Laundry Love Project – 10.03.09

Laundry Love Projects (LLPs) are regular opportunities to help people who are struggling financially by assisting them with doing their laundry. For those living below the poverty line, washing clothes presents both a logistical problem and a financial hardship. Laundry Love Projects partner with local laundromats in cleaning the clothes of those living in shelters, motels, cars, garages and on the streets. It is our mission to take laundromats and convert them into hubs of relief, granting reprieve to those living in oppressive poverty.

Next project – Saturday, 10.03.09

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compartments

So, IKEA recently opened in the Tampa area and I have to admit that one of the biggest things I love about that store is all the closet organizers they have. There’s a whole drawer set up just to separate your belts and knick-knacks. I don’t have that many belts or knick-knacks for that matter… but I’m fascinated by the fact that it exists. And don’t even get me started on shoe racks and those hanging organizers… The point is, some of us are obsessed with putting things in their place and keeping them there. And this tendency can bleed over into how we manage our lives. From work, to school, to families, and friends we separate and confine aspects of our lives away from each other… and then there’s faith and this need to be involved in helping people in the world around us.

I don’t think there’s a drawer big enough to hold all those compartments. So… what if we broke out of our need to organize, order, and control the “separate” parts of our lives. What if we mashed up a desire to change the world around us with the responsibility we have at work? Or brought our families in on a social awareness discussion? Would it bring about too much conflict?

This conflict might be just what we need to help spur us forward in the things that are really important. So, the challenge this week is to let the things of our lives bleed together. To become an advocate for the thing we’re passionate about and bring in someone else who may need to de-compartmentalize their lives as well.

Here are the things we’re doing if you want to join in:

-Laundry Love Project October 3rd 10 am @ Sulphur Springs Coin Laundry

-LiNK documentary The Underground Tour October 13th (keep checking currentatusf.com for details as the date approaches)

-Vegas Trip… check out www.stripchurch.com for information about the organization we’re partnering with.

Have a great week. And we hope to see you here next time

Who Is Really Starving?

Tonight the discussion centered around the question: who is really starving? If you compare the cultures of stereotypical wealthy America vs. the majority of the world, you see a lot of differences in monetary wealth, entertainment, food, and relationships. America almost has too much of everything, yet so many people complain of boredom. We see images of third world places and feel that theirs is a simpler life or think of their lives as ones lived in poverty… but the simple act of playing marbles in a playground can bring huge smiles to their faces.

Could it be that in the process of meeting their needs with our wealth they’ll meet our needs, too? Are we the answer to each others problems?

Jason shared a quote from Joe vs. The Volcano in which Meg Ryan talks about most of the world walking around asleep, while a few, “live in a state of constant total amazement.” One of the goals of Current is, in the process of going to other places and meeting peoples’ needs, to wake up the people that are sleeping through their lives. Our failure to act can make us almost as guilty as the people who are inflicting pain and cruelty on the world.

For the final piece of discussion tonight Jason read an essay written for the book This I Believe. You can read it here. The essayist talks about her failure to act, to say or do something, she feels, contributed to the death of a teenager in her community. Since then, she often wonders how often issues that could be changed aren’t because people are afraid to stick their nose in “the world’s business.”

To wrap it up, Jason asked us to internalize the question; to flip it around. Am I starving? What am I craving? To see if it leads us to any more motivation to do something.

Things we’re doing:

- Laundry Love Project, October 3 10 am @ Sulphur Springs Coin Laundry. Come, bring detergent, quarters, and your time… to love on the people of this community.

-LiNK Undergound Tour – Movie Screening, October 13th, go here for some more information. We want to pack out the room so tell a friend… MSC 3711. Watch the trailer here .

-And the Las Vegas trip in December 14-19 in association with Strip Church .

If you couldn’t make it this week we hope you’ll make it out next week. 8 pm in MSC 3711… or come do one of the trips with us.

First Night of Current at USF

It’s Fall 2009 at USF and we’re kicking off Current for the school year. The first night opened with Michael LeBlanc (this year’s President) welcoming everyone back and hinting at a few of the things that we’ll be doing this year.

Jason followed with an overview of what Current is, why it meets, and what we hope to do on campus and in the community. He shared his passion and vision of what Current can be, a group of people engaging the world around them, and showing them that someone really does care about them. One of the goals behind Current is to re-connect who Jesus is and what He did by not just talking at people, but really helping them.

Three ways that we try to do that is to Grow in our own awareness and faith, Give of our heart, time, and resources, and then Go to the people and places that need help and love. One of the questions we ask is: what if we engaged the injustice around us instead of just talking about it?

You may be asking the same thing? Isn’t this blog just more words ABOUT doing something? Well, maybe, but read this story… see how we engage the current.

One of the projects Current is involved in are the Laundry Love Projects. Current has hosted or been a part of several already. The group sets up at a laundromat in a low income area and pays for everyone’s laundry throughout the day. That’s about it. No strings attached. No forcing the people to sit and listen to a sermon if we pay for their laundry… just doing them a service. Some of the people coming to do their laundry debate how much they can do; whether they can afford doing $10 worth of laundry or if they should spend that $10 on groceries for the week. Current removes the reason for the debate, providing detergent, quarters for the machines, coloring books for the kids, coffee and donuts, and the reality that there are some people whose only goal is to do a nice thing for someone else.

One family hadn’t been able to do laundry for a couple weeks. One of the kids saw a group of people outside the laundromat and asked what was going on. When he found out they were paying for everyone’s laundry he asked if he could bring his family. His parents weren’t really sure there wasn’t a catch, but were finally convinced that nothing weird was going on. Current was able to pay for them to do 10 loads of laundry, everything from their clothes to their blankets and towels. A huge blessing for this family of 10 living in what some of us would consider a shack.

Jason ended the stories with a quote by Goethe, which describes why Current, and the current generation in college, has so much potential to change the tide of social injustice.

“The destiny of any nation at any given time depends on
the opinion of its young people, those under twenty-five.”
-Goethe

We then discussed some of the injustices that we are personally passionate about and how over the next year we can engage them. Everyone had a particular thing they are passionate about… and I think we’ll all get the chance to do something about it. If you’re interested here’s some of the things we’ll be doing this semester:

Oct 3 – Laundry Love Project @ Sulphur Springs Coin Laundry
We’ll be collecting detergent, coloring books, quarters for these projects and of course people to come along.

Oct 13 – We’re hosting a viewing of another LiNK film
“Seoul Train” is about an Underground Railroad from North Korea…. Check out the website for more info and come see the documentary - http://www.seoultrain.com/

December 14-19 we’re going on a mission trip to Las Vegas with Strip Church as well as sponsoring Christmas for the Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking’s refugees in the area.

So, next Monday night, come be a part of Current… and get involved in one of the projects with us. See you then.

Current @ USF

BEGINNING SEPTEMBER 14

Gathering weekly on the campus of the University of South Florida.

Mondays

8:00 p.m.

Marshall Student Center, Room 3711 (Egret Room)

Map/Directions (find your way to the Marshall Center)

Map of USF (official USF campus map)

* There is a parking garage, meters, and handicap parking available. For more information about parking permits and policies, visit the Parking Services Website.

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