When the teachers at Mortimer Jordan High School in Morris arrived to begin their new school year Aug. 8, they were pleasantly surprised by what greeted them. Members of Gardendale’s First Baptist Church were there to serve them breakfast and to unveil a makeover of the teachers’ break room. Ill-equipped with misfit furnishings, the break room had become a repository for castoffs and clutter. But after the 10 volunteers from the North Jefferson Baptist Association church got through, it was a whole new room, complete with freshly painted walls, ceiling and kitchen cabinets, as well as a new tile floor and rug, a coffee station and new and renovated furnishings.
“They took a place that needed a major overhaul and did what I could never have imagined,” interim principal Barbara Snider said, adding, “What a morale booster for the teachers to have such lovely surroundings to take a break in.”
Asked why Gardendale’s First takes on these sorts of projects, the church’s community outreach minister, Phil Cronin, said, “We can change our communities one person at a time, one project at a time. This is just a practical way of showing the love of Christ and building bridges of communication.”
Kevin Hamm is senior pastor of Gardendale’s First.
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