My name is Kimberly Barnes, and I Am Neighbor!
This was my first time at the “Taste and See” Tour of our core city neighborhoods and Community enCompass. Wow: I am so very impressed with the awesome programs that Community enCompass has their hands in, rebuilding our community. Love IS what Love DOES & Community enCompass is doing much with Love. A great variety of amazing things are growing in our community as Community enCompass ministers through growth.
Taste & See is an awesome event, opening up the opportunity for people from within and outside of the City to get inspired with new ideas, network with others & see the investment growing throughout our community. We heard stories from families who have been changed for the better, from those who felt led to move into our neighborhoods to live, & from families who have been giving back to help our neighborhoods. Great “kingdom work” is being done in our community by Community enCompass. It was very encouraging for me to see the sheer number of neighbors involved in the programs working in the neighborhoods of poverty to redeem, restore, reconcile & change systems to create a better community.
I really enjoyed the bus tour through the community which seemed to almost create a bridge for those Taste and See guests who don’t live in the core city, to see how Community enCompass is coming together to improve lives. The tour gives first-hand looks into the many improvement programs building in our community. I will not forget the “taste” part of Taste & See. So many tastes from so many food vendors, at every stop throughout our tour! Taste & See spotlighted places in our community to eat out at & enjoy family time.
I noticed how lives are being transformed by love, by the importance of community, & beauty, the beauty of building SHALOM in the city by Community enCompass. The theme, reiterated by every speaker: “I AM NEIGHBOR…” Community enCompass is transforming neighborhoods & transforming neighbors with broad and deep programs, with vision, heart, and passion with an emphasis on neighbors. Community enCompass is shining so bright by opening up eyes in our community. Neighbors are starting to see the love for our community in a completely different way. Community enCompass, neighbors & surrounding neighbors are learning how to give more than money, by giving time volunteering. So many people are sharing from the heart with wonderful passion by stepping out in faith to serve our community.
Community Encompass has impacted our neighborhoods through McLaughlin Grows Urban Farm, the urban farm that grows & provides fresh vegetables throughout the community. Bethany Housing is awesome, through rehabbing of houses resulting in rehabbing of our communities & lives. The Youth Empowerment Project (aka YEP) opens doors for direct youth involvement in our betterment of our communities. YEP empowers youth to help their neighbors by learning skills to support lives. We are also blessed to have Sacred Suds in our community, opening doors for people to be transformed by having the opportunity to clean themselves up, their clothes & their lives. And the Pay It Back Program…. opens doors for our neighbors in jail to “pay it back” by volunteering with our programs that open up a two-way opportunity of not only giving back but also receiving back.
It is so great seeing the work being done in our downtown community with the help of so many caring people. I AM NEIGHBOR! YOU ARE NEIGHBOR! WE ARE NEIGHBOR!
Written by Kimberly Barnes.
Follow THIS LINK for more images from Taste & See 2017.