Thursday, April 19, 2012

Day 3 Reflections

Here is a reflection from Wednesday's work day: 

Operation Foundation 2012: 
I had the opportunity to serve through OFPA twice this week. I was so impressed with the organization of the projects and the sweet attitude of all the volunteers. It was clear from the start that the heart and passion of the projects were not just focused on the work to be done, but the people. 
We were prayed over and sent out, map in hand, to find the place where we would scrape, paint, pull weeds, cut branches, and remove trash. But most importantly we would meet new friends and take the time to learn a bit about their lives. 
I'm always amazed when I work alongside AU students while they serve. I'm humbled by what I observe: Sincerity. Respect. Interest. Unassuming curiosity. Acceptance. Willingness. Love.

Bobbi has lived in her home for longer than some students have been alive. Her husband, who was always in charge of re-staining the deck, died a few years ago. She had the supplies, but not the man power. I loved how Bobbi showed her appreciation, not through words, but by offering sandwiches and drinks to us. My reaction was to graciously refuse her offer and continue on with my work. Everyone else followed my lead, but two. When they accepted her gift (really her thanks) of a ham sandwich I saw something change in Bobbi. I think she felt appreciated and respected. This small action really spoke to me. It taught me that it's important to make others feel accepted and significant in a way that will resonate with them. Re-staining the deck was the task, but reaching out to Bobbi in a way that made her feel special was the goal. 

Mildred has also lived in her home for years. She worked hard at a minimum wage job to pay her house off completely. She was obviously a work horse- getting her hands dirty and doing things a woman of her age should not be doing (even though she is in poor health). She probably would have climbed up on the roof if she needed to. Mildred has had some hard life situations handed to her and her family has grieved her. We repainted her shed and helped clean up her back yard. Mildred was so easy to talk to and very quick to open up about her life. My favorite part of this experience was watching students invest the little bit of time we had in learning enough about Mildred's life to connect with her and show her Christ's love. When Mildred hugged me as I left, I prayed that she would learn what I have learned: that the purpose was not a newly painted shed and a cleaner back yard: but meeting new friends who serve and love with no strings attached. 

My hope is that has we serve the Bobbi's and Mildred's of our community, that what remains is God's presence. I pray that has we clean, scrape, fill, lift, replace, and re-make, that God is doing similar things in the souls of these individuals, as well as within us. We are called to be His hands and feet. To me, this means that we should work hard, but with the intention to share God's love and make HIM look good. 

This experience has left me amazed, filled, and energized. Thank you for the opportunity to serve.

-Beth B.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

3 down / 3 to go

Thinking through our service week thus far brings up many fond memories. We have had an estimated 300 volunteers, served all over the community with a wide range of projects, and we are still receiving projects daily that we can tackle as the week progresses. The last three days have exampled what we do and why we do it. Check out the pictures to see what we mean.


Yet, through the excitement of the past 3 days, breaks the anticipation for the next 3. If you have not yet come out to Operation, we totally recommend that you do!!! We are in full stride and if you would like to see how great of an impact we can have on this community, together, I strongly encourage that you come volunteer.

If you have any pictures, stories from this week, or questions, feel free to email us at operationfoundationPA@gmail.com. Thank you everyone and God bless!!!

-David H.

Day Two Reflections

Tuesday was fantastic! The Urban League was booming with volunteers eager to spend their time being the hands and feet of Jesus. The following are reflections from Tuesday's work day:


"Today a few of us from South and Tara (apartment buildings on AU's campus) helped out with Operation Foundation. I expected to go into one of the rougher areas of Anderson, just from helping the past two years, but was unsure what exactly this project would consist of. My group was went to the Rickers on 22nd and MLK where we would pull weeds for about an hour and a half. When we asked a store worker what he needed done, and if he had weeds to pull, he responded "Weed?! We have no weed!" After our minor misunderstanding, we started working. During this time we were able to talk about a lot of thing, but also goof around and have fun. This project, along with other events recently, have allowed me to realize the joy that exists while helping our community with other brothers and sisters in Christ. Anderson is a broken town. As I learn and see more about it, I want to do as much as I can to show the community God's love. Thankfully, this can be done with joy. I absolutely love coming together and serving with others and truly seeing the impact we are having on this town, for Him. It's something that should, and will, extend after this week is over.  As Habakkuk 1:5 says "Look at the nations (Anderson) and watch--and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told."        -Justin B.




