She’s just 13 years old but she deals daily with the obstacles stemming from cerebral palsy, like not being able to get in and out of her Moundville home because there is not a stable ramp for her wheelchair. That is, until recently.
Mia Dixon may be wheelchair bound but that means nothing to her spirit and smile, which are clearly not bound by the disorder. Her family’s home was one of many building projects completed through A Day of Hope (ADOH) on Oct. 3, one outlet of The Hope Initiative.
The Hope Initiative is a program created by Tuscaloosa Mayor Walter Maddox in 2009 as a partnership between the “City of Tuscaloosa and the faith-based community to focus on long-term improvements in areas with high crime rates.”
The second ADOH (or ADOH2) was Oct. 3 but many of the 67 projects were worked on throughout the week and completed that Saturday, according to Eric Boykin, missions strategist for Tuscaloosa Baptist Association and director of The Hope Initiative.
‘Gospel ministry’
“We love building decks and helping people in need but (ADOH) isn’t a construction ministry. This is gospel ministry,” Boykin said. “We want to show the love of Jesus Christ in practical ways and we want everything done and said through ADOH to exalt Him.”
Partially funded through the Southern Baptist Convention and the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions, ADOH2 projects were nearly all “partnership projects,” where if a homeowner could, they might have given $100 toward the project, a sponsoring church might have given $100 and then ADOH2 covered the rest. Boykin estimated $20,000 worth of work was completed through ADOH2.
Some of the projects included replacing roof shingles on a retired Air Force veteran’s roof; removing drywall and replacing windows on a retired Tuscaloosa Police captain’s home; cleaning up the playground and landscaping at Hay Court Apartments; and cleaning and repairing parts of Paul Bryant High School in Cottondale.
Teams made up of volunteers from churches, groups throughout the city and even some businesses like BLG Logistics worked on the projects and some locations had multiple teams working together at one time.
That was the case with Kelvin W. Croom’s team from College Hill Baptist Church, Tuscaloosa, an African-American church that has applied for Tuscaloosa Association’s watch care program.
Croom, who has served as pastor of the church since 1994, said about eight volunteers from his church worked alongside people of different ethnicities and denominations to help clean up and improve the landscaping at Paul Bryant High School.
“It was good to see people come outside of their church walls and give back to the community,” Croom said.
Jamin Carter, missions and evangelist pastor for Northriver Baptist Church, Tuscaloosa, also helped lead his church to serve during ADOH2, spearheading about six projects.
Together his 45–50 volunteers worked to pull weeds, spread mulch and plant flowers at The Phoenix House; added porch rails, built a porch and reinforced a porch in Wood Village; cleaned up trash on Crescent Ridge Road and helped build the Dixon porch and wheelchair ramp.
Carter, who participated in 2014 ADOH, said it meant so much to the team to help finish the ramp and see Mia Dixon use it for the first time, smiling as she went up and down on her wheelchair.
“It’s all about giving hope. We’re told in the Bible we’re to love God and love our neighbor and in order to do that we have to be actively involved in their life,” Carter said, which is part of why he’s led his church to serve in ADOH for two years.
And after cleaning up 20-plus bags of trash off of Crescent Ridge Road, Carter said he and his team hope they conveyed to residents at the end of the road, “You’re not forgotten and you are loved” — a message that could have easily rung true for all the ADOH2 projects.
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