This post was written by Katie Chapman.

Hello RISE community, it’s me again, Katie Chapman. Many of you might not know me yet but I am so glad to be a part of what this community is all about and share a little bit about how I’ve been living it out in my own way.
God has blessed each of us with something special, to be more accurate — many many something specials. One of mine has always been my hair. While I’ve had my battles with trying to get the comb through it in middle school or keeping it stick straight as was the trend in high school, it has always been something that I’ve been proud of. When I was younger my mom would always tell me that she loved my hair and that people (her, sometimes one of them) would always try to dye it my color, but nothing could come close to the real thing. From that day on I always wanted to donate it. The problem was just that I didn’t take care of it long enough to get it very long.

Eventually college came around and I saw this fresh start as the perfect time to try to grow it out. Who wants to pay for a haircut in college, right? I hit a couple bumps trying to get started (lice are some nasty creatures and dorms don’t help) but I cut it super short freshmen year and started from there. Lots of change happened over those next few years, changing schools, changing majors, changing relationships, but that hair just kept growing. Finally it’s senior year, what a journey. This is the year I found RISE :) I don’t know how I finally came to the conclusion but at some point I knew this year would be time to donate my hair. At first I bought a Costco sized two-in-one shampoo and said when I finished that I’d do it, but God had something bigger planned.

Now, especially since coming to JMU, I’ve been interested in getting involved with Relay for Life, but I have this tendency of talking myself out of things that I think I would really enjoy. This year I decided this would be different. Then this idea hits me! I asked a few people in my Occupational Therapy class if they would be interested in donating money if I would get a pixie cut (super short hair). I figured donating my hair is such a great thing to do and will help a few people very deeply … but why not try to do more?!? I’ve never been one to just settle on doing one thing at a time! I chose the number $2500 and decided that if I could reach that number, something that seemed logically unattainable but not completely impossible, then I would get this pixie cut and donate it all to make wigs. So this idea begins to form that pulls together this idea and my goal to be involved with Relay for Life. I started legitimately researching places to give my hair that would simultaneously raise awareness for people working to make a difference that may not get as much recognition as Locks of Love or Pantene and found Wigs for Kids and also created my own team for Relay for Life which I had never done before and had no idea what I was really doing, but I knew they had a reliable widely trusted online donation method that would in some way promote itself.

The wheels were spinning and I put every spare minute I could find into promoting this fundraiser on any social media I could get my hands on as well as talking about it to EVERYONE I knew…or didn’t really know. So, I had chosen who I was donating to, what my goal was, and methods to get there. Every moment I could I spent thinking of who I hadn’t talked to yet or other ways to get the word out. Finally, to wrap it all up, I did a clothing drive because another thing I had way too much of at this point, besides my hair, was clothes. I decided to continue this theme of promoting those less heard of and chose to use this drive as a way for people to drop off clothes they didn’t want anymore, but also for people to buy clothes for themselves, like a thrift shop where all the money would benefit Relay or Wigs for Kids. The fun part though was that all of the clothes remaining at the end all went to our own local Refugee Resettlement center, something that I haven’t been involved with here but has a close place to my heart.

All of this longer-than-it-probably-had-to-be story leads to this. By God’s grace I was able to raise $2577 for both Relay for Life and Wigs for Kids combined, at the Relay event we made 50 handmade cards for the children, I donated 18 inches of my hair, AND we gave 5 giant trash bags full of clothes to Harrisonburg Refugee Resettlement. I don’t say any of this to toot my own horn or talk about all the great things I did, but I want each of you reading this to know that you CAN make a difference, a HUGE difference, by using what you already have. Use your talents that God gave you, use your connections to make something big, and create ideas bigger than what you think you can achieve because God is even bigger than that.

This post was submitted by Natalie Lester – another one of the amazing RISE interns. Click here to check out Natalie’s blog!

Monday I got the amazing opportunity to work with HARTS (Harrisonburg and Rockingham Thermal Shelter). HARTS is a yearly program through which various faith communities in the area open up their doors to the homeless one week at a time, offering beds and meals to those who may have no where else to go. During nights as cold as those the area has been experiencing recently, I can’t imagine having to remain outside for extended amounts of time.

This year RISE is hosting HARTS at Faith Community Church from February 18th to February 25th.