"Today, our group started out by going to an elderly woman's house who needed her garage scraped and painted. Unfortunately, she wasn't ready for our help quite yet; she wanted to get the roof replaced before we started painting it. When we asked her if it would be better if we came back tomorrow, she was astounded that we would even offer such a thing. She couldn't believe that we had walked "all the way there" ("all the way" being less than 2 blocks) so she insisted that she would pick us up tomorrow.

Once we got back to the Urban League, we headed out for round two! We headed to Bobby's house where we were able to help her stain her deck. The group of students dove right in, but it was cool to see Bobby come out numerous times to offer to help. Mind you, this is a fairly old lady who would probably end up hurting herself more than she would be able to help, but nonetheless her heart was in it!

Though it was really great to see the first lady so pleased that we were more than willing to come back when it was more convenient and to see Bobby so passionate about helping, my favorite part of the day (and Operation Foundation in general) is getting to see Christ shine through my peers. Despite all of the hurdles that came up today, there wasn't a SINGLE complaint out of anyone. As soon as we got to each work site, everyone grabbed some paint and a brush and just dove right in. To have a student orchestrated event based solely on volunteers run so well and help so many people in Anderson is truly a blessing. Nice work everyone! Way to grow His kingdom!"      
 -Ellen C.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Day One Reflections


Yesterday was the first day for Operation Foundation 2012, and what a day it was! This is my third year involved with OFPA and even though we are still growing as an organization, we have learned so much.  I am so excited to see what else comes our way this week, as well as seeing the Kingdom of God shine through the work happening. 

-Megan W.


This is a story that one of our volunteers sent us from yesterday.  Please give it a read and let us know what you think!  If you have a story, please send it to operationfoundationpa@gmail.com and I'll do my best to get it posted. 

From Kevin S.- "What a profound impact rolled up sleeves and a few buckets of paint can do. The work of Operation Foundation is so much more than that though. This semester in one of my classes we have been talking about social capital: What is it? How do we create it? What does it do? Operation Foundation is an incredible project that is doing plenty of good for the city of Anderson.  However, in the long run, what does a new coat of paint do for a community? That might be hard to tabulate or show on a graph, but undoubtedly it makes a difference. It restores hope and a sense of pride for those living in this community. It opens doors for communication and bridges social barriers. I met a boy yesterday, Trevion, who has dreams of becoming a professional, football, basketball, baseball, hockey, boxing, and soccer player. Of course the impossibility of this is obvious, but that didn’t matter to Trevion. So I asked him, why did it matter for him to be a professional at all of them? 
“If I did all of those things I would have enough money to get my family and everyone I care about into a better place.”
God moment.  
It would have been so easy to trivialize the work that was being accomplished. But in God’s hands it makes a profound impact. Through that opportunity we were able to reach out to that boy and show him that people do care, and that we believe in him. The work of Operation Foundation is so much more than restoring buildings, it’s about restoring hope in the hearts of people and reviving communities one person at a time.  And that’s not just for those being served, but for those serving as well. I know my heart was changed by meeting Trevion. "

Monday, April 16, 2012

Monday Adventures

Today we all worked hard at Vincent Bryant's house. We had Kappa Delta Pi volunteers to help us get started and then SGA volunteers to continue work in the house. Within the house, we painted the living room and dinning room, walls and ceilings. Vincent was a super cool guy. It was great to talk with him and hear his appreciation for us to come help. By the end of the night we were all covered in white interior paint, including Vincent's dog, Chico! :)


It is such a great reminder of how much a blessing it is to serve our community here in Anderson. If you would like to check out pictures from our days adventures look under the Pictures tab! Likewise, check back daily for updates on what we are doing and pictures!

