St. Peter's Church in the Great Valley

participates in the

2004 Greater Philadelphia Martin Luther King Day of Service

On Monday, January 19, 2004, our youth group joined thousands of people throughout our region to celebrate Martin Luther King’s birthday by volunteering in the 9th Annual Greater Philadelphia Martin Luther King Day of Service. People of all ages and backgrounds embraced Dr. King's legacy by turning concerns about pressing community problems into citizen action. Six young people (Grant Dovey, Elizabeth Foster, Kristen Gilmore, Megan Harris, Christine Malcolm, and Andrew Ockenden) and seven adults (Andy Bullion, Steve Dovey, Sue and Pete Gilmore, Rod Platt, the Rev. John Tampa, and the Rev. Jill Wilson) from St. Peter's met early in the morning, turning what is normally a holiday from school and work into a "day-on" for service.

The group spent the day at the Gaudenzia Rehabilitation Center, a few blocks away from the new Constitution Center in Center City Philadelphia. Arriving at 9:00 in the morning, our staff contact person, Tammy, introduced herself and the mission of this residential facility, while the group munched on donuts and met other volunteers, including many of the clients at Gaudenzia. Over the next few months, the building will be getting a facelift - all of the floors will be painted. Part of our work for the day involved readying the building; many of our volunteers worked alongside of the residents washing walls and hallways on several of the residential floors. Other volunteers spent the morning and afternoon painting two new lounge areas.

One of the most powerful parts of the day was forming relationships with the residents of Gaudenzia. Many of our youth spent hours working alongside of the clients - painting, laughing, sharing lunch. Grant Dovey took a break and played video games with one young client (see the picture below). The youth - and even the adults - learned that the men they worked with, though battling addictions and trying to reconnect with society after years in prison, were people, not too different from them. It was a wonderful day, with different types of people from different backgrounds and cultures working together for a common goal.

Click on each thumbnail below to get a better look at your fellow parishioners hard at work sharing God's love in the community: