This past winter, FOCUS Cleveland-St. Herman's house was at capacity, providing shelter for the homeless during the coldest months of the year.
This story was featured in the Finger Lakes Times in February, but shoe distribution continues daily in Geneva City School District.
GENEVA — Thanks in part to one Geneva alumnus, over 100 children in the district will now have brand-new sneakers.
Adam Murphy, who graduated from Geneva High School in 2009, now lives in Pennsylvania and works for FOCUS North America, an Orthodox Christian fellowship dedicated to serving homeless and working poor throughout the nation. However rewarding his work on a national scale is, there was one location that weighed particularly heavily on Murphy's mind: Geneva.
Photo By Spencer Tullis. New shoes Geneva Head Start nurse Kristine Echols helps children try on new sneakers.
While in Geneva, Murphy was an active volunteer, having served with the Festival of Nations, and his parents still live and work in the city. Consequently, he knows all too well the challenges many of Geneva's economically disadvantaged face.
"I asked my mom what could be done in Geneva because I've always wanted to give back to the community," he said.
Murphy's mother, Suzanne Murphy, is a music teacher in the district. His father, the Rev. Gregory Murphy, is pastor of St. Michael's Orthodox Church in Geneva.
"I know that Geneva oftentimes gets overlooked in terms of projects that go on," Adam Murphy said, noting larger cities tend to receive more philanthropic aid.
One program at FOCUS seemed perfectly suited to Geneva. It was Operation: Lace Up. This FOCUS program, through a partnership with Toms Shoes, provides footwear to children in need throughout the nation.
Murphy proposed the project to his employer and was able to secure approximately 120 pairs of shoes for Geneva, which are slated to be divided between Head Start and West Street School based on available shoe sizes.
The tech giant Google recently reported that 93 million "selfies" are taken each and every single day. On many days, I think that my 15-year-old daughter is single-handedly responsible for a sizeable percentage of that number. From the time that the first Kodak camera was sold in 1888 through 1950, it's estimated that a few bil- lion photographs were taken worldwide.
As racial and community tensions flare in Ferguson, Missouri following the publication of the recent Department of Justice report, FOCUS North America continues to serve those in need and work to bring the divided community together.
While the local officials have been forming plans to move the community forward in a positive manner, FOCUS Gateway City has made significant contributions on the ground.
FOCUS has been featured on multiple TV stations in Ferguson, Missouri, where our St. Louis Center and our Director, Eric Shanburn, have been actively working to embody the "U" in FOCUS, which stands for "United" and "Understanding". Eric and his team of Orthodox volunteers have spent time in Ferguson to promote discussion and understanding between the police and protesters.
This past Saturday, FOCUS hosted a community cookout that brought local shop owners (many of whom were victims of looting), protesters and authorities together. In the past few nights, protests have been peaceful and there have been no arrests. Police and protestors alike have expressed their gratitude to FOCUS and Orthodox Christians for their role in reducing tensions.
FOCUS hosted the meal at this time to act as a turning point, sending a message of peace at a time of unrest. FOCUS in St. Louis has always been deeply active in building community and relationships through our many programs that create jobs, provide housing and help homeless and disadvantaged children stay in school.
FOCUS North America is featured in the September 2010 Word magazine. The emphasis is on our feeding ministries. Click here to read the article.
This week we highlight a wonderful program called YES that gives Orthodox youth a chance to participate in service projects. This program gives youth a chance to serve God through serving others. Visit https://focusnorthamerica.org/ to learn more and find out about other opportunities to serve.
The YES Program of FOCUS North America is YOUTH EQUIPPED TO SERVE. YES provides opportunities for junior high and high school students to participate in formative weekends of service, with the ultimate purpose being to raise up a generation of Orthodox Christians who lead others in living out the true mission of the church- to love and serve our most needy neighbors.
The students are taken through a four-step service-learning process known as E4- EXPOSE, ENGAGE, EQUIP, ENTRUST.
We first EXPOSE them to the reality of the poverty in the world through interactive curriculum. The students are presented with various questions: What does it mean that we are created in the Image of God? What is the true mission of the church, and what does it mean for each of us that we are members of the body of Christ? What are the stereotypes that exist within all of us that prevent us from putting the needs of others before ourselves? Is poverty a complex or simple problem, and what is our place in the solution?
We then ENGAGE the students in strategically chosen service projects. Each project is chosen based upon specific criteria known to be meaningful in service-learning contexts. With each step, the environmental or cultural tension of the service project becomes more complex. This "created tension" is by design, and provides the kind of context conducive for real spiritual transformation.
For the students that have participated in 2 weekend service-learning trips, they are then invited to a week of leadership training, where they are EQUIPPED with tools to guide others in service.
Lastly, they are ENTRUSTED with various leadership roles on weekend trips, and most importantly, with continuing the mission of YES in their communities, to inspire, lead, and educate others.
Proverbs 22:6 says, "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." The YES Program is heeding this instruction to "train up" our youth to have a real awareness of who God has created them to be. Teenagers are constantly confronted with images, words, and people who present different ways of life to them. The YES Program aims to present to them the one true Way of life in Christ- death of the self for the sake of the other. Our prayer for the students that come through our program is that they embrace life in Christ themselves and are empowered to live it!
The YES Program of FOCUS North America would love to come to your community!