Volunteering is about building relationships with the residents and showing them just what it means to be a Christ-follower.

In the spring of 2020, I heard about the need for the Summer Volunteer Coordinator at Gateway Woods and prayed about filling it. I felt like it would be a great opportunity to learn and be used over the summer. Within the first week of my new “job,” I was humbled at just how great God was for bringing me to Gateway for the summer.

Despite everything that was happening with COVID-19, I felt like my volunteers and I were able to bring life to campus that was so desperately needed by all. The Gateway campus had been closed to most visitors since March and we had a cap on the number of volunteers that could come each week. So any volunteers that were able to come held an extra measure of hope upon their arrival.

We spent the majority of our days working around campus and “tidying” things up. In the evenings, we would enjoy endless games and laughs with the residents and each other. It was a time to lay aside all other life responsibilities and demands, and bask in the freedom of simply loving one another and dwelling in the goodness of our Heavenly Father.

The best part of my role was watching my volunteers come with excitement and curiosity as to what Gateway Woods was all about. Watching them leave with a yearning in their hearts to stay just a little longer was the worst part.

Volunteering over the summer is so much more than just the physical work on campus that gets done. Volunteering is about building relationships with the residents and showing them just what it means to be a Christ-follower. The residents were able to see the consistency of my volunteers by their positive attitudes and joyful spirit that exuded from them. As one group of volunteers were leaving one week, one of the residents looked at me and said, “Is that how all Christians are?”

The Summer Volunteer Coordinator position opens up opportunity for sharing the Good News to teens who are desperately seeking for someone or something to fill them. How great is our God that He made it possible by opening Gateway Woods and making it easily accessible to do this? May God get the glory for all He has done and is continuing to do through Gateway Woods!