Urban Plunge

This last weekend, I was lucky enough to join a group of students from the SIUC Newman center on their Urban Plunge. We dusted, and covered chairs and painted a house all in one day! I think what amazed me was how strongly I felt the presence of communities. My group started at Immaculate Conception Church in E Stl. Miss Ceola (and George) told us the story of getting Metrolink to come close to them and getting the overgrowth and huge tire piles cleared away. She said you just need a group of dedicated people to come together! Miss Ceola has been the church's caretaker for many years, she has since had health problems - "I used to take care of the church, now the Church takes care of me!"

Next we went to a woman's house that hasn't been painted for 20 years. It happened because her neighbor saw a need and found a group willing to help. During the day we saw almost all of her neighbors, who wanted to know what we were up to - some of them even helped out by the end of the day! We didn't even get to finish the whole of the house - but the homeowner was so happy.

Change the World. Change Yourself. Can you choose one concrete thing to help change yourself?
Recycle
Work on a relationship
Be active in your neighborhood association
Start a clean-up day at your parish


Ask for God's guidance and help...
Then do something...