced personal tradgies were blessed by CitySERVE teams who completed spring yard cleanup activities.
 Following the day of work, CitySERVE participants gathered at Lutheran High School West for a worship service led by the worship band at Community of Hope-North. Rev. Michael Hageman preached the conclud-ing message. The event concluded with a barbeque dinner. CitySERVE grew by more than 30% in participation in 2008. Upton attributes to several factors, including the ability for whole families and church groups to serve together, the opportunities for participants to engage in meaningful work and service, and an increased focus at Lutheran High School West to give its student body more opportunities to apply their faith through service.
The event was made possible thanks to the support of several organizations and people including Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Chapters in Northeast, East and South Cuyahoga, The Cleveland Lutheran High School Association, Chik-Fil-A and Lowe’s in Rocky River, David Beckman, DDS; and Ron & Judy Marinko, among many others.
For more information about volunteering in urban ministry, contact Building Hope in the City at 216-281-4673 or at www.buildinghopeinthecity.org.
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