If you drive down the street on the north side of town in the city of Birmingham, you will find a newly painted house with a nice little flower garden surrounding it,” James Dixon Jr. said. “Not only has the house been restored but also the elderly small-frame woman who lives there has a renewed spirit.”
This story is just one of approximately 700 that Butch Henderson of Birmingham Baptist Association (BBA) can share about the association’s Serve 365 ministry, which works to eliminate substandard housing in the Birmingham metro area. The ministry partners with Birmingham’s Department of Community Development to assess and eliminate unsafe living conditions for area families. “Bottom line, we hope to make life easier for those families,” Henderson said.
During the month of April, Serve 365 worked in cooperation with national Woman’s Missionary Union’s (WMU) Birmingham MissionsFEST to restore the home of Nell Mobley. “It’s absolutely such a surprise,” she said. “I’m just still in shock. It’s absolutely wonderful.”
The 78-year-old Mobley has lived in her home for 53 years, and over the years, she has thumbed through the Yellow Pages for repair services, all of which were costly and did not meet her satisfaction. “I started looking through the phone book under “L” for losers because that’s what I kept getting,” Mobley joked. This time, however, she tearfully thanked more than 20 MissionsFEST and Serve 365 volunteers who left her home looking newer than it had in years, all without charging her a dime.
In addition to WMU, Serve 365 also partners with Serve Management Group, local churches and other service entities.
Dixon, whose mother’s home was also restored by Serve 365, explained that for the elderly, “home” is more than a place to live — it is a matter of memories and the means for independence. He is the son of Carrie Motley, a resident of the Fountain Heights Community of Birmingham. Dixon explained that 30 years of structural damage had taken its toll and her house was no longer safe to occupy. He and other family members offered to buy another home for her to live in but Motley refused.
“After much prayer and seeking assistance, the city helped by replacing the roof. Her children joined together and had the inside repaired, but because all of the funds had been exhausted, the outside still looked awful,” Dixon said. That’s when Serve 365 stepped in. For this project, Serve 365 partnered with World Changers, an organization that gives hands-on missions experience to youth, to give a facelift to the once-dilapidated home.
In fact, Serve 365 began as Metro Changers in order to create a World Changers environment year-round in the Birmingham metro area. In 1999, it was put on hold for six years, starting fresh in 2005 with a new vision and its new Serve 365 name. It provides ministry opportunities to volunteers interested in refurbishing homes for low-income residents in Birmingham. Serve 365 uses a wide range of volunteers — from those who have completed sixth grade all the way through senior adults.
Volunteer Bobby Keith is construction coordinator for Serve 365. During his 10 years with the ministry, he has watched Serve 365 improve hundreds of homes. Keith said that when you look at some houses, you think the best thing to do would be to get a bulldozer and just start from scratch. But he said somehow untrained youth, along with trained adults, leave these weathered homes in a condition that is both safe and desirable.
According to Henderson, both volunteers and recipients benefit from Serve 365. “This ministry is a win-win endeavor,” he said. “The homeowner wins by repairs being made that otherwise they couldn’t afford. The participants win because they are helping change the living conditions for families that otherwise would continue to live in substandard housing.”
And for the community development department that partners with Serve 365, it receives $3 to $4 in volunteer labor for every dollar it spends in building materials.
Serve 365 volunteers are often remembered long after they leave a recipient’s home.
“Mrs. Motley still proudly keeps the World Changers/Serve 365 sign with all the signatures beside her Bible on her dining room table,” Dixon said. “She constantly says, ‘I always remember to pray for all my children God sent to help me.’”
Birmingham Association home restoration ministry makes a difference
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