-David H.

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Time for Action


Tonight is the last night before Operation Foundation's annual service week begins. As many of you know, much time has gone into planning everything thus far, but tomorrow is time for planning to turn to action. Tomorrow we take to the streets in an effort to form bonds of community amongst the city of Anderson and praise God through helping residents with physical restoration in their lives. God has blessed us so much. We have received an exceeding amount of unexpected financial support, a record number of project request forms from local residents in the Shadeland neighborhood (our marked off area of service), and we are expecting an estimated 400+ volunteers to serve over the next 6 days. THIS IS AWESOME!!!!
We will be posting stories and pictures daily, so stay on board right here with our Operation website. Stories will fall under our stories page, filled in with a few pictures, whereas the majority of daily pictures will be posted on our pictures page. If you have any stories or photos you would like to share, just let us know when you volunteer and we will connect you with the capability to do so! :)
It is NEVER to late to become a part of what we are doing this next week. If you live in the city of Anderson and have projects for us to help you out with, contact us at operationfoundationPA@gmail.com asap and we will see if we can help you. If you would like to volunteer or support us in any way just show up to our headquarters, the Urban League of Madison County, between 4 p.m. - 8 p.m. Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. on Saturday, or contact us at operationfoundationPA@gmail.com.

-David H.

Monday, April 9, 2012

Updates & Info

Hey Everyone!

 We seriously cannot believe that OFPA week is so close!!! Just a reminder, Operation Foundation Project Anderson is NEXT WEEK, April 16th-21st from 4-8PM. If you are planning on volunteering, awesome! We are so excited to have you. If you are on the fence, please come out and lend a hand- you won't be sorry. For those of you still needing volunteer forms, check out the 'Volunteer' tab overhead and bring it with you when you volunteer, or if you are more of the "planning" type feel free to email Molly or David at operationfoundationPA@gmail.com to set up a time to volunteer. Tonight in our meeting we finalized our game plan and solidified some project details. Needless to say, we have some awesome projects this year!


Okay, so now for some DIRECTIONS!!!


From the University-

From College Dr. (the street with Park Place) turn RIGHT on to 8th street

Follow 8th street to MADISON ave. and take a LEFT

From Madison take a RIGHT on to 10th street

Follow 10th and look for the Operation Foundation Sign that will be outside of the Urban League

 Here is the mapped image of where the Urban League (point A) is with regards to the streets and the area we will be primarily working in.



Hope to see you there!
 -Jennie

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

A Sneak Peek at...PROJECTS!

Isaiah 61:4 Says,
 "They will rebuild the ancient ruins
   and restore the places long devastated;
they will renew the ruined cities
   that have been devastated for generations."

While our projects may not be devastated ruins, we are excited to release some information of projects that we will be working on this year! If you aren't already bursting with excitement, you should be. Listed below are the projects we are releasing, along with a "code" name that I have taken the liberty of assigning it...just because its more fun to read! Operation Foundation week is drawing near! *NOTE- None of the "code" names will actually be used on the job.

PROJECTS

Project #1 (Operation Curb Appeal)- Volunteers will be freshening up and painting the trim and windows of one resident's home.

Project #2 (Operation Over-Haul) Volunteers will paint trim around floors, windows, and doors; they will mow and clean the lawn, repair part of the floor, and will remove the oven hood.


Project #3 (Operation Spring Clean) Volunteers will be weeding, & cleaning.


Project #4 (Operation Lawn & Fawn (over that great paint-job that is)) Volunteers will take the time to clean the yard, & paint the resident's living room.


Project #5 (Operation Trash Dash) Volunteers will be doing trash removal, & painting.


Project #6 (Operation Paint-it-up) Volunteers will be painting several rooms and trim, cleaning carpet, and (hopefully) fixing toilet.


