For the past several years we have participated in Operation Inasmuch, a community wide service project sponsored by our church. As a team leader this year, I was thrilled to welcome a group to my non-profit agency, Greenville Rape Crisis and Child Abuse Center.
To say that this has been a difficult year for my agency is a gross understatement. Donations were expected to be less due to the economy, but even our most stable funding has been cut significantly. In January our agency re-organized and had to lay off 5 people. This left a regular staff of 15, several of whom, like myself, are part-time. Now our staff has additional duties such as taking turns at the reception desk, answering the phones, and cleaning the building - services that were cut last year in an attempt to not cut employees who provide direct services to clients. Despite the layoffs, the number of clients has increased exponentially. We are struggling to keep our doors open while the number of people knocking on our doors in need of help gets greater and greater. And after a day of listening to families recount the most horrible experiences of their lives, mopping the floor is not a priority.
During Operation Inasmuch, I watched my church family wrap their arms around my agency. They scrubbed and washed and mopped and vacuumed. They scraped chewing gum from the floor and collected trash. They painted and organized. They served with their hearts, hands and feet. The children of our Inasmuch group helped start a project that has been my goal for some time - a Wall of Hope. They painted inspiring words and put their handprints on canvases that will be hung in the hallways of our building. When clients finish therapy or services they will add their handprints to the canvas. We wanted a physical reminder for the children that they are supported, that other kids have made it through this experience and that hope does exist.
Walking into a clean, fresh-smelling building the following week immediately lifted my spirits. The project not only benefited our clients, but also the staff who works with them each day. It was also an incredible demonstration of how every person can be the hands and feet of Christ. Thank you for the being the answer to what someone had been praying for.
