An exciting new relationship

It's that time of year when I try to get out and about as much as possible to share the story of The GreenHouse and recruit volunteers for our after-school programs. Last Sunday, I had an opportunity to speak at a local church here in Natomas and on Thursday night, I visited Sac State's Intervarsity fellowship group. It's always fun to share our story with new audiences, but it can be a challenge to sum up all that The GreenHouse is and does within the context of a 5-10 minute announcement. If I say, "The GreenHouse is.... a community center," people are sometimes confused, thinking that we have an actual building with a "GreenHouse" sign on the front. We do not. So lately, I've been saying instead, "The GreenHouse is...a web of relationships." For now, it just seems to be a more accurate description since relationships are the foundation of everything we do. Mostly, those relationships are between caring adults (volunteers and staff) and amazing kids. But there are also: relationships among volunteers; relationships with churches, volunteer agencies, colleges, high schools, other non-profits, and local government officials; relationships with parents; relationships among board members and staff members; and the list goes on and on!

Yesterday, we had a Volunteer Day of Service at The GreenHouse. The vision for the day was two-fold: to introduce new people to our community who had never served at The GreenHouse before (ie: build new relationships) and to demonstrate the love of Christ to the owners and tenants of American River Village apartments through our service to them (ie: deepen existing relationships).

The week or so before the event I was fairly stressed out. I had multiple grant proposals due, a few speaking engagements, a workshop to attend, and an upcoming Board retreat to prepare for. And in spite of a very qualified and dedicated team of volunteers who were handling nearly all of the details for the Day of Service, I still decided to worry about silly details and even did a bit of negative self-talk ("No new people are going to come out to volunteer. The residents and owners of ARV aren't going to care or even notice that you are doing this day of service. This is all a waste of time.")

Good thing God can still work, even when I doubt. I didn't do an official count, but I think nearly 4o people showed up to work for the Day of Service...and about 60% of them had never volunteered at The GreenHouse before! And in addition to that, the most amazing thing happened. A man who recently purchased one of the units at American River Village (he rents it out to a tenant) showed up and served alongside us, all morning long. And...he is a Board Member on their Homeowner's Assocation! If you don't know the history behind our relationship with the ARV Board and the many, many, MANY months (and years) that we've tried to form a relationship with any of the owners there so that we can negotiate a sensible lense with their HOA and once again get back into the Clubhouse, then that probably doesn't seem like such a big deal to you. But trust me, it was a miracle! I tried really hard to not have my mouth gaping open wide as he was saying things like, "When I heard you guys were coming here to do this, I knew I had to come down and help out. I tried to get other people to come. too. This is a real gift to us. You want this place to be in better shape and I do too." Seriously?! Thank you God for this man! He worked hard all day painting trim on his neighbors' houses and got to see first-hand the love that we have for the community. It far surpassed my expectations for the day. I am so thankful for this new relationship that was formed yesterday and I can't wait to see where it will take us in the future.