Church members unite to build beds, package meals, serve others

“When we were here last year, we had a goal of 50 (beds),” Foriest said. “We did 117. This year, our goal is 150.”

He added with a smile: “We’re going to get over 200.”

Fairhaven Church has four Dayton-area campuses — in Centerville, Northmont, Springboro and Beavercreek, said volunteer and co-organizer Jennifer Fullenkamp. The church’s “Family Serve Day” brought about about 800 volunteers from all them to the campus at Whipp and Marshall roads to build beds and package meals.

The beds were assembled for the Dayton chapter of Sleep in Heavenly Peace, a non-profit that seeks to provide beds to those who need them. The meals of rice, vegetables and protein were bound for Guatemala.

The Dayton chapter of Sleep in Heavenly Peace in more than two years has built more than 2,900 beds, about 1,900 of those for people living within Dayton city limits, Foriest said.

“There is so much need,” he said. “And that’s not anything I ever really knew, you know what I mean?”

Going into a home where a family is starting over, perhaps breaking free from domestic violence, and providing a bed and mattress has been a life-changing experience, Foriest said.

“They’re all sleeping on the floor, without blankets or pillows or anything — that changed me big-time," he said. “It humbled me big-time.”

Service is part of what churches should be about, said Christin Adams, also a volunteer and the family ministry director for Fairhaven.

On Saturday, that meant getting together from 9:30 a.m. until early afternoon to build 150 beds and package 90,000 meals, she said.

“I think there’s just a desire, like a hunger, for our church family to get involved in serving and being the hands and feet of Jesus, as we say,” Adams said. “Our desire is for people to bring the hope of Jesus locally in our communities and globally as well.”

Last year, the church packaged about 50,000 meals, in a service day formatted a bit differently.

“It is a lot of meals,” Adams said. “We’re excited about it.”

“Overwhelmed,” fellow coordinator and outreach pastor Sharon VanVlymen said of her reaction to the day’s turnout. “It’s so exciting. To see so many people engaging in the community and in serving.”

Fairhaven has a longstanding partnership with churches in Guatemala, Fullenkamp said. The church’s distribution partner is A Child’s Hope International, a non-profit that says it seeks to provide food and clean water.