By Robin South
On January 1, 2011, St. Paul United Methodist Church (UMC) launched the Good Neighbor Program, its latest community-centered effort to provide helpful services to all the residents of the greater Grant Park area. The Good Neighbor Program (GNP) is designed to make necessary repairs to homeowners who cannot afford to make the repairs themselves. Our emphasis is on repairs that impact the safety and habitability of the home.
In 2011 we helped two residents. For one of our neighbors we made repairs to windows and doors, added weather stripping and insulation, added a handrail to the back-door stairs, and corrected several electrical problems. Another neighbor had severe water damage to his roof and exterior wall. We were able to repair the roof, demolished the section of water-damaged walls including the back door, and rebuilt that section of walls.
The funding for this program comes from the St. Paul UMC Covenant Capital Campaign (CCC). The CCC was started in August of 2010 to raise funds to make significant repairs to the St. Paul sanctuary. The congregation believed that as we are raising funds to help renovate our sanctuary that, as Christians, it was equally important to raise funds to help our neighbors make necessary and urgent repairs to their homes.
The Good Neighbor Program is looking for opportunities to help our neighbors. The GNP is open to all neighbors who cannot fund needed repairs to make their homes safe and habitable. The GNP will help anyone who cannot help themselves, irrespective of ethnicity or personal faith. To request help or provide a name of a neighbor who may need help, please contact the church office at 404-688-7501 or email goodneighborprogram@stpaulgrantpark.org.
St. Paul UMC has been an important community center to Grant Park for over 100 years. Should you like to make a donation to the St. Paul UMC CCC, please make a check payable to St. Paul United Methodist Church and write “Covenant Capital Campaign” in the memo section.
Comments are closed.