Twenty years in Garfield Park, and the work does not stop at the door.
First, the plain version
Reborn Community Church is the church. Reborn Ministries is the nonprofit we partner with.
They are two separate organizations with separate finances, but they grew out of the same vision for this neighborhood, and that is why they share a name. The church is where people gather on Sunday. The nonprofit carries that same care through the week, with food, training, mentoring, and help for families across Garfield Park.
Different roles, and largely the same people doing both.
The work
Five things, run out of the same firehouse we worship in.
A regular food giveaway, plus clothing and the essentials people run out of.
A real trade, taught to people who need one. The skill outlasts the handout.
Classes for getting hired, and for staying hired.
Adults who keep showing up for the teenagers in this neighborhood.
After school, somewhere to be and someone on it, between the last bell and dinner.
Why we bother
The vision was never a full building. It was a neighborhood where the people who live here are the ones who change it.
Get in on it
Two ways, and the first one is worth more than the second.
Hands are the constraint, not money. Serving here does not require membership, a skill, or a long commitment. It requires a Saturday.
Giving to the church keeps the lights on in the firehouse and the work going on the block.