Amigos Days Touches Hearts As It Erases Blight

Teaming with the City of Dallas, NTC churches provide crucial repairs to homes

During Amigos Days, it is so inspiring, year after year, to witness the dedication of church volunteers working alongside sister churches, collaborating in doing what Jesus did and taught us to do: love thy neighbor.

This love is visibly demonstrated and tangible because through this ministry, we help improve the dwelling places of families in our communities. With scrapers, paint brushes, hammers, nails, and a plethora of power tools, we do Jesus’ work.

One story that touched the hearts of the University Park and Cochran Chapel teams is that of the Glovers. The couple’s 10-year-old granddaughter lost a leg and was left in a wheelchair several years ago in an auto accident that killed her dad and aunt. Despite the trauma, she is a cheerful little girl, taking after her family. Amigos Days volunteers plan to return to this South Dallas home to add a wheelchair ramp and repair or replace the roof to make it the very best home it can be for these special people.

Amigos Days volunteers have encountered stories like this one each of its 20 years. Teaming with the City of Dallas, which provides the materials, we have repaired over 460 homes and provided 100,000 hours of volunteer work over that time.

So many churches, so many volunteers — it is impossible to name them all. You have met homeowners like the Glovers; you have listened to their stories; you have prayed and shared meals with them; you know you have been in the right place at the right time, being Christ to these families. We thank you for your faithfulness, commitment, and unwavering support to this ministry.

As we conclude another season of Amigos ministry, we feel blessed to continue being a part of the improvement of the lives of so many by helping repair their homes. This is a sacred work, for home is sacred.

That task is not completed, as there are many more families that are praying for provision. We have many years of work and ministry ahead of us. So we pray for more churches to join us in the future.

This is a unique opportunity to do mission work in our vicinity, and is not complicated: We provide the labor and the City of Dallas, through People Helping People, provides the materials. All it takes is showing up and getting the work done.

What is it?

North Texas Conference volunteers just completed two weekends (April 22-23 and April 29-30) of Amigos Days, a hands-on ministry of The United Methodist Church and People Helping People, a City of Dallas Housing Revitalization Program. We partner with inner-city Methodist host churches to repair and restore homes to make a positive difference in their neighborhoods.

Published: Tuesday, May 2, 2017