Loving Our City: DFCS Project #2
Over the last few weeks, we have been working on several projects to serve the Macon-Bibb Department of Family and Children Services. This crucial government office serves some of the most vulnerable populations in our city, often with massive caseloads, minimal funding, and dedicated but overloaded staff members. We want to bring the hope of the gospel to DFCS and to the many families they serve, and help them meet the needs they are faced with day after day. This is an ongoing partnership we are so excited about, and one of our Missional Communities started work on another project this week!
Clothing Closet
DFCS occasionally receives donations from the community of clothes, toys, household items, and much more, but doesn’t have the time or capacity to sort through all of them to make them useful and accessible to foster families. Most of the donations have been in huge boxes of miscellaneous items, making them unusable when families need them.
One of the top projects DFCS asked us to tackle was to turn one of their rooms into a clothing closet. Thankfully, they have lots of available space in their offices, but it needs some organizing that they rarely have time for! This week the Smith MC started work on that clothing closet by installing shelves, sorting through massive boxes of donations, and organizing the clothes that could be used into age and gender specific boxes.
There is still lots of work to do, but it was a great start to go through the bulk of the donations and sort out what could immediately be useful. When we go back, we will install two more shelves in the closet for hanging clothes, finish sorting clothes, and begin tackling the gigantic boxes of shoes that have been donated! We plan to maintain the closet and keep it organized by continuing to go in and sort new donations so it is a useful and helpful resource for foster families.
We are so grateful to have the opportunity to keep going to DFCS and working on projects that make their incredibly difficult jobs just a little bit easier. Our hope is that we continue to build relationships with the people we meet and to share the hope that we have in Jesus. He is making all things new, bringing order out of chaos, and our work here is a part of that! He has made us new creatures, brought us from darkness to light, and we in turn look to the world around us and take part in renewing and restoring it in his name and for his glory. We are the kingdom present, bringing the rule of King Jesus into every place we encounter.
