Eight Days of Hope

Steve Tybor and members of the Eight Days of Hope leadership team were in town on Wednesday and Thursday of this week. They were here to do advanced planning for their October 26 thru November 2 trip to Cedar Rapids. Eight Days of Hope plans to bring 400-600 volunteers from all over the US to Cedar Rapids to assist with wiring, plumbing, sheetrocking, painting and repairing over 100 homes that were damaged in the flood! In addition, we hope that another 400-500 people from the Serve the City chruches will join this army of volunteers to show the love of Jesus to our community.

It was a busy two days! We met with Mayor Kay Halloran and City Council member Brian Fagan to introduce them to the leadership team and to let them know that several hundred people will be descending on Cedar Rapids at the end of October. We toured the 10 churches that have offered to open their facilities so that the out of town volunteers will have a place to sleep. We met with Tom Watson, the infrastructure commander in the town of Palo. By the way, almost half of the 477 homes in Palo are still uninhabited!

We had two meetings with over 60 people attending to learn how to complete the Homeowner Repair Request form. Oakland Nazarene hosted an informational lunch with 60 in attendance. We had an informational meeting for the churches providing housing, and we also met with several local electrical contractors and representatives of the Linn Area Long Term Recovery Coalition. You can click on the this link to see a slideshow of our time.

Whew! It was a full two days. I'm encouraged with the progress we have made. Let me encourage you to volunteer for two or three days during Eight Days of Hope. Or better yet, jon us for all eight days! You can go to the Eight Days of Hope website to see Frequently Asked Questions to learn more about this ministry, and to volunteer.

Volunteers are needed in all shapes and sizes. In addition to those skilled in the construction trades, people are needed to help transport volunteers to and from the work site, deliver lunches, clean bathrooms, do laundry, do data input, print out maps and many other tasks. There is something for everyone.

Please pray that God would use Eight Days of Hope to help us care for our community. We have been praying for those on our wall. It's now time to care and share. I hope you will join me on this incredible adventure this fall!