Housekeeping Crew Winter 2012

Here is part of the crew I oversee in the housekeeping department.  I also oversee seven School of Dance students.  These guys are awesome and they do a very good job cleaning. they are a lot of fun to be with, and they make me smile.

Community Garden Host Site

To have a place for a community to gather would be amazing.

I am excited to announce that here in Lakeside, we are in the process of  starting a community garden.

Recently there were two public meetings to find out who in Lakeside were interested in having a community garden.  It was amazing to see who all showed up and were eager to help get this project on its way.   So I am excited to tell you that because of the interest that was shown from the Lakeside community, we are now going to have one.

I personally am excited about this because I have been in the beginning process of this project; and for me it is exciting to be apart of something in my own community which I am passionate about, and that is gardening and working in the locally.

What is the basic layout of what this will look like? The garden will be hosted in the front property area of the Lakeside Baptist Church.  The size of the garden is going to be around 100 feet by 60 feet, which will be able to host many plots at 4’ x 8’  or larger. This garden will serve as a place for the Lakeside community to gather and be a community. Also it’s possible that in the future because of this garden we will be able to have a local food market, as well as host seminars on how to grow local organic food, amongst other topics.

For me this is amazing, because I am able to apply many tools I have learned in the community development school to this project; for example working with local leaders and through a local church, etc.

This is the host site where the garden will be.

Lakeside Community

A few months ago, I began going to a home fellowship group.  And out of the time that I have spent there, there have been many things that have come from it.  Just to give a bit of background, this fellowship is part of a church here in Lakeside.  Something that the church is trying to do, is become more intentional about becoming the “Acts 2 church” basically reaching into the community and doing whatever it can to bring transformation. 

Because I have been teaching about community development and what that means for the past few years, I have been so excited to be a part of something here in Lakeside, that is actually allowing me to apply or “practice what I’ve teaching.”

Some things that have come as a result of this is now there is a new thrift store that is opening up to the public who need things for cheap, and I have also been able to talk with some leaders in the church to do a “community assessment” here in Lakeside. I teach a lot about community assessment in the FCD school.  So to be able to actually do one in a community which needs Jesus and transformation, is so exciting for me.

An Exciting Change!!

On a more personal note, a few weeks ago, I was talking with a friend of mine; and explaining how I was thinking about moving off base.  He had the same idea, so we looked at a few options.  As we were walking through one of the houses we really felt like this was to be the place for us, but we wanted more housemates, so in short I asked one of my friends if he would be willing to move in, and he said he would be only if there was a fourth, and during the time, my other friend said the same thing.  So we ended up with four housemates.

I think it is a wonderful thing to live off base and actually live in the community I am wanting to work in.