Saturday, October 3rd, 2020, Tuckaway Villlage
The month is November, the year, 1831. You’re headed west and come to the beautiful bluffs along the Illinois River. Fall is in the air, the leaves are past their peak color and yet it is still a beautiful area. You decide to stay, put roots down and forge a new beginning.
Years have come and gone, the once empty land is now teeming with life. Churches have been built, businesses have flourished, and you have come to live in the old/new town of Germantown Hills, Illinois. As recently as 1954 the town was incorporated as the Village of Oak Grove Park and later renamed the Village of Germantown Hills. You’ve come to love this little town, a population of roughly 3,500 people. It is a great place to live, has that small town feel, and is a place where neighbors come together to help neighbors.
The month is now October the day was Saturday the 3rd. Impact Cares has come to town and you have decided to join with them as a volunteer and help your neighbors out. On this particular day, the sun is desperately trying to shine, the clouds take over once in a while and pour their bounty upon you and in spite of this, you carry on!
On this day, much is accomplished. 31 volunteers show up to help, 19 homes are improved, 50 meals are served and 39 projects are completed. A great day to be in Tuckaway!
Meet ‘Sally,’ at least that’s what we’ll call her. She woke up this morning, tired from a week of school, youth group meeting, a busy social life and yet, today is the day! Sally, along with a bunch of her friends from her church’s youth group has come to help however they can. Together they start painting a house, well at least until it starts to rain, and that’s when the laughing only heats up! They then take care of the paint and brushes and move on to staining a deck which happens to be under a roof. Not only that, Sally and her friends then grab some rakes, saws and shovels and began to whip an elderly lady’s yard back into shape. When the rain stopped, which it did off and on during the day, they were able to get back to the paint job. By late afternoon, not only was the house painted and the deck was stained but the yard was also looking like it had just had a ‘make-over’ as well. Sally and her friends had a great time just blessing the people of Tuckaway community.
Now imagine you’re on the other side of this coin. You wake up in the morning, not expecting this day to be any different than yesterday. But that quickly changes. Some great folks from Impact Cares show up and give you the great news, ‘You have been nominated!’ ‘Nominated for what?’ you ask. Then your whole day is transformed. For a long time your deck has had holes in it which have been covered with plywood so you don’t fall through. In other places it’s spongy, soft and well let’s just say, the deck is past its prime! But you’ve been nominated! So on this day, a team from Impact Cares, along with some great local volunteers, tears the entire deck down and rebuilds it, all in one day! The owner was quoted as saying, “I had no idea this morning when I woke up I’d have a new deck and new friends all in one day, it feels like Christmas! I am just ecstatic, I haven’t been this happy in years!” That is what Impact Cares is all about! Going into communities such as Tuckaway, finding those who need help with their homes and finding ways to bless them by repairing, fixing, painting, you name it!
One more story to share. One lady, struggling with cancer, bedridden most of the time was living in a home that, well let’s just say it needed some ‘TLC’. Two of the Impact Cares team came, fixed her leaking roof, cleaned her place up as best they could and most importantly, just spent some time with her talking. Here’s a lady who knows the Lord, is not afraid of ‘stepping into glory’ and was a delight to be around. Imagine waking up and being able to be a small part in blessing her and others like her.
So, remember, you just never know what will happen to you today. This could be the day, a day for you to find someone to bless or you never know, you just might be on the receiving end of being blessed today!
Once again, GO Impact Cares!