I arrived at Faith Community Church with a few friends of mine that comprise a group whose meeting time is on Monday nights, but who determined this Monday night should be put to especially good use. We showed up with homemade desserts in hand(cookie and cream iced brownies), most of us not knowing what to expect. What I found was a beautiful time of connection and fellowship, enhanced by a few competitive rounds of rummy. When we arrived the doors were not officially open, (according to policy the church is only open from 6pm to 7am), so when we went inside it was simply volunteers hustling about setting up for dinner. Eventually we came together in a circle, were briefed on what we could expect that night as well as safety precautions, and then the doors were opened to those who had been waiting outside them. Smiles and greetings were simple enough but I truly wanted to connect with these individuals, and eventually I did with much more ease then expected. What I found were people just like you and me, telling stories and making jokes, but also pushing to defend themselves and their situations. I personally had no assumptions about these people, no preceding judgments about why they might be there, because I fully acknowledge the fact that I could easily fall into the same circumstances. I truly believe that no person is above homelessness or poverty, and that anyone can be struck by a series of events leading them to such conditions. Yet over and over again I heard explanations of what led up to them being there, personal efforts to escape these circumstances, and demonstrations of values contrasting those commonly believed to be held by the homeless population. It broke my heart that these people felt the need to defend themselves to me, going so far as to believe I thought myself better than them in some cases. Needless to say it was a powerful night, and I enjoyed it so much that I returned on Thursday for both the dinner and overnight shifts.

On Thursday I spoke for hours with a Vietnam veteran who told me incredible stories of how he escaped death over and over again, as well as more current accounts of friends being arrested in laundromats because they had retreated there in order to escape the cold. I had conversations with others about music and food, one man telling me he’d done a number of drugs but it was I who had lost my mind for enjoying Bob Dylan’s music. In the morning a man came into the kitchen while a fellow volunteer and I were preparing for breakfast, giving us a trash bag that contained 4 boxes of Strite’s donuts he had been given that he wanted us to put out with the usual cereal, oatmeal, and granola bars. Over and over again I heard words of thanks and expressions of gratefulness, but I’m not sure that I can accept them. It is my personal philosophy that each person that was served is my fellow man or woman and the fact that I am there in that moment doesn’t deserve acknowledgement or praise, rather in a greater plan I serve so that I might later be served in return. In fact, what greater purpose is there than to ease the suffering of your brothers and sisters?

In conclusion, I can’t know if I really helped these people by washing their dishes and participating in conversations, but I know for a fact that those were nights I fully enjoyed.

I encourage everyone to participate in HARTS any way that you can as it continues throughout this winter season!

This post was submitted by Ashley Jacquette who is currently serving as a RISE intern.

If I could use one word to describe the Intern retreat to Washington DC, I would use the word community. This weekend was a beautiful reminder that we need each other, not only in our smaller communities but also in the world. We need each other to laugh with, cry with, and to help better understand ourselves. Without community, there would be no life. And our weekend in DC was an awesome way to come together as a community of leaders all working towards the same goal, which is to better know God and how best to serve him. 

So our weekend itinerary was full of awesome things. We went to the DC Central Kitchen to volunteer, we then went to Wesley Theological Seminary to hear a talk on leadership in the church. We also went to the National Cathedral and a few of us got to sit in on a Catholic service. Over and over again I was reminded of our call as followers of Christ to serve others and to love one another. In our talk at Wesley, we learned about what it means to be a church that functions as a group of people working towards “God’s Preferred Kingdom” (which in RISE language means God’s Dream). I thought about what that meant to me, and what it means for me now to be a part of such a dedicated group of people working on restoring God’s Dream. I couldn’t help but think how incredibly blessed I was to know and understand this idea of leadership based on my experience! 

I believe God uses everyone for some purpose and that we all have a little leader inside of us waiting to come out. One thing I know is that without this community, I would not have nearly the passion that I have today. I know we work together, towards a common goal. And while it is so so easy to forget that goal and get caught up in the logistics of it all, we as interns are always going back to the “Why?” of things. 

So why do we strive as leaders for those who have no voice, for those who are broken, and for those who seem hopeless? Because it matters. Because they matter. Our lives are a gift from God. My personal “why” is so that everyone may know and understand that simple, yet hard to believe, truth that we are infinitely loved and cared for by our Creator. 
So, with all that being said, this past weekend was an amazing time of reflection on the communities that we have built at RISE. It was a beautiful way to get to know some of the interns better, to form relationships that matter, and to go back to our “why.”

The Mac and Cheese-Off

In 2012 …

34 scrumptious entries of mac and cheese and countless students and community members packed the RISE Mission House to sample the goodness.

