Long Leaf Park residents are familiar with their neighbor, First Fruit Ministries, which helps alleviate the fears many marginalized families have regarding accessing professional services.   Many churches, businesses, and social organizations are partners of First Fruit Ministries, contributing time, resources, and finances to this work.  These two facts are keys to facilitating cross-cultural exchange and the success of the Adopt-a-Block Outreach program.  Adopt-a-Block uses one paid staff member serving as the team leader, and volunteers from throughout our tri-county area, to serve house to house in Long Leaf Park.  Adopt-a-Block teams perform manual labor and meet the individual needs of elderly, disabled, low-income widows, orphans, and single-parent families. 

We invite members of area churches, businesses, and social organizations to meet our team leader on weekends at our ministry campus in Long Leaf Park. Throughout the week prior the team leader visited homes on the targeted block to publicize the outreach, assess families’ needs, and work with landlords and owners to prepare for the work to be carried out.  For example, for a recently paralyzed person we would assess the need for a wheelchair ramp, work with them for their landlord to provide the materials, and the task of building a wheelchair ramp for the low-income, disabled person would be put on the list for that Saturday’s outreach.

We provide coffee and a half hour of time to prepare volunteers for the goals to be accomplished that day.  During that half-hour the group reviews the list of work identified for each house on the block.  Tools such as saws and lawn mowers are loaded onto a trailer hitched to an SUV.  The group drives in the SUV to the block targeted for that weekend’s work.  The Adopt-a-Block outreach team goes to each house on the block and performs the task identified for that family. To accomplish our first objective of developing cross-cultural and neighbor relationships, family members work alongside volunteers to accomplish the day’s goals. Building cross-cultural relationships and understanding is facilitated by working together to accomplish a mutual goal.  Each team member broadens their understanding of poverty issues and builds connections with disabled, low-income, and diverse residents.  As well, Long Leaf Park residents build confidence and gain understanding through working to improve their neighborhood alongside volunteers of a different socio-economic status, background, or race.  The work lasts to the midday.  More demanding projects such as wheelchair ramps, gutter installations, and major home repair are assigned to a subset of the entire volunteer group for that week.  Half the group moves down the block serving the rest of the families, while the other half stays and finishes the large project.

The team leader spends the time team members are working visiting with the head of the household to further assess and refer the family to community and mainstream resources.  This is done in order meet their immediate and longer-term needs.  The assessment and referral cycle accomplishes the second objective of the Adopt-a-Block Outreach, which is to connect Long Leaf residents to community and mainstream resources.  The team leader performs this process at each home and follows up throughout the year to ensure services are received.  A folder is maintained for each household tracking the needs identified and the provision of services.  While teams move from one block to the next, the team leader meets with both families on the current block, and later with families served in earlier weeks to follow-up on referrals. Often the simple tasks we take for granted make a big difference in the quality of life for someone unable to do for themselves.  When an elderly or disabled person is shut-in or without family their needs are identified for repeat service.

The third objective of Adopt-a-Block outreach is to better the overall aspect of Long Leaf Park through home-improvement.  Projects from yard work and gutter cleaning to changing light bulbs and pressure washing wheelchair ramps are all possibilities for the Adopt-a-Block Outreach teams. As team volunteers work with family members to create a pleasant curb appeal to their homes the neighborhood appearance can improve overall.  This is an important foundation for enhancing neighborhood quality of life. Families learn while participating in Adopt-a-Block Outreach how to maintain the improvements achieved during their outreach week. 

While the crime rate will only be reduced through the combined efforts of the Wilmington Police Department, the City of Wilmington, and the residents of Long Leaf Park, First Fruit Ministries’ Adopt-a-Block Outreach will contribute to a community pride and unity vital to the success of crime reduction efforts on everyone’s part.  This program is a starting point to addressing broader issues affecting our entire city.  Adopt-a-Block lays the groundwork for future collaborations between stakeholders built on trust and understanding.  Our city deserves healthy neighborhoods that cooperate with government and social organizations for true revitalization.  First Fruit Ministries’ Adopt-a-Block Outreach lays the first stone. 

Please contact us if you would like to participate in Adopt-a-Block or have tools and equipment to contribute!