Contact: Craig Chastain, Luis Palau Association, 503-939-5535
VALLEY OF THE SUN, Ariz., Oct. 29 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Season of Service, a six-month initiative to address the pressing human needs in Arizona's Valley of the Sun, got underway on October 23rd with an "impact day" that saw close to 3000 volunteers contribute their time and labor to dozens of community service projects.
The scope of work was extensive, from neighborhood beautification to food distribution, home construction to school cleanup and repair. A collaboration of governmental and non-profit agencies, the region's diverse faith community, and the ministry of world evangelist and author Luis Palau, the Season of Service will be targeting education, hunger, homelessness, healthcare, family well-being and neighborhood revitalization with hundreds of projects through March of 2011.
The weekend of March 19 & 20, 2011 will mark the completion of the first phase of the program with a festival celebration called Arizona CityFest with Luis Palau at Tempe Lake Park.
"This impact day was such an encouraging start to the Season of Service," said CityFest director Levi Park. "The size of the turnout shows that Arizonans are willing and excited to serve their neighbors and communities."
Projects included food and school supplies distribution; graffiti removal; landscaping and repair of school campuses and buildings; and construction of housing for families and displaced persons. Several of the projects represented pre-existing programs throughout the state, including Tucson's community outreach called Hope Fest.
The Season of Service format has been implemented in other U.S. cities including San Diego, Little Rock, and Portland, Oregon. With a goal of sustainable collaboration, the Portland Season of Service is now in its third year with more than 300 projects completed and dozens more ongoing. In September, San Diego drew more than 50,000 volunteers to 350+ projects representing more than 200,000 hours of donated work.
In addition to scores of ongoing SOS projects, the next "impact day" in the Valley will be November 23 with a focus on hunger. A partnership with existing food providers and ministries, the effort will be on stocking food banks, implementing food drives, and food packaging for global relief. Agencies, churches and service organizations are encourage to post their project(s) at www.arizonacityfest.com/season_of_service; the website is designed to match the needs of the community with the resources and volunteers to serve them.
"Our hope is to help build a self-sustaining network of civic, church and corporate leaders that makes an impact on this community today and into the future," said Park. "There's no question that the needs are great, but we saw last weekend that Arizona has a huge heart for service."
The Season of Service and Arizona CityFest are partnerships with the people of Arizona and the Oregon-based Luis Palau Association. Honorary co-chairs are Kurt and Brenda Warner and Jerry Colangelo. For more information visit www.arizonacityfest.com or call 602.385.0766.
