July 18, 2020
It was a hot July summer when the Impact Cares Team came to Table Mound Community in Dubuque, Iowa but what a great time they had! Dubuque happens to be among one of the oldest ‘settlements’ west of the Mississippi River.
Settled in 1785 by Julien Dubuque, opened up for greater settlements in 1833 by the US government, the town itself was finally chartered in 1837 and this small town of pioneers has grown into the vibrant, ‘All-American’ city it is today.
Dubuque takes great pride in the slogan, “Masterpiece on the Mississippi,” and the folks who live in the Table Mound community also take great pride in their community as well. The community that Impact Cares was able to come alongside is even today, a place where ‘Masterpieces’ are still seen in the lives of those who live there.
For a few brief days, Impact Cares had the opportunity to come and with a number of Impact staff and residents, be a blessing to some folks in this great community. In just a few short days, at least 25 projects and 20 homes saw some great improvements. These ranged from replacing an entire broken window for a resident who struggles with health issues, who noted, “It feels like Christmas!” to painting two entire houses! One older couple loved having their home ‘look beautiful again’.
During the day there were dozens of people interacted with, many new flags put up and countless lives were impacted. One resident, a cancer survivor, noted, “I don't know how much time I have left here but the time I have I'm going to use helping people." Imagine living in a place where neighbors have a heart to help their neighbors and be a blessing to others! This comes from a lady who gets up at 1 AM to go and help out at a local mission cooking breakfast for those in need and then comes back and works into the afternoon to help those right where she lives!
Another resident in her mid-60’s became the pacesetter for the team she was with, of which they had a hard time keeping up with. A number of residents were even going to help the Impact Cares team finish up a few projects on Monday. All in all, it was a great week ending with a great day on Saturday of pouring into a great community!
In the ‘old days,’ settlers heading west used to refer to Dubuque as the “Key City” – because it was the place in which the door to their dreams of a better life was opened to them. It would seem that this dream is still alive and well in the Table Mound community. If you were to visit the Table Mound community and be a part of the Impact Cares experience, I think you too would know just a small part of what it means to live in this ‘Masterpiece on the Mississippi!’