Putting your faith into action became a very "concrete" reality for a group of men from Greenwood Community Church this past November.  Earlier in the year, ECM connected with a homeowner who is disabled due to foot problems and facing an upcoming surgery that will leave her wheelchair bound for months.  Because of that, the family wanted to install a handicap accessible/wheelchair ramp to provide easier access into their home.  For months we tried to find someone willing to tackle the project and this group of men accepted the challenge. 

First, they came to survey the best way to build the ramp and developed an initial design.  After tweaking and re-tweaking the design based on the desires of the family, as well as the requirements of the city, a final plan was in place.  Out came the shovels, along with hours of digging and removing a lot of dirt.  But at the end of the day, the group's response was "that was fun" because they knew they were making a difference in this family's life.
 
The next step was figuring out how to pour the 25 foot stretch of concrete that would make up the ramp.  The group wasn't completely confident about doing that part themselves, so they enlisted the assistance of a guy they met through Craig's List who owned a concrete company and had a couple of free hours to complete the finishing work.  The end result was a happy and grateful family whose ability to get inside their home will become much easier.....all because these men were willing to make their faith "concrete."

ECM recently partnered with Westside Christian Community Builders to paint a house they were renovating in their efforts to provide affordable housing in the Villa Park neighborhood and for one particular woman named Myra. 

Myra was desperate to find a house large enough for her five children that would be safe.  After living in public housing for two years in the state's poorest neighborhood, she was weary of the impact extreme poverty was having on her children.  Help came when a Section 8 notice informed her she had been chosen by lottery for a voucher that would pay most of her monthly rent in an approved single family home.  

Even though Myra was approved, she could not find a house able to pass Section 8's rigorous inspection.  She called Westside Christian Community Builders about renting a large 6 bedroom home, but the home failed an initial inpsection because lead-based paint was detected.  Unable to pay for a $5,000 exterior paint job to seal the lead-based paint, ECM volunteers from Westwoods Community Church stepped in to paint the home in just one day.....and just one day before the state was going to reclaim Myra's time-dated Section 8 voucher.