In mid-January, the youth group from MacArthur Park Church of Christ in San Antonio was in town to attend Winterfest, a regional youth event held each year in Arlington. Most youth groups spend Saturday afternoon at malls, movies, and other entertainment venues. MacArthur Park decided they’d rather spend the time doing a service project, and they contacted us to see if we had anything they could do.
The timing was perfect, as they were planning to be here just as we were recovering from a rodent invasion, and just days prior to the kickoff of FLC’s spring semester. We planned for them to do a floor-to-ceiling deep clean of our building.
The group, led by youth minister Kody Speer, had never been to Fortress before. After giving a brief overview of our organization, I launched into the day’s agenda. I wish you could’ve seen the faces of each teen as I spoke the words “mop” and “rodents” and “dumpster”. One by one, their mouths dropped open, their eyes grew large, and they glanced side to side to see if anyone else was freaking out. I looked at Kody and said, “You didn’t tell them ahead of time, did you?” He just laughed and said, “All they know is that they’re here to serve.”
Supervised by Aundrea Torres, Dorothy Waites and myself, they jumped in and started cleaning. We didn’t hear a single grumble or complaint. The two young men who offered to clean out and reorganize the scrapbooking/crafts closet barely even flinched when they pulled out a rack of paper to discover piles of multi-colored mouse droppings. (One thing I’ve learned at Fortress is that mice love ink!)
After each group completed their “To Do List”, they gathered in the front room and wrote notes of encouragement to our each one of our students and staff. Here’s a sample letter:
“Dear Mrs. Stacy,
Thank you so much for giving me and my youth group the opportunity to come and serve you. We had a lot of fun cleaning together. The Fortress is such a wonderful place! I know these kids’ lives are being changed by y’all blessing them daily. God bless you!
Love, Jordan”
We wrapped up the afternoon with group photos, a few comments about the day’s experiences, and a prayer. The group was FABULOUS—great work ethic, beautiful relationships, and such service-centered hearts.
Thank you, MacArthur Park! May God bless each of your for your service to others.