June 2020
Let’s visit a small town together! Come with me to a place where they changed the name way back in 1863, 157 years ago, because a federal post office was formally established. Before that the mail was delivered by the ‘Star Mail Route’, the beginnings of the US Postal Service, which delivered the mail with what, “may be necessary to provide for the due celerity, certainty and security of such transportation,” of the mail. Keep reading to find out what ‘celerity’ actually means! (I had to look it up J).
What today is called ‘Denver, Iowa’ was once called Jefferson City. A small town of only 102 people in 1900 has grown to 1841 in 2018. In this small, Midwest town you will find a wonderful place filled with great people called Meadow Lane. It was here that the Impact Cares Team showed up in mid-June to encourage, repair, improve and just bless this community.
During the week the Impact Cares team was joined by 10 volunteers from a local Baptist church who were more than willing to pitch in and help. A number of these came for more than one day and because of this we were able to accomplish much! Let’s meet some of the folks we were blessed and some improvements made to their homes.
One resident, a ‘great’ grandma who has adopted three of her grandkids and takes care of three of her great grandkids was left not only with a smile on her face but also with repaired skirting and a brand new deck!
Another, a single mom with a young daughter was blessed with a new sandbox and a playset above it for her daughter. This proved to be a huge blessing to both her and those doing the work!
A retired vet, who loves his country, received a new deck from some great volunteers. One, a high schooler who is a quiet kid but loves to help has proven to be a great leader with the kids. Another couple, the husband who is an amazing craftsman and his wife who is absolutely great with people also help with Samaritan’s Purse when there is disaster assistance needed.
Maybe the best story is of a resident who has a beautiful yard, decorated with ‘angels’. At night his place is lit up and is something to see. His roof leaked and the Impact Cares team repaired his roof and made sure it was sealed up. What was his response? “The owners must be amazing people because I’ve never heard of anything like this before!”
All we can say is, WAY TO GO, IMPACT CARES!
PS: ‘celerity’ means swiftness or speed.