Church’s Samaritan Team meets Torrington residents'
home-repair needs

What does a senior citizen do when her yard requires work? Or a physically challenged individual when his home needs repair? If they live in Torrington, Wyo., they call on the Samaritan Team of the city’s First Baptist Church (FBC).

The team performs repair and other home-related work for senior citizens and individuals with physical challenges and financial hardships. And it serves not only church members, but also anyone in the greater community.

“We do not turn down someone because they are not part of a church family,” says FBC’s pastor, the Rev. Richard Cederholm.

Projects have included painting the home of a church member who was physically and financially unable to do so, moving a 92-year-old woman’s items from her yard to her garage for winter storage, and installing storm windows in the home of a woman in her 80s.

“We do not just help the elderly, but all those who are financially or physically unable to do the work needed on their homes to keep them in good repair,” says Cederholm. “Our community is dealing with people who are struggling to get by, and home repairs have been put on hold because of the economic conditions they live in.”

The idea began to germinate when Cederholm challenged other Torrington churches—Methodist, Presbyterian, Catholic, and Seventh Day Adventist—to do something good for the community. He organized an all-church work event that was held the first weekend in May 2010. The event is to be held annually.

Fifty-six projects were completed by 140 volunteers that weekend, but FBC members believed additional work needed to be done. They, therefore, turned for guidance to American Baptist Home Mission Societies’ Missional Church Learning Experience (MCLE) initiative, in which American Baptist churches of the same region meet to brainstorm projects that benefit their respective neighborhoods.

“We established the need by talking with residents and some of the social organizations in Goshen County,” says Cederholm. “We met and discussed what could be done to continue the work already done that first weekend. From that, came the idea of starting a team of people who would be available to help where needed.”

FBC established its Samaritan Team with eight members from within its own walls, but it hopes to expand the team beyond the congregation to 20 members. Response to the team’s home-repair work has been positive both outside and inside the church. In fact, other FBC members have expressed interest in becoming involved.

“Many of our older church members wish they could do some of the things,” says Cederholm. “They are told that they can be a part—with prayer, if nothing else.”

If your church would like to become involved in MCLE, contact the Rev. Glynis LaBarre, American Baptist Home Mission Societies transformation strategist, at glynis.labarre@abhms.org or 800-222-3872, x2412.

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