Spreading Good in the Neighborhood
“I have watched people transition from ‘how am I hurt?’ to
‘how can I help?’”
Two weeks ago, Greg Schlueter set up an online initiative to connect the helpful and the helpless.
Since then, over 250 Facebook users have signed up, agreeing to go public with their desire to help those in need amidst the COVID-19 crisis.
At www.myneighborgood.us, Facebook Users can post and publicly share their skills, availability, resources, and supplies. Those who are less fortunate can communicate their needs as well. Greg says the value of his forum in this time of isolation is “not just giving, but also verbalizing our needs—like loneliness.”
Greg has not only created the forum, but funded the promotional advertising Facebook offers to push My Neighborgood to even more neighbors.
“Suffering forges strength and fraternity — if we’re willing to receive it.”
Connecting the disconnected is nothing new for Greg and his wife, Stephanie. Their passion is ministering to marriage and families to increase closeness and Christlike-ness. They’ve co-hosted Ignite Radio Live podcast and radio program for more than 250 episodes over the past 5 years. Their guests on the show include couples who join them for a time of “meaningful talk and prayer.”
He and his wife, Stephanie, also actively work to build up families through their nonprofit, Mass Impact. He says that hundreds of families have committed and experienced change through their 7-week Challenge & Gathering Guide. The Schlueters have channeled their existing resources to help people address these new spiritual and emotional struggles presented by COVID-19.
“What we’re doing now is just physical distancing. Social distancing has already been happening for generations. Families begin to see that once we’re all quarantined together.”
As Greg says—if we don’t know our mess, we can’t know our Messiah. Many Ohio families now face the “mess” of being unexpectedly trapped together in a house together. This is when many parents and spouses begin to realize a startling disconnect in their relationships.
“The greatest poverty is that of spiritual and relational poverty. The consumerist world encourages us to buy products that define our identity. Imagine living in the of freedom of defining our value, purpose, and identity in Christ.”
In this time of limited resources and financial uncertainty, God’s desire is to see people experience true freedom. Sometimes that freedom begins by helping a neighbor in need and relating to people, not pixels.
What You Can Do
Here’s how Greg says you can help do good in your neighborhood:
1. Go to myneighborgood.us.
2. Use your Facebook account to click “Join Group.”
3. Commit your willingness to help assist needs in your area.
4. Share this group to your Facebook page with a simple message:
DEAR FRIENDS IN MY AREA:
If you are quarantined and in need of help or supplies, we are already praying for you and ready to help with minimal risk of contracting the disease. Please privately contact me.
5. KEEP PERIODICALLY POSTING, making yourself available to any in need. Also, make a list of those most at risk you can "adopt"... reach out personally (even just one) and ask how he/she is doing.
