• by Kim Bonn

What was [RE]Connect Ministry up to in the month of May?

On May 9th the Young Adults went to Portland to participate in Night Strike. This is a well orchestrated outreach that takes place every single Thursday under the Burnside Bridge. Volunteers show up each week to help the City Team agency serve those who are in need of a warm meal, a haircut, clothing, or just a smiling face or good conversation. We gather at Liberation Church on Burnside to get our assignments and then help haul a lot of the supplies over to the bridge. This time Konan and Joseph served soup, Kim and Brittney worked at the Dignity Station, handing out hygiene supplies (and Brittney painted a couple of people’s fingernails for them), and Kyle and Nelo washed people’s feet! We try to go serve with this group once or twice a year, and we always come home feeling like we got more out of it than we gave. Also, VooDoo Donuts is right there, so we had to stop in!

On May 19th the Salem Youth Collective met at SFPC to put together Move Out Kits that will go to folks who have found housing after their time with Family Promise. We collected all kinds of household items over the last few months, and then the youth came together and put it all in kits that the families can take with them to help them get started in their new homes. The Youth Collective hopes to continue partnering with Family Promise in this way, collecting items throughout the year and putting kits together for them in the spring and fall.