Prayer Walk & Americorps...

We had a cool prayer walk today in the neighborhood. It's very nice out today and it was oddly quiet in the city. There has been a lot of progress made on the Spring Grove Wetlands. The old bilboard sign frame ha been removed, as has the wall and a lot of concrete down the hill. The water is coming back. It's very cool. If you are a fan of "life after people" on the History Channel, this is sort of like that, except that we are intervening and bringing back the green spaces in the city. This is something that has gained some traction, though I doubt it will go far. I mean, the idea of shrinking cities intentionally and re-greening spaces, so to speak. The issue is what neighborhoods are removed? I honestly don't see it happening though. But it has happened in cities like Youngstown Ohio.

Today we made a side stop at TDM Properties, a property management company in our neighborhood. What we thought would be a few minute conversation with the manager turned into an hour long conversation about spirituality, tattoos, the neighborhood, Flint, The Sal, houses, rentals, the city's development plans, evangelism, Ezekiel, and the History Channel. This guy who was in his 50's? was eager to talk with us and inquired about our marriage and what we do at The Sal and why.

Afterwards, we went to FNIPP (Flint Neighborhood Improvement and Preservation, Inc.) to see what they are all about. They are doing some cool rehabs of homes, but the waiting list is a year long.

On another note, the Russ Mawby Signature Service Project Weekend / Americorps Service Weekend is coming along nicely. Our first work day is this Thursday. The canteen will be out this weekend. Jim Fearon will be overseeing the planting. I'll be floating around Spring Grove hauling junk out of the area. Erin will be documenting the whole weekend with her camera. We plan on putting together a powerpoint of all the work that was done and we'll of course have pics on the blog.