Delhi, Calif., is a high-need community facing poverty and gangs, and the county doesn’t always have enough resources to care for this unincorporated area.
So the people of Church of the Cross, a Christian Reformed church plant in Delhi, got involved with their neighbors to clear weeds and paint over graffiti.
Church member Sandra Gwin-Edwards said, “We are not only bringing together a community for a good cause, but we are allowing them to feel responsible for the improvement.”
The county supplied tools and garbage bags, and volunteers supplied the hard labor. A group of about 25 people, including some as young as age 5, pitched in to cut down and haul away weeds along the city streets.
Another group used donated paint to cover the graffiti marring fences along the road. Gwin-Edwards said, “The teens who worked on it took pride in it, and it has become something they don’t want defaced.”
Afterward, everyone came together to share food and fellowship sponsored by the church. The church was so excited about the project that they are planning to do it again. “I do think that community pride is contagious,” said Gwin-Edwards. “The right people have to be afflicted with it.”
