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| UCONN students at Bethel Baptist in Collegeville |
Five years ago, I watched our first group of students from
the University of Connecticut (UConn) pull away from Birmingham and head back
to Storrs, CT. You may wonder why on Earth a group of students from the same
northern university would continue to return to Birmingham year after year to
work with Christian Service Mission (CSM) even despite the seemingly yearly
snowstorm that undoubtedly turns their return trip home into a difficult and
sometimes dangerous endeavor. However, if you were to ask any of the students
from these previous trips about their experience in Birmingham, there is a
resounding consensus that their experience with CSM, our staff, and our
community partners is one of the main reasons why they would continue to brave
such conditions. This January’s trip was no exception.
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| UCONN students make quick work of the Green Building punch list |
All week, Christian Service Mission hosted this group of 55 students
from UConn at one of our core ministry partners in the Fairfield community,
Urban Hope Community Church. Ironically,
supernaturally, incredibly, Fairfield, AL is actually named for a neighboring
city to many of these students, Fairfield, CT!
I can’t make this stuff up. These students labored all week long to help
further the progress of Urban Hope’s “green building” in the heart of downtown
Fairfield which will soon be the location of Urban Hope’s new community
development ministry center. Once completed, Urban Hope and pastor Alton Hardy
plan to utilize this building for the sake of job training, counselling,
financial literacy, office and outreach space and much more! Our 55 UConn Huskies were able to move this
process along by leaps and bounds by helping to build interior walls, hang, mud
and sand drywall, paint the entire interior and begin to lay flooring in the
building as well!
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| Nicole, Senior at The University Of Connecticut |
The students were also able to take a mid-week break from
the work projects to assemble together at another one of our local ministry
partners, Bethel Baptist Church for a historical presentation of Fred
Shuttlesworth, Bethel Baptist, and the beginnings of the civil rights movement
in Birmingham, AL. After an incredible
lesson in history, the group returned to CSM for a tour and discussion of our
ministry as well as a time to debrief some of the events from the previous
couple of days before heading off to the Civil Rights Institute for more
learning about our city’s and our nation’s history. Nicole, a senior on the trip said "Being in Bethel Baptist was incredibly powerful. I was very
moved listening to Ms. Martha talk about the history of segregation,
discrimination, and racial violence in Birmingham Alabama. Even though there
are still racial issues today, it was amazing to hear how far this city has
come." It was an incredible week, from several of
our staff sharing the Gospel with students, discussions of race relations and
strategies for lovingly serving depressed communities and a truly unique view
of our city in the heart of Alabama, these students were a part of an experience
that they most likely will never forget! Praise God!
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| Future Community Development Ministry Center at Urban Hope Community Church in Fairfield | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
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| UConn students working with CSM volunteers and staff to redo the Green Building. |
