Community: the Sequel

One of my toddler’s favorite movies is The Incredibles.  Having viewed it on a near-continuous loop about ten thousand times (I wish I were exaggerating), my ears perked up right away when I heard the voice of Violet, the Eeyorian daughter, giving an interview on NPR recently.  The voice belongs to author Sarah Vowell, a humorous historian who writes often of the beginnings of our country.

The part of the Talk of the Nation interview I heard centers on John Winthrop’s sermon City on a Hill. As founding governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony, Winthrop voiced the conviction that God had summoned the people of the New World – or at least those settling in New England – to serve as role models for all humankind.  Here’s an excerpt that Violet Sarah Vowell discussed:

We must delight in each other; make others’ conditions our own; rejoice together, mourn together, labor and suffer together, always having before our eyes our commission and community in the work, as members of the same body.

Vowell’s interpretation of Winthrop’s sermon focused not on the glory of our country, but instead on the glory of community.  At HDD, we recently learned the true meaning of the “labor and suffer together” portion of the famed speech when we participated in the Extreme Makeover:  Home Edition build in Holt, Michigan for the Nickless family.  We were asked by the design producers of EM:HE to create window treatments, bedding and pillows for the new home within the insane 48-hour time frame.

I was absolutely humbled by the experience and wanted to take an opportunity to thank my staff, the remarkably talented interns (several of whom worked alongside Ty Pennington for several hours Friday), and many community members who arrived at the studio and said “I want to help“.  We were overjoyed when more than 20 seamstresses arrived, sewing machine in hand, ready to tackle any project and call their friends for backup.   HDD would not have been able to complete the monumental task had it not been for the support of the Holt community and our many friends.  As I look back on the experience and think good thoughts about Arlene Nickless and her family as they settle into their beautiful new home, I have to wonder:  how many other Nickless families are there in our community?

The Extreme Makeover television crew rolled into town, and one magic week later, a new home appeared.  I’ll quickly point out that it was not the tv crew that built the house.  Instead, it was the mass of local tradespeople and volunteers that made that magic.  Now that the cameras are gone, I challenge you to continue the outpouring of love and support by striving, as Winthrop advises, to “make others’ conditions our own”.  If you’re interested in more housing-related community involvement, then Habitat for Humanity is always looking for willing volunteers at their build sites as well as the ReStore.  How about feeding people?  The Lansing Food Bank is a great place to donate food as well as give time for collections and food drives.  Don’t forget the kids:  the Reading People group has programs for book donations as well as literacy tutoring.  Finally, you can always bleed:  the Red Cross is in need of blood on a constant basis.

I could spend pages and pages listing worthwhile organizations that benefit the community, but I’ll let you interpret Winthrop in your own way.  Trust me, it doesn’t take a tv crew to make magic.