On a mini-day of service, Love La Mirada painted a bridge and the entrance sign of Creek Park on Sept. 24.
A Service Collaboration
The project included a collaboration between Love La Mirada and Helping Hands to complete painting from April 30, the first day of service. A team of 25 individuals worked to finish the project and expose members to both organizations as well as the community.
“The idea behind doing the mini-day was twofold, one to be able to complete one of the big projects that we didn’t get to finish on April 30, the second was that we’ve been trying to encourage churches particularly to get involved with La Mirada’s Helping Hands,” said Greg Stump, pastor at Redeemer Church and co-chairman of Love La Mirada.
To complete the project, the organizations used leftover paintbrushes, paint rollers and tarps from the first event and the city paid for the paint again. From the event, Stump hopes to see the participants proud of the bridge and sign looking sharper.
A Hope for Connection
“Overall, our hope is to keep connecting people. Our mission is bringing churches and other nonprofits and businesses together for the good of the city, and so it feels like this is a way for us to partner together,” Stump said. “And meeting new folks… I didn’t recognize any of the ones that had signed up online, so I was like, it’s a great opportunity to just meet some other residents of La Mirada.”
For future mini-day of service projects, the two organizations hope to come together and get people involved with ongoing city projects. The second large day of service will occur March 23, 2017. Love La Mirada also created an advisory council for all of the houses of worship in La Mirada to meet in the same room, where the council shares ideas for all kinds of events, such as a concert series.
“The service component is really important to us, but we have a woman who’s wanting to do a Love La Mirada concert series, and [that would be] featuring concerts at different venues around the city just trying to bring people together in greater community,” Stump said.