Coming soon in 2013 …

It’s already shaping up to be a record-breaking event! Get there early … You won’t want to miss this! Click here to learn more about the 3rd Annual Mac and Cheese-Off on January 27!

The Chocolate Walk

In 2012 …

Over 250 participants raised $3,000 for the Collins Center! 

Coming in 2013 …

Mark your calendar for the 3rd Annual Chocolate Walk on Friday May 10, 2013! There will be more chocolate stations and the much-requested hydration station … It’s going to be sweet.

Restore Love Month

In 2012 …

Our first ever Restore Love Month focused on the pain of child sex trafficking with a speaker from Love146 and also included the Restore Love RockOFF to raise money for this incredible organization.

Coming in 2013 …

Restore Love Month will feature the Stop it Now! Dialogue and the Restore Love Rock & Runway — a night of music and fashion to raise awareness of and promote healing for child victims of sexual abuse. Click here for more information about Restore Love Month and to buy tickets for the Rock & Runway event!

Summer Fun

Love Wednesdays once again included some silly yet love-filled random acts of kindness throughout our community including this surprise birthday party at the Dollar Tree!

Friends also met for Midnight and Sunset Prayer time throughout the community and made new friends along the way. See posts here and here.

The Alternative Gift Market

In 2012 …

“Sales” (i.e., contributions to community organizations) increased from $700 to $7,000! and Ruby’s Lounge generously hosted the event, creating a fun vibe for downtown shoppers.

Community Support

Love Packs continue to grow, now supporting 25 students at Spotswood Elementary School.

For our final Love Packing session in 2012, a group of volunteers from a local church added teddy bears to each backpack as a special Christmas surprise.

We’ve also partnered with the Rotary Club of Harrisonburg who help us to pack bags once every month. 

RISE & Shine continues to grow. In a 7-week span, we shared love in the form of soap and toothpaste with 91 different guests.

More to look forward to in 2013 …

Justin is here! Our community has grown so much over the last two years that we are now in need of more support for our campus ministries. Justin is off and running. Look for him at JMU, Bridgewater and EMU!

2013 is already shaping up to be an exciting year as God continues to call our young and ambitious community to big things! As we seek to live into God’s dream in Harrisonburg and beyond, we hope that you will continue to support us. Your generosity has paved the way for so many incredible opportunities over the last two years. Please consider a gift that will provide hope for young adults and the young at heart in our community.

This post was submitted by Jordan Garrett.

In the midst of all the chaos that I call my life, sometimes it’s hard for me to slow down and listen to the quietness of God. Especially as a music major when everything’s a whirlwind of a to-do list, I just want to curl up and sleep forever by the end of the week. I guess you can say its been a stressful month! Much to my demise, I somehow got persuaded by my housemates to get up at 8 am on a Saturday morning to go gleaning with RISE. And much to my surprise, it was the most needed and memorable day from last week.

There are so many beautiful things on this Earth that I don’t notice. I’m either so immersed in myself or too tired to notice the constant reminders of a love that never forgets me even when I might forget about Him. I guess I realized that this story of mine is not just about that hand that picks up the apple, but the hands that MADE the apple and MADE that hand to pick up the apple and MADE the mouth less fortunate than mine that will eat the apple that was picked up. And that’s a beautiful thing to consider. All of this is His. The entire Earth is His, and he uses it to love us in a way I had never thought of before.

Get away from the to-do list my friends. There are beautiful things to be seen.

On the weekend of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Amanda shared two dreams with the RISE community. We like to think of them as our big hairy audacious goals (BHAGs). One of these dreams was to start a bakery that would not only provide jobs for people in our community who need them, but also be a place for neighbors to gather and grow. Since January, a team of six inspired individuals has been exploring the possibility of such a bakery in Harrisonburg. Here’s an update from the team on what they’ve been up to.

Fellowship is a very churchy word and it generally involves food. Connecting with others, however, is a very real thing, a very important thing, and food can definitely help to facilitate that connection. The RISE Bakery Team has been meeting for six months now, and we have decided that while Harrisonburg might not need another place to purchase food, there is a very real need for connection. There are many different people groups living among us who may or may not feel connected to the Harrisonburg community, and we acknowledge that this idea of community means different things to different people. Many of these groups struggle to assimilate into a culture that is quite unfamiliar and are burdened by a language barrier that is very difficult to overcome. It’s possible to live in Harrisonburg and not even know they exist. One group in particular that is often marginalized in communities across the country is the refugee population.

