On Sunday July 21, FCC in Columbia rolled out of town with sixteen youth and adults and headed to Evansville, IN for a week of hard work, fellowship, worship, and learning. Our goal was to focus on the concept of housing justice, from every angle - unhoused/ homeless care, low-barrier homeless shelters, disability and policy challenges, zoning, low -income housing and urban density, neighborhood revitalization, gentrification, and more.
On Monday, we worked with individuals in the city to clean windows, mow lawns, and cut back unsafe brush for people who otherwise couldn't keep up with their property needs. We filled several t ruck loads of yard waste, protecting siding from encroaching vines while creating safe spaces for kiddos to play in their own yard.
After, we went to the West Side Community Center, which houses several nonprofits and community programs, to host a conversation on housing policies with Councilman Courtney Johnson and disability lawyer Joseph Wambach. Their information was both eye-opening for the housing struggles that connect to poverty and disability law, but also inspired us to see how people are working at every angle to improve the lives of their neighbors.
Tuesday was spent at the United Caring Services complex downtown, a low-barrier homeless shelter that allows for day shelters, three served meals, and up to 90-day overnight stays.
They are working diligently on increasing their service capacity, but as they explained to us, they only have so much funding.
One of the programs they were ready to launch two years ago when we visited was still not running, because the promised funding from the city had yet to be approved. Still, they care deeply about their unhoused neighbors and serve them well. We were able to make a meal for the community and help organize their donated clothing, food, and toiletries.
During a short break, we walked to Zion UCC, a historic downtown congregation, to learn from Rev. Lynn Marino about how churches close and how they handle their financial, physical, and conceptual legacy. Zion is working with a local nonprofit housing group to convert their church building into low-income housing in the ever-growing Evansville downtown core, which is rapidly gentrifying and displacing a large number of residents.
Wednesday was spent with Community One, a nonprofit who works on neighborhood revitalization. One neighbor hood in particular had approximately 37% of its 650 homes abandoned or dilapidated, and in the seven years Community One has been active they have fixed up some fifty properties. Connections with Habitat for Humanity have brought another 35 new homes to the area, showing how diligent, consistent effort can reshape a huge area one piece at a time. We also had a chance to revisit homes we worked on two years ago, watching them transform from places where the floors had completely caved in to homes nearly ready for a family to move in. We then worked on two more properties that were in the process of being restored.
Thursday was a fun break, spent at Holiday World and Splash in' Safari theme/water park in Santa Claus, IN. A few rode their first ever roller coasters!
Friday featured more work on individual properties, followed by a dinner provided by St. Paul's UCC (the church Topher was raised in). They talked about the changes they faced by moving from one neighborhood to another, and how that has impacted their mission and vision for themselves. On our way home, we ran into another First Christian (Bowling Green, KY) who were traveling back from their own mission trip - what a small world!
Overall, our trip was a wonderful time filled with learning, worship, and hard work. We spent 365+ hours in direct service through the week, and countless more building a deeper fellowship together.
A huge thanks to everyone who participated, especially Ryan and Stacy Silverwood and Valerie Freed for being incredible chaperones. I also want to thank those who helped us with funds and kept us in their prayers this week - these trips are much bigger than just the people who physically go, and we acknowledge that work and give thanks for this community!
Thanks to FCC’s Rev. Dr. Topher Endress and Erin Perry
for this story and photos.