Risk Love 2011

This weekend my family participated in our church's annual Risk Love event. Services were cancelled, and instead attendees worked on various service projects. The church coordinated all kinds of opportunities: construction, yard work, renovations, event production, crafts, and support teams. For our project, we signed up to work at First Fruits Farm, an entirely volunteer-run one hundred acre farm that donates its produce to shelters, soup kitchens, and food banks. Our group gathered 14,000 pounds of potatoes that will help feed people in need in our area.

While the Risk Love projects met many needs within our community, service doesn't benefit its recipients alone. Risk Love was a gift to its participants as well, an experience for which I am thankful. Our project offered an opportunity to teach Madilyn about volunteering and gratitude and to reaffirm those principles to myself. We were able to savor the beautiful weather and scenery; the farm was surrounded by trees colored by fall. Most especially though, I enjoyed the camaraderie found in serving alongside family and friends. Relationships grew in the field while we worked together to love those God loves.