Project #7 (Operation Spruce) Volunteers will be painting trim and windows at one resident's home.


Project #8 (Operation Power Clean) Volunteers will clean gutters and power wash a resident's house.


We hope this glance at some of the projects is building up your excitement!!!


-Jennie

Monday, April 2, 2012

OFPA Kick-off

Saturday afternoon, Operation Foundation and the Urban League of Madison County got together to kick-off this years project week.  The event brought out community members to hear more about OFPA and how they can get involved.  It was a blessing to see some of the people in the community who will be participating in this years project week, and even more encouraging to know they want to be there alongside us working on these projects.  There were many project's turned in that vary from painting to brush cleanup, to relaying floor.  We also were given a large donation from a company to help complete projects.  We are so excited about what is coming up for the week of April 16-21 and we want you to get involved.  For more information, please contact operationfoundationpa@gmail.com !

-Megan

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

WHBU

This past weekend, Operation Foundation had the privilege to speak on the radio with Anderson's Mayor, Kevin Smith. He has his own talk show that airs on Saturday mornings on WHBU. Megan and I were welcomed into the studio but very apprehensive to touch anything with so many buttons surrounding us. We put on the headsets, adjusted the microphones, and were ready to go. Mayor Kevin began by asking us basic questions- our name, year in school, major, how we came to AU, etc. For the next thirty to forty minutes, we discussed Operation Foundation. He asked us about our mission statement, target area of the city, goals for this year, the kickoff, and other important aspects! It was a great opportunity to not only develop a relationship with the mayor of the city in Anderson, but to also to get the word out to residents listening! We are always open for more people to volunteer and for more projects to be submitted! Contact operationfoundationPA@gmail.com for more information!

-Sarah

Thanks to Todd Baldridge, the City Webmaster, for broadcasting us and for taking the pictures below!



Monday, March 26, 2012

Door to Door Visits

Today five of the Operation Foundation leadership members and Mauryn, one of our partners at the Urban League, had the opportunity to go door to door and visit residents. In short, we handed out flyers with information for our community meeting on Saturday and were able to pass out a few project request forms. I think I can speak for us all when I say, what a great day! I know we were thankful for and encouraged by the residents we were able to interact with; such an awesome community. From what I have been told, today we all had more positive reactions and more residents at home/willing to answer the door than last year. Although we still have a few more streets to visit, things are picking up momentum! We are all excited to see what a difference Operation Foundation will make this year. Also, we are still looking for more volunteers! Contact us or look under the volunteer tab to get involved.

-Jennie

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Less than a month!!!

We are within a month of Operation Foundation's 2012 service week! Things are come together more and more daily. Please be in prayer that the beautiful spring weather continues into the days of April 16-21st. Sunshine is always desirable. Also, if you would like to volunteer with Operation this year check out the newly added Volunteer Applications under the Volunteer tab above! If you have a project you would like us to help you out with this year check out the Project Request Form under the project tab! This is the start to being involved in Operation Foundation Project Anderson this year.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Youth Ministry Network

We went to meet with the Youth Ministry Network of Madison County today to spread the word further about volunteering. It was great to be able to express our off-campus desires for this year. We are very excited for the youth of Madison County to get involved in Operation Foundation. If you are a student and would like to volunteer let us know at operationfoundationPA@gmail.com. All ages are welcome. Bring friends for more fun helping out the Anderson community.

Here are some pictures from years past of students helping out!






Everyone is welcome to help out.

-David

Monday, March 5, 2012

New Pages

Check out all the new pages with the above links! We will have more information on volunteer applications and project request forms soon. Excited to see what God will do this year through Operation Foundation.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Dates set!

Operation Foundation is in full swing for 2012. The dates for this year's week long service project are set for April 16th - 21st. We are excited for another chance to serve the community this spring. If you would like to volunteer feel free to email us at operationfoundationPA@gmail.com. More information to come. Thanks!