Service Trip Willow Mission

“The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). Sleeping, playing video games, and relaxing with some Netflix may be what most college students did for their last week of break, but not for SUNY Fredonia’s InterVarsity Christian Fellowship! I was blessed with the opportunity to be on a Servant team of 20 fellow students whom spent their week serving the communities poor, youth, and elderly. The locations we served at included the WCA Home, Dunkirk Historical Museum, Salvation Army, Saint Columbans, Meals On Wheels, Fredonia Place, Concord Estates, Rural Ministries, Dunkirk First Baptist, and my personal favourite Willow Mission through the Dunkirk First United Methodist Church. For those of you whom don’t know, Willow Mission is a project that was created to house and serve the poor, homeless, underprivileged of Dunkirk. Upon my first day of arriving to the women's house, located next to the church where the guys sleep, I thought to myself ‘Wow. They want to have the first person moved in here in about a week or two?!’ However, that didn’t discourage my friends and I. Our head chief was donating his time the whole week to make sure construction went smoothly and we assisted him in every way we could whether it was painting, waxing floors, electrical work, drywalling or whatever. With 20 students coming 5 hours a day in groups of 6 on 4 different days of the week we put in nearly 130 hours of an individual’s workload. One hundred and thirty hours… Upon the last hour we spent there I went around and prayed for each room and the futures that would soon be made in them. Each room had it’s own colour, furniture, and personality which would soon develop lives that hadn’t had the chance to prosper until now. Meeting with the pastor on my way out of the house she broke down in tears overjoyed in how much work went into this house and how through Christ we were all able to come together to make it happened. The last thing our head chief said to us before he left was “Thank you. For everything. You’ve restored my faith in the youth and a lot of faith in myself alone. I have learned so much from you kids.” I think I stand for all of my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ that participated in our Winter Service Trip when I say that it would behoove you to ask around to come join us next Winter and “serve the Lord with gladness.” (Psalm 100:2).