Office of Disciples Volunteering

2007 Work reports for Disciples Volunteering and Week of Compassion

Staffing of Disciples Volunteering in 2007

Carl Zerweck III, director
Brenda Tyler, administrative assistant
Tod Iseminger, minister of Leadership Development
Anne Marie Moyars, administrative assistant
Robin Zerweck, hospitality coordinator
Yakama Christian Mission, F.A.S.T., and intern coordinator

During the summer of 2007 DHM and Week of Compassion supported 12 interns. They worked in White Swan, Wash.; San Antonio, Texas; Los Angeles; Alderson, W.Va.;  Los Fresnos, Texas; Gulfport, Miss.; Covington, La.; Metairie, La.; Louisville, Ky.; and with Disciples Volunteering in Beaumont, Houston and Abilene, Texas, and at General Assembly in Fort Worth, Texas.

Some of the work led by interns included child care, home and church rehabilitations, neighborhood and community center clean-ups, working in an orphanage, building fences, painting homes, sorting clothes and food, leading recreation programs, teaching reading, playing soccer and handball, planting trees, providing emergency assistance, doing disaster response and recovery, helping build Casitas at Southwest Good Samaritan Ministries, and serving as staff at an inner city camping experience. Amidst the work, interns took time to learn about anti-racism and social justice.

Other 2007 programs included:

• Volunteers spent 10 weeks working with the Faithful Advocates Serving Together (F.A.S.T.) site in Alderson, W.Va.
  F.A.S.T. is a program Disciples have done in partnership with the United Church of Christ (UCC) for several years. Disciples and UCCs each provide an intern to work in this program that serves both Disciples and UCC congregations.
• Planned and lead "Hands on Mission" projects before and during General Assembly in Ft. Worth, Texas.
• Sponsored first ever Alternative Spring Break Projects in Beaumont, Texas, and Clarkston, Wash.
• Leader Development Trips held at Yakama Christian Mission and Port Arthur, Texas.
• In partnership with Week of Compassion and the Kansas Region, DHM set up and staffed Mission Stations following Greensburg, Kan., tornado and are scheduling volunteers to work in that recovery effort.
• DHM granted Leader Development scholarships for individuals to attend various mission projects as training for their future leadership roles in such projects.
• Disciples Volunteering, in partnership with Week of Compassion, Great River Region , Alabama/North West Florida Region, and the Southwest Region continued to staff and run Disciples Mission Stations in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas to provide a place for Disciples volunteers to work in disaster response and recovery efforts. All of these stations are committed to be part of the Disciples Hurricane Recovery Initiative through August 2008.
• Planned and led two "Two Houses in Two Weeks" Habitat for Humanity Blitz Builds in the fall in partnership with Week of Compassion and Beaumont Habitat For Humanity. These were two Hurricane Recovery Houses with Habitat and were sponsored by Week of Compassion. These Disciples’ sponsored homes were built with the help of more than 70 Disciples volunteers from 12 congregations and eight regions.

During 2007, through Disciples Volunteering sponsored projects and ministries, 3714 volunteers from 411 groups have given 129,956 hours of work and service. Using the National Points of Light Foundation's value of an hour of volunteer time, this service equals $2,514,649 of donated time.

Looking forward to 2008, we anticipate the following:

• January—Plan and lead the first Disciples Women’s Habitat Home Build in Beaumont, Texas, in partnership with Disciples Women, Disciples Volunteering, Week of Compassion and Habitat For Humanity of Jefferson County.
• March — Alternative Spring Break Project as part of five to seven Home Interfaith Blitz Builds in Greensburg, Kan., to help jumpstart the Recovery Process.
• Continue working with F.A.S.T in Alderson, W.Va. and Cosby, Tenn.
• Train and engage interns leading projects with F.A.S.T., Mission Centers, Disaster Response Sites, and Vision Builders Ministry Projects.
• Organize the following Leader Development events:
  • January—Long Term Disaster Volunteer Training Event, Covington, La.;
  • March—Yakama Christian Mission;       
  • May—Ministry and Mission Training Week, Virginia Camp and Conference Center in partnership with the Virginia Region;
  • October—Urban Spirit, Louisville, Ky.
• Plan and lead Habitat for Humanity Blitz Build in Beaumont, Texas.
• Update resources and Get Dirty for Jesus manuals.
• Staffing and resourcing Disciples Mission Stations in various disaster locations.
• Working with regions to create Regional Disaster Response Preparedness.

We appreciate the partnership with Week of Compassion in the ministries with which we are engaged!

Respectfully submitted by Carl E. Zerweck III
director of Office of Disciples Volunteering of Disciples Home Missions

Review reports from 2006 and 2005.