But my mind was wandering in a different direction. “Spruce . . . Spruce I thought . . . I know the name of the street Spruce.” I discovered that I was walking just blocks away from where my husband bought his first home in Kansas City. His son Kyle came home from the hospital to the house on Spruce. My step-daughter Karmen played with her first-grade friends on Spruce.
I realized that this neighborhood, where families struggling economically seek hope, was the place where my stepchildren first learned to walk and play more than 40 years ago. This was not a tour of someone else’s neighborhood; this was OUR city. Suddenly, the facts and figures about crime and poverty were not what mattered to me. What mattered were the faces of particular children. How do we make sure that the next generation of children grows up in safe homes where Moms and Dads, just out of graduate school or working 2 jobs to make ends meet, can afford to pay the mortgage and put food on the table? How do we keep grandparents on fixed incomes from losing their homes when the roof begins to leak?
Please watch the video below to learn about how our congregation is answering that question.
Grace and Peace,
Carla
