October 12, 2006

Journey Church reaches out to those in need with Community Impact Day

By Julie Davis Berry
Executive Editor

Twice a year members of Journey Christian Church set aside a Sunday to head out into the community to make a difference in people’s lives. Some recipients are expecting the help while others are happily surprised.

Church members built 12 bikes for needy children to open under their Christmas trees this holiday season.

With 15 different projects to choose from and armed with $13,500 from the church’s community impact fund, 210 church members fanned out across the valley on Sept. 24. From offering a free community dumpster, to an ‘extreme’ yard makeover, taking autistic kids to play miniature golf, building bikes for the Turning Wheels For Kids organization or packing soldier gift boxes and teacher care kits, the recipients of this good will came from nearly every background, young and old.

“Faith is most evident when it causes action in people's lives, and nothing is better then being self-less and serving others as Jesus did," said Journey Lead Pastor Jeff Wenke.

"Since the beginning, The Journey church has put a high value on impacting our community. We set aside 10 percent of all contributions to our church in a special fund called the community impact fund. Each year we give away a significant amount of money and time to help others."

The Journey meets every Sunday at Santa Teresa High School’s auditorium. One of the ways the church reached out recently was by working on a project close to home: several members painted the school’s auditorium.

Another project evolved from a phone call from a social worker from the Santa Clara Council on Aging. Wenke was told that an elderly man’s mobile home was in dire need of cleaning due to years of neglect.

This prompted a team of over 25 people to head out to the Mountain View mobile home to haul out 30 yards of junk and debris from the elderly man’s home, removing old carpeting and doing a thorough cleaning. “The team installed new floorboards, new carpeting and new smoke detectors,” said Wenke, who personally spearheaded the project. “One group took all of his clothing and bedding to a Laundromat—I hope he slept on his bed that night because it’s something he had not been able to do for over 10 years!”

Another project involved building 12 bikes for needy kids for the Turning Wheels For Kids organization, which gives bikes to needy kids during the holidays. “We had about 12 to14 people, dads and kids, helping to put together 12 bikes in total,” explained project coordinator Steve Yeager. “The people from Turning Wheels For kids were thrilled to get the bikes and asked if anyone would be interested in helping put together more bikes closer to Christmas—and most of us agreed to help out!”

A special baby shower was thrown for a family that had recently faced the tragic death of their husband and father.

Approximately 18 people chose to assemble care kits, with handmade cards of encouragement to Third-World AIDS relief workers. “We made 122 kits in all for World Vision and since they sent us extra tubs, several people took home the empties to fill them up and send them off on their own,” said coordinator Kindle Smythe.

One of the most heartwarming projects was a baby (and mom) shower for a local family. Coordinator Nancy Yeager had heard about a horrible car crash over the summer on Highway 17, which took the life of 32-year-old Marvin Tabora. His wife, Erica Flores was seven months pregnant and went into pre-term labor, delivering a baby boy, Patrick, two months early. The couple’s 16-month-old son, Marvin Jr. was not injured.

Erica and Marvin had moved here from Honduras and knew very few people in the valley. Although Erica knew very little English, her resolve to take care of her young family touched Yeager and prompted her to organize the shower, which provided many necessities along with toys and gift certificates to local stores.

Baby Patrick came home with a clean bill of health a few days before the Journey members threw the shower and was nestled in the arms of Erica’s cousin as his young mother opened the mountain of gifts.

“It was amazing how many people stepped up and spent their own money to buy necessities (and toys) for the family, way over and above the $500 donated from the Journey for this project. Erica was so overwhelmed she cried. We all knew it was bittersweet for her that Marvin wasn’t there. But we were all so glad to be able to help her family and we’ll stay in touch with them in the future.”

For more information about the Journey Church visit their Web site at www.takethejourney.org.