During a time of great turmoil in their country of origin, refugees leave behind their homes, friends, and possibly even the majority of their families in order to find safety. As would many of us if forced to leave a familiar place, many refugees feel lonely and lost when they arrive in a brand new country. They might not have the job skills that are typically valued in the United States, or their education may be limited by our country’s standards. Over the last year and a half, we have had the tremendous opportunity of getting to know some refugees in Harrisonburg through our RISE & Shine hygiene ministry. As we have journeyed through the idea of a bakery we’ve realized that God has put these people in our midst for a reason. We want to better understand their needs and help them to feel at home in what may still feel like a foreign land.

We’ve also learned that we’re not the only ones who have been dreaming about a bakery with a job-training component. Others in our community have this dream as well and we hope to partner with them in meaningful and purposeful ways. We’ve also taken some time to explore similar models across the country (via some web research) and in Virginia (via visits to these sweet establishments!). One example that we are already in love with is 2nd Helpings in Roanoke, VA. Imagine something like this in Harrisonburg! We hope you’re as excited as we are! Many details are still yet to be determined, but we do know this:

1.     LOCAL. We’re keeping it local and focusing on the Harrisonburg community.

2.     JOB TRAINING. We’d like to create a job-training component that will help refugees to learn basic professional skills that they can carry into future employment.

3.     BREAD. We hope to sell bread, including recipes from some of our refugee friends.

4.     SMALL BEGINNINGS. We hope to begin with a table at the Harrisonburg Farmer’s Market in April 2013.

5.     COMMUNITY. We want to meet people where they are and support them in the ways that they want to be supported, not just what we think they want.

Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support over the last several months of this process. If you have questions about the bakery, please contact Laura Toni-Holsinger (LToniHolsinger@yahoo.com).

This post was written by Melissa Fretwell last Wednesday night as a reflection of Love Wednesday. Come experience the surprise, messiness, tension and joy for yourself this Wednesday night at 7:00 pm at the RISE Mission House!

These are only a few words to describe tonight’s Love Wednesday. It was brought to our attention that a Block Party and a vigil would be held at Court Square.

Off we went with balloons. Cupcakes. Hats. Cards. To offer surprise parties!

Just a little more info …           

Block Party: 230+ youth and 100+ adults hosting a Block Party as part

of a local Middle and High School Youth Mission Week. Cotton Candy.

Inflatables. Band. Etc.

Vigil for Cesar Rios: 28-year-old from Mexico with no criminal record who has been residing in Harrisonburg for five years. Scheduled to be deported this Friday from Farmville Detention Center for picking up a piece of firewood in a national forest.  

Walking through the mass of the Block Party we arrived to find a lone man waiting for the vigil participants. Turns out it was the mayor! Along came Isabel. The face of the DREAM Act. Isabel spoke to the Sister2Sister ministry a few months back about her story. She arrived in the states as an undocumented individual with her mother when she was under 10. She earned a 4.0 high school GPA and graduated from EMU magna cum laude. However, she continues to be undocumented and thus cannot obtain a job. She is a gift!

We stood in the tension …

Of the excitement of the Block Party

The chaos of the vigil

The local radio station interviewing the mayor

Children walking through the area

Mike on his bike … we met him at Midnight Prayer

Kalia … We connected with through the shelter

We stood with cupcakes. Balloons. Hats. Cards.

All not really knowing what to do.

Standing.

We found Cesar’s nephews. Why not? Let’s start this vigil with a little surprise. I assured them we were crazy and we wanted them to know they matter.

They are loved.

They are  a gift.

The vigil began with a few words of introduction and then…“We have an announcement. A little over a hour ago Cesar was released.”

I wonder, “Was this what it was like on Palm Sunday?”

Some partying.

Some not knowing what to do.

Some talking.

Some in confusion.

Some celebrating.

Well, off we went to another party. Dixie at the Dollar Tree. Dixie drives over 45 minutes to work. She was covering for someone tonight. A few weeks back a RISE friend was in the Dollar Tree and it really was Dixie’s birthday … we are a little … “ish” on things. The smile on Dixie’s face was pure joy.

Off we went to a few other stops …

As I reflect upon this night … I want to thank those who were willing to give this night a chance.

I know it was messy.

I know it was uncomfortable.

I know it was confusion.

I know that you matter.

I know that Cesar matters.

I know that every person we meet matters.

I know that God longs for us to continue to be a movement that strives to live a lifestyle that believes everyone is a gift.

Everyone matters.

I’m sure we all have a lot of questions.

What is 287G (the law which drives the deportation)?

