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	A youth member of St. Luke's, Shawnee, paints a wall in an apartment for a homeless family.

Shawnee parish uses paint, furniture to aid homeless family

By Melodie Woerman
Editor, The Harvest

Parishioners at St. Luke’s, Shawnee, used a hands-on approach to expand the parish’s longtime efforts to fight homelessness and hunger in the Kansas City area.

Dozens of parish members this summer adopted an apartment for Community LINC, an organization that provides housing and other services to homeless families in Kansas City.

They were responsible for sprucing up the place and providing all furnishings, from towels in the bathroom to peanut butter in the cupboard.

This task might seem daunting for a medium-sized congregation like St. Luke’s, which has an average Sunday attendance of about 120 people.

But the work was divided into teams, and parishioners ranging from youth group members to senior citizens pitched in to help.

Steve Paddock, who coordinated this project, said four groups were part of the effort:

- the clean team, which scrubbed the apartment from top to bottom;

- the paint team, led by the youth group, which repainted all the rooms;

- the furnish team, which brought in furnishings, including bedroom and living room furniture and appliances donated by members; and

- the grocery team, which stocked the pantry and refrigerator with a month’s worth of items.

In all, Paddock said, more than 100 volunteer hours went into the project. Beyond that, the parish went overboard in providing the items needed to furnish the apartment.

Parish Outreach Committee chair Debra Callaway said, “Parishioners brought such a bounty of furniture, linens, appliances, accessories and food that Community LINC finally had to call a halt to the donations.”

Paddock said while plans for the refurbishing were taking shape, the parish learned they would be helping Carmen, a 25-year-old single mother with three children: 5-year-old Stephen, 18-month-old Sade and 6-month-old Sydnie.

Knowing the children’s ages helped parishioners tailor bedroom furniture donations to fit each child’s needs, Paddock said.

Volunteers who helped with the project were enthusiastic in their praise.

Cindy Speciher said, “Seeing how everything that was donated came together to become a home was like watching a little miracle take place. I’d like to do this type of project again.”

David Kissane, a new member of the parish, said he appreciated the chance to make a difference. “We knew we were serving Christ’s mission in reaching out and going to the inner city where the needs are greater.”

Peggy Cook, whose husband, the Rev. Jim Cook, is the rector, said she liked having a tangible way to help someone, but the real payoff for her was in the response.

“The icing on the cake for me was when I heard that having seen her apartment for the first time, the resident said that she felt loved. I imagine that what she felt was God’s love for her through the volunteers who made her house a home,” she said.

Paddock said Carmen and her children are happy in their new home and are moving forward with their lives.

Carmen offered a special thanks to the parish for their efforts. “I can’t thank you enough,” she said. “Everything is so beautiful — we have been very blessed.”

Steve Paddock supplied information used in this report.