Torch, Fall/Winter 2010

Fall–Winter 2010 | TORCH 15 Directly across the street from our home and down the block were 12 houses in terrible disrepair. They were owned by a notorious slumlord, and many of the people in them lived sad, chaotic lives. Two years after we arrived, a neighbor was convicted of raping and killing two young girls. This led us to ask, “How can we, as Christians, get to know and help the people in this neighborhood?” Our family’s response began on the porch, the sidewalk, and the front yard. Tom, a single dad, first greeted us from his porch, 20 yards away. He taught us how to read the street and recognize friends and threats. We helped Tom by watching his son, Jeremy, when he had to work. Paula occasionally stops us on the sidewalk to ask for money to ride the bus or for help buying dog food. In return, on cold winter days, we often step out the front door and discover steps and sidewalk cleared of snow. One summer day, while we were working in the front yard, Russell stripped off his shirt — quite a sight as he was then 84 years old — to help us dig a flower bed. Later, when he was in the hospital with terminal liver cancer, I became his health care power of attorney, preventing surgery he did not want and helping him find good hospice care. The poor are not problems that we fix. They are neighbors and friends who give to us as we give to them. Reaching a Community Shortly after moving to the neighborhood, Shelley began working at a domestic violence shelter in Springfield. The women she met desperately wanted better lives for themselves and their children. They needed counseling and mentoring before their lives were in crisis. In 2008, Shelley founded CitiLookout, a nonprofit counseling center in the heart of the community. The organization partners with individuals and families, counseling them toward emotional, relational, and spiritual healing. CitiLookout also introduces clients to community resources, serving them regardless of their ability to pay for services. The transformation happening in the neighborhood is especially meaningful because it is a community effort. One hundred yards from our front door is First Baptist Church. Under Pastor Wes Babian’s leadership, church members “adopted” two blocks surrounding the church, including the 12 dilapidated rentals. Every Saturday morning, they walked door-to- door talking with neighbors. They developed relationships, prayed with their neighbors, and invited them to be part of the church. Out of this initiative, Pastor Babian and other neighborhood residents formed the Springfield Community Development Corporation. They acquired and restored abandoned houses, selling them to low-income, first-time home buyers. Pastor Babian also led his congregation, most of them white-haired women, in an exciting venture capital project. They mortgaged the church property to acquire the entire block between South Fountain and Limestone avenues. Pressure from the city code