What is the DREAM Act (a bill that would allow people like Isabella a means towards citizenship)?

I don’t have a lot of answers…

A few local groups working hard on these issues are … Virginia Organizing and NewBridges!

What I know is that I’m transformed by the RISE community.

A community that is willing to reach out.

To journey.

To be part of supporting each other.

THANK YOU for journeying with me …

This semester started differently than the last. I came in as a second semester freshman who had recently lost her faith in God. I was exhausted, worn down, and lost. I know that sounds so cliche for someone who has lost their faith, but if you’ve ever experienced it first hand, you’ll know what I mean. And so, I opened up to my InterVarsity small group and told them I was an atheist. Phew, I was out of the closet. But not for long. No, God and those girls would not give up on me so easily. A friend from my small group who attends Rise told me that I should talk to Amanda, her pastor, sometime. “Maybe she would be able to help,” she said. Maybe… I thought, but not likely. The truth is, I felt hopeless. Like God HAD given up on me, like I was alone, and that nobody was taking my questions seriously. Then, I got coffee with Amanda. Imagine, a pastor who actually took time to hear MY story and MY pain. Someone who spent time with me trying to understand who I was. I thought, why would anyone want to listen to me? Who wants to listen to some kid complain about their problems? But it wasn’t like that. I felt God in that moment, and as the weeks continued into second semester, God revealed himself in a multitude of ways to me. Through my close friends here at JMU, God showed me the love He had for me. He showed me that there were people who wanted to know me, and to know me completely. People who wanted to love me and walk with me through my doubt and disbelief. And so I joined hands with close friends and began my journey back towards  God’s love. I am still walking, still trying to understand what my faith means and who God is. But it’s different now. I have felt the transforming power of Christ’s love, which I had never felt even though I have attended private, Christian schools my entire life. I am changed today by the people I have encountered. God has given me courage to ask HIM the hard questions and to accept that there are no easy answers. 

Today, I met with my Embrace Group for the first time. We went to an apartment complex and played with the kids who were on the playground. I see it in their faces, their need for  others to love them and for something bigger than themselves to speak worth into their lives. God is changing me, changing my heart. I pray that I can give to the world the love that God has shown me. 

by Lizzy Parker

A couple of weeks ago, eleven friends and I journeyed to the Choctaw Indian Reservation in Philadelphia, Mississippi to spread some great love. Being a first time mission tripp-er, I had no idea what to expect. We went through crazy weather (Praise God that we were safe and made it back in one piece), met amazing people, saw great change, and experienced the hurt the Choctaw people share on a regular basis.

I saw hope in the gratitude presented by the Choctaw people and how they worked to preserve their culture. Aside this hope was pain, though. In many areas of the community, housing situations, alcoholism, and teenage pregnancy were problems. One of our groups tried to help a family by painting the entire outside of a house for a family that needed not only that but other things like proper water and insulation. It was amazing to see how much the family loved the paint job and did not notice the other things that we would call necessities. They truly work with what they are given.

I decided to go on this trip because I recently declared Social Work as my major and I felt like God was calling me to make a difference in the world, no matter how big or small. This mission trip really opened my eyes about what it’s like to serve others. At the end of the day, the whole team got together to serve dinner to anywhere from 40-80 children and their families. We also spent time at the Senior Activity Center where we served folks lunch, played games, danced traditional Choctaw dance, and just sat with them. I learned that love is about being with people, not so much the monetary value of gifts.

I really enjoyed our group of diverse people (hence the title). We had a broad age range from a college freshman to Nancy, a woman who proved that being “old” does not mean that she has to lose her independence and spirit. We also had a range of experiences on the trip, as well. One of the girls on the trip, Stephie, previously had experience with the Choctaw people. There were a number of people who worked behind the scenes, as well (Kathy and Larry, plus Rin).

I appreciate the whole mission team and the wonderful chance to share such an experience with you all!

“Everyone has a story. Take Mary, a Waffle House employee, coming off 4 hours of sleep and working a double shift in order to make the money she needs to live. When I asked her if she wanted me to pray for anything for her, she responded immediately, as if she’d been waiting for someone, anyone, to share her pain with. With tears in her eyes she told me that her 81 year old father just got sent home from the hospital and that he isn’t expected to live much longer. She asked that I pray for him as well as their entire family as they struggle during this time. Everyone has a story. Everyone. And they’re waiting and wanting to tell it, to share it. Why not give them the opportunity? God is good.”

- Jenn Landrein