Pastor Collin Outerbridge was at home one day reflecting on the impact that Nona Church’s annual Be Rich event has on the community. Be Rich is an annual campaign where the church raises money and gives all proceeds to local partners. As he contemplated this, a new idea came to him. Getting to see the ways that the money raised by Nona Church’s congregation had impacted community partners was inspiring but begged the question: How could the congregation reorient themselves to tangibly help their community?
On Sunday, July 7, Nona Church cancelled all regularly-scheduled services and set out to serve the community in a new event called Summer Serve Day. Planning began about three months ago and took more than 100 hours and a team of about 25 people to bring to fruition. The task was not a small one, but Nona Church took it on.
Summer Serve Day is an event where members of the Lake Nona community come together to serve and love their neighbors. The day presented members with an opportunity not to go to church, but to go and be the church out in the community; to bring the love, joy and hope out into the Nonahood and inviting other residents to do the same.
Everyone who came out to Summer Serve Day got the chance to serve and share an experience with members and organizations in the Lake Nona community with different service projects. For members of Nona Church, church is not just a place that you go, it’s a people who serve. They emphasize an intention to live in a way that serves the community and to live in a way that makes their community better, whether or not those who are receiving help believe what they believe. Through Summer Serve Day, the congregation was able to help people know and take the next best step toward following Jesus.
More than 250 people came out to serve community partners such as the Central Florida Children’s Home, NorthLake Park YMCA, Fire Stations 15, 76, and 77, the Somerby Senior Living Community, and Choices Women’s Clinic. Volunteers disassembled furniture and other items and moved items out to storage containers at the Central Florida Children’s Home to prepare them for a week of renovations. At the NorthLake Park YMCA, volunteers were able to participate in sanitizing, landscaping, cleaning up trash in the area, and other general cleaning.
Fire Stations 15, 76, and 77 received homemade and store-bought goods and appreciation cards for the firemen and women who serve the community. Volunteers were able to thank firefighters for their service and for keeping the community safe, demonstrating how much we, in the Nonahood, care about them.
Choices Women’s Clinic received help with clinic upkeep via Nona Church’s volunteers. At Somerby Senior Living, volunteers presented residents with homemade and store-bought goods. Volunteers were given the opportunity to connect with and spend time with residents, listening to their stories and learning about their lives.
Somerby Senior Living Community presented 4-year-old Adalyn and her family with the opportunity to pass out cards and to meet 94-year-old Jeanette, a resident in the community. During her visit, Adalyn gave Jeanette a kiss on the cheek. This small gesture fulfilled exactly what Summer Serve Day set out to do. Jeanette mentioned that she could not remember the last time she had been kissed on the cheek. Other residents were grateful for Nona Church’s volunteers because they had not had visitors in months or years. Summer Serve Day gave people like Adalyn the opportunity to go out and brighten someone’s day.
Participants described Summer Serve Day as joyful, encouraging, and impactful. The event inspired many participants to find ongoing ways to invest in their community on their own time. Rather than making these kinds of contributions something that happens every few months, many volunteers felt that they would like to continue serving Lake Nona each week. Bringing together people from all walks of life and opening up the event to anyone made it that much more impactful. Everyone, including children and nonmembers of the church, was able to serve and to express their love for Lake Nona through their actions.
Nona Church aims to host Summer Serve Day each year. With more communication and community engagement, they aim to have even more volunteers at each coming serve day and to create even more of an impact in Lake Nona. The event will continue to be open to anyone.
“No matter who you are, what you believe, or where you’re from, we can all work together to make a difference,” said Pastor Collin Outerbridge.
Summer Serve Day will meet people where they are and bring the love of the church to them. It’s all about everyday people making a big difference in people’s lives by giving an hour or two hours of their time. Recognizing the impact that each and every individual can have on their community is exactly what Nona Church aims to highlight.
If you are interested in participating in an event like Summer Serve Day, there will be another serve day hosted in November. Ultimately, Nona Church is a place where everyone is welcome. For more information about Nona Church, please visit http://www.nonachurch.com/.
