Raise The Roof - 5 Roofs in One Weekend!
I wanted to invite you all to peek into the window of NeighborLink Fort Wayne for a few minutes and share a challenge we’re trying to overcome and provide an opportunity for some or all of you to engage with.
If you’ve scrolled through our website at any time in the past couple of years, you would notice that roofing is a major issue for many of our city’s most vulnerable homeowners. The reason so many are on our website is due to the fact that there is next to no assistance or financial options for home maintenance and repairs for those who are living on a fixed income. Seniors, people with disabilities, unemployed, underemployed, and folks facing life’s circumstances are all unable to handle the crisis of a leaky roof.
I’m burdened by this because roofing is one of those things I can almost guarantee will never get done and we know what kind of havoc a leaky roof can have on one’s house. We get to one or two roof replacements each year solely relying on skilled and unskilled laborers willing to tackle such a project. It’s nearly impossible to find a contractor willing to volunteer their time doing something they do all week and will have to do again next week.
However, we’ve seen God work through his people for several recipients over the years and I’m working on trying to make big projects like this more possible for NL volunteers.
One of those ways is to try something that seems impossible. 5 roofs in one weekend. July 20th - 21st. One of the things that keeps people from getting involved is the lack of community willing to enter into the challenge with them. What better way than to take on the challenge with 75-100 people all over the city doing something for others that almost never gets done.
As of right now, we have 2 teams committed to projects! One for a woman who had her spine collapse a couple of years ago, which left her unable to work for long period of times and living on a fixed income of social security disability. Another for a single mom with a daughter with disabilities that needs a lot of support, which prevents her from working. We need volunteers and a few hundred more dollars to make this first project happen. You can read more about it and donate online. We’re working on the details for the second one.
We’re asking for more volunteers, contractors and financial supports to make the remaining 3 roofs happen. NeighborLink is here to help each team of folks and make sure each team succeeds. I’ve already got almost $7000 donated for the overall project and we’re going to need approximately $12,500 in total. We also have another church working on getting two other projects organized. We’re making progress and almost half way to making this a success.
I believe God is calling the NeighborLink community to commit to something as radical as trying to take on 5 roofs in one weekend. The need is great and it’s time that we show up in force to do something that so few are actually willing to do to show those recipients that God loves them and that they are not alone. We’re working on getting video footage of each recipient so you can meet them and here their stories.
If this event speaks to you or brings someone to mind that should be helping with this, please let us know.
We NEED you all to make this happen.
The link and flyer are below. Please take a look, post it, share it, and please get involved. Let’s make this happen together.
Andrew Hoffman
Executive Director
260.